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The Dzogchen Primer An Anthology of Writings by Masters of The Great Perfection 1st Edition Marcia Binder Schmidt Instant Access 2025

The Dzogchen Primer is an anthology compiled by Marcia Binder Schmidt that provides teachings and writings from various masters of the Great Perfection, aimed at guiding practitioners in Tibetan Buddhism. It emphasizes the importance of understanding and integrating Dzogchen principles into daily life, particularly in the context of contemporary challenges. The book serves as a resource for both study and meditation, offering insights into the path toward enlightenment.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
30 views49 pages

The Dzogchen Primer An Anthology of Writings by Masters of The Great Perfection 1st Edition Marcia Binder Schmidt Instant Access 2025

The Dzogchen Primer is an anthology compiled by Marcia Binder Schmidt that provides teachings and writings from various masters of the Great Perfection, aimed at guiding practitioners in Tibetan Buddhism. It emphasizes the importance of understanding and integrating Dzogchen principles into daily life, particularly in the context of contemporary challenges. The book serves as a resource for both study and meditation, offering insights into the path toward enlightenment.

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nakaharami6315
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The
Dzogchen Primer

Compiled and edited by

Introductory teachings by

and

t
Boston & London
SHAMBHALA PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Horticultural Hall
300 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, Mass~chusetts 02115
www.shambhala.com

©2002 by Marcia Binder Schmidt

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be


reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval sy'stem,
without permission in writing from the publisher.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I

First Edition
Printed in the United States of America

@ This edition is printed on acid-free paper that meets the


American National Standards Institute Z39·48 Standard.
Distributed in the United States by Random House, Inc.,
and in Canada by Random House of Canada Ltd

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data


Schmidt, Marcia Binder.
The Dzogchen primer: an anthology of writings by masters of
the great perfection: foreword, introductory teachings by
Cheokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Drubwang Tsoknyi Rinpoche I
compiled and edited by Marcia Binder Schmidt.-rst ed.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 1-57062-829-7 (alk. paper)
r. Rdzogs-chen (Rani~n-ma-pa) I. Title.
BQ7662.4 .S34 2002
294·3 1 420423-dC2I
2002004532
Not only the Dharmashould be Dzogchen;
the individual should be Dzogchen as well.
-KYABJE TRULSHIG RINPOCHE
CONTENTS

P~a ~
Acknowledgments xvu

PART ONE: INTRODUCTORY TEACHINGS I


Introduction · Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche 3
Introduction· Drubwang Tsoknyi Rinpoche 12

PART Two: STARTING PoiNT 21


r. Buddha Nature· Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche 23
2. The Basis: Buddha Nature· Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche 26
3. The Ground · Drubwang Tsoknyi Rinpoche 32
4· Re-enlightenment · Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche 43
5. Meditation · Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche 48

PART THREE: INTEGRATION 55


6. Integrating View and Conduct · Tulku Urgyen
Rinpoche 57
7· Padmasambhava's Overview of the Path· ]amgon
Kongtrul 67
8. Advice on How to Practice the Dharma Correctly·
Padmasambhava 69
9· The Qualified Master· Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche 71
Io. The Guru, the Vajra Master · Chogyam Trungpa
Rinpoche 79
I r. Wake-up Practice • Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche 93
12. The First of the Four Dharmas of Gampopa ·
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche 99
I 3. Renunciation Mind · Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche I02

vii
CONTENTS

I4. Impermanence· Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche 108


I5. The Second of the Four Dharmas of Gampopa ·
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche I I 8
I6. Instructional Advice on Training in Buddhism·
Patrul Rinpoche I2I
I7. The True Foundation· Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche I25
I8. Taking Refuge· Padmasambhava I37
I9. The Innermost Refuge· Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche I 54
20. A Guided Meditation· Drubwang Tsoknyi Rinpoche I 59
2 I. The Excellence of Bodhichitta · Shantideva I 65
22. Devotion and Compassion· Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche I72
23. Bodhichitta · Padmasambhava I83
24. The Bodhisattva Vow· Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche no
25. The Two Truths· Thinley Norbu Rinpoche 2I3
26. The Sutra of the Heart of Transcendent Knowledge 2I9
27. Shunyata · Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche 22I
28. Egolessness · Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche 23 I
29. The Nature of the Mahamudra of Perception·
Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche 234
30. Wisdom through Meditation· Patrul Rinpoche 239
3 I. The Song of Realization · Milar epa 2 5I
32. Root of Mahayana· Padmasambhava 256
3 3. The Meditation of Ultimate Bodhichitta and Its
Result· jamgon Kongtrul 26I

Facilitator Guidelines 269


Notes 279
Glossary 285
Recommended Reading 299
Contributors 303
Credits 307

viii
PREFACE

The Dzogchen Primer offers a joyful way to access the traditional princi-
ples of Tibetan Buddhism. It is a guidebook on how to study, contem-
plate, and meditate in a supportive environment abundant in rich
material and practices. Here is a definitive map showing where prac-
titioners of this path are going and how to get there. The Primer includes
the basics for proper understanding and· practice-a source anyone on
this path can turn to for guidance.
These days there is a strong interest in the Vajrayana, especially the
Dzogchen and Mahamudra teachings. As Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche says,
"During this age, the Vajrayana teachings blaze like the flames of a wild-
fire. Just as the flames of negative emotions flare up, so do the teachings.
During the Age of Strife, it seems as though people are seldom amiable;
rather, they are always trying to outdo one another. This fundamental
competitiveness has given rise to the name Age of Strife. But this is ex-
actly the reason that Vajrayana is so applicable to the present era. The
stronger and more forceful the disturbing emotions are, the greater the
potential for recognizing our original wakefulness. Thus, the vast
amount of conflict in the world today is precisely why the Vajrayana
teachings will spread like wildfire." 1
The Primer provides a much-needed corrective to the many miscon-
ceptions and wrong views being promoted about Dzogchen-and there
are ·many. One of the most serious obstacles that can confront prac-
titioners is the entertainment of wrong views. Unless we study, ~e will
not know how to differentiate between what is correct and what is in-
correct. Study does not have to mean the extensive program of a Tibetan
shedra. Here, study is presented in the kusulu fashion, the style of a
simple meditator.
"The causal and resultant vehicles-Hinayana, Mahayana, and

tX
PREFACE

Vajrayana-differ in what they regard as path. In particular, to actually


apply Vajrayana in practice, there are three different approaches: taking
the ground as path, taking the path. as path, and taking the fruition as
path. These three approaches can be understood by using the analogy of
a gardener or farmer. Taking the ground or cause as path is like tilling
soil and sowirig seeds. Taking the path as path is like weeding, watering,
fertilizing, and coaxing crops forth. Taking the fruition as path is the
attitude of simply picking the ripened fruit or the fully bloomed flowers.
To do this, to take the complete result, the state of enlightenment itself,
as the pa.th, is the approach of Dzogchen. This summarizes the intent of
the Great Perfection."2
So, here we are, practitioners in the Age of Strife, replete with inner
and outer conflicts, who are described further as being extremely sharp
but extremely lazy. It is only natural that we, materialistic seekers of
objects of high quality, would be drawn to the pinnacle of vehicles.
Lacking in diligence, we are attracted to what is the least complex and
most unelaborated.
Unfortunately, gaining the right understanding is not that easy. It is
extremely important not to oversimplify and lose sight of the true mean-
ing. Although Padmasambhava gave us these custom-made teachings,
designated for our particular times and temperament (the beauty of Hid-
den Treasures), we need the proper conditions to connect with them.
These include the presence of a fully realized teacher and qualified .lin-
eage holder, as well as our own .circumstances of being born at the right
time and place with the right frame of mind.
The right frame of mind means that we trust and appreciate the
teachings and the teachers and have devotion and pure perception. Like-
wise, it is fundamental that we aspire to put these teachings into practice
for the benefit of the countless other less fortunate beings of the dark
age who lack the opportunity to meet the teachers and the teachings.
The Dharma needs to be practiced. Teachings-no matter how high or
lofty-have little value for the individual who does not apply them.
As Sogyal Rinpoche states, "Whichever way the training is tailored,
from the traditional point of view, there must be a solid grounding in
the basic Dharma teaching. The main points, the heart of the teaching,
must be instilled in the student's mind so that he or she will never forget
them. For example: refraining from harm, the crux of the Fundamental
Vehicle; developing Good Heart, the essence of the Mahayana; and pure
perception, the heart of the Vajrayana." 3
The Dzogchen Primer offers a way to acquire the correct grounding

X
PREFACE

as well as the confidence that we can continue on the path to enlighten-


ment. Not only do we need to study; we need to integrate the teachings
into our beings. This integration is twofold. It is important not to sepa-
rate the spiritual, or absolute truth, from our ordinary mundane experi-
ences, or relative truth. We need to bring all circumstances onto the path
and maintain our dharmic perspective as much as possible. Also, it is
crucial to be truly convinced that we can eventually benefit beings and
reach accomplishment. Unless we gain certainty in our own inherent
nature, we might not trust that we can reach realization. Like enlight-
ened beings, we embody the basic material for buddhahood, the buddha
nature. We need to cut the net of doubts that surrounds us. Yes, we are
in a compromised state now; we are obscured, but this is only tempo-
rary. We can purify our obscurations through the various practices.
These teachings show us how to unfold the view "from the top" while
ascending the path from below. The Primer thus allows readers to share
in this profound approach at any point on the Vajrayana path. All the
pieces in this book are pith instructions from qualified masters.
The Primer draws on the teachings of some of the greatest masters
of Dzogchen and Mahamudra (see the list of contributors at the end of
the book). In particular, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and his sons Chokyi
Nyima Rinpoche and Tsoknyi Rinpoche have a distinctive teaching style
in common, widely known for its unique directness in introducing stu-
dents to the nature of mind in a way that allows immediate experience.
As mentioned briefly earlier, traditionally in Tibetan Buddhism there
are two main approaches, the analytical approach of a scholar and the
resting practice of a simple meditator, a kusulu. Through either of these,
or through a combination, it is possible to establish with certainty the
natural state of all things. The ultimate result of the scholarly approach
is to go beyond analysis. So, depending on our temperament, we will be
drawn to one style or the other.
To quote Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche:

There are some people who can trust a master and be introduced
to the natural state without using any lengthy explanations. They
do not need to establish the meaning through reasoning or through
quotes from scriptures. Maybe they are not interested; maybe they
"have no need." It is possible for them to understand simply and
directly. There are other people for whom that is not enough. Then
it is necessary to use quotes from the scriptures and intelligent rea-
soning to establish certainty in the view.

Xt
PREFACE

According to the analytical meditation, everything is examined,


until the scholar has run out of analysis. That is the point of arriv-
ing at the understanding of the true view, intellectually. After that,
he still needs to receive the blessings of a qualified master and to
receive the pointing-out instruction from such a master. 4

What this book emphasizes is a combination of these two approaches.


The buddhas' words are not valid and correct merely because we are
Buddhists and accept them on blind faith. They are true because they
describe the nature of how things are, whether we are Buddhists or not.
One vital way that that truth can be logically arrived at is through reason-
ing and study. Moreover, after studying the teachings, we blend them into
our being by applying them in practice. Then through our own personal
experience we come to know that there is no contradiction in what we
have learned and what we have assimilated and understood. From an-
other angle, study clears away doubts and uncertainties that may arise in
our practice. In short, we combine the three perfect measures of the words
of the Buddha and the great masters with our own individual intelligence.
This is absolutely crucial for the skeptical Western mind.
My own experience is different from that of most people living in the
West. I have spent over twenty years living closely with realized teachers
and extraordinary practitioners in Nepal. With my own eyes, I have seen
the value of the tradition borne out by the result that practice and study
can bring. Even gifted individuals, like recognized reincarnations of en-
lightened masters, still undergo years of study and training. The result of
this discipline is the many great younger teachers we can meet these days.
But this fruition can be seen not only in tulkus, who we might believe
begin with a higher potential than ordinary beings. I have watched many
other practitioners nurtured by this tradition go on to develop into im-
pressive individuals who benefit whomever they encounter.
When it comes to practice itself, the approach is to unfurl the view
from the top like a canopy and ascend with the conduct from the bot-
tom. "Conduct" here refers to the various applications of the methods of
Vajrayana, used as the ladder to climb to the top. Here is Tulku Urgyen
Rinpoche's explanation of this style-his own style, in fact:

According to the traditional method of Tibetan Buddhism, the stu-


dent begins practice with the four or five times Ioo,ooo preliminar-
ies in the proper, correct manner. Then he or she proceeds on to the
yidam practice with' its development stage, recitation, and comple-
tion stage. After that, the student is introduced to the true view of

xii
PREFACE

Mahamudra and Dzogchen. The sequence is conventionally laid


out in this order: first you remove what obscures you; next, you
suffuse your being with blessings; finally, you are introduced to the
natural face of awareness.
These days, however, disciples do not have so much time! Also,
masters do not seem to stay in one place and teach continuously.
The view and the conduct need to be adapted to the time and cir-
cumstances. In the world now, there is a growing appreciation of
and interest in Buddhism. This is because people are more edu-
cated, more intelligent. When masters and disciples do not have a
lot of time to spend together, there is no opportunity to go through
the whole sequence of instructions. I usually also give the whole set
of teachings in completeness, all at once.
This approach, of giving the essence at the beginning and then
later teaching ngondro, development stage, mantra recitation, and
completion stage, can be compared to opening the door all the way
from the start. When you open the door, the daylight penetrates all
the way in so, while standing at the door, you can see to the inner-
most part of the shrine room.
Honestly, if one has received the teachings on mind essence and
then practices the preliminaries while remembering to recognize the
nature of mind, it multiplies the effect tremendously. It is taught
that to practice with a pure attitude multiplies the effect 100 times,
while to practice with pure samadhi multiplies the effect Ioo,ooo
times. Combine the preliminaries with the recognition of mind es-
sence and your practice will be tremendously effective.
You could also practice the preliminaries with simply a good
and sincere attitude, and this alone will definitely purify your nega-
tive karma. But a good attitude in itself does not suffice as the true
path to enlightenment. If you embrace these practices with the cor-
rect view of recognizing mind essence, however, the preliminaries
become the actual path to enlightenment. If you have a painting of
a candle, can it somehow generate light in the room? Wouldn't it
be better to have the actual candle flame spreading light? There is
only one way to be free from the threefold concepts, and that is to
recognize the true view. I do not feel there is anything inappropriate
in giving the, pointing-out instruction to people. They can practice
the preliminaries afterwards. It is perfectly fine. 5

In particular, The Dzogchen Primer begins with instilling confidence


in ourselves. We can attain buddhahood because we already possess the
potential, the buddha nature, which is the powerful starting point ad-
dressed in part 2. But how do we know from the outset that buddha

xiii
PREFACE

nature is intrinsic to our being? As Tsoknyi Rinpoche has said, "It is


substantiated without us ever having to be told, without us having to be
indoctrinated, influenced, or conditioned to the idea that we have bud-
·dha nature, the capacity for enlightenment. That is because everyone has
the spontaneous quality sometimes, of being free in one's state of mind,
of being insightful, bright, clear, wide open, which doesn't come from
anywhere, other than within ourselves. These are all proofs that we have
the ability to be fully free, awakened or a buddha and is why we can be
enlightened. " 6 ·Moreover, that we feel love, kindness and compassion,
and the wish to be a spiritual person are all additional indications of
'buddha nature. Accepting the potential and revealing the methods to
recognize and stabilize that recognition was Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche's
way. It is also the basis for the arrangement of great texts such as The
Light of Wisdom and The Jewel Ornament of Liberatio.n.
The fruition is present at the time of the ground, only it is not yet
actualized. All the various practices offered in part 3, Integration, are
done to unify ground and fruition. There is no separate path, nothing
else to blend with, nothing other than this.
To reiterate, The Primer combines study and practice from the ap-
proach of both the simple meditator and the simple scholar. Stylistically,
it unfolds this according to the teaching method of Tulku Urgyen Rin-
poche and the two above-mentioned texts. Practically, it includes pieces
that support this tradition and are simple, direct, profound, and easy to
comprehend.
The idea for The Dzogchen Primer originated after many years of
organizing seminars as well as translating and sitting in on private inter-
views with qualified masters. Being familiar with my fellow students'
recurring questions, problems, and misunderstandings, I decided to de-
vise ~ study and practice program that was easy to undertake and com-
prehend and that closely followed the teaching method of my teacher,
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. This uncomplicated plan for study and practice
is tailored for working Sangha who might not be able to commit to a
time-consuming study program but still want to delve into the Dzogchen
teachings. This first vc;>lume, The Dzogchen Primer, covers material for
the first year of the program, based on The Light of Wisdom, The Jewel
Ornament of Liberation, and, in the styie of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche,
the Four Dharmas of Gampopa, a complete path for enlightenment
within itself.
The first of the Four Dharmas, "How to turn one's mind toward
Dharma practice," includes the four mind-changings. "How to ensure

xiv
PREFACE

that one's Dharma practice becomes the path" embodies teachings on


the preliminary practices. "How to make the path clarify confusion"
contains teachings on development stage, recitation, and completion
stage. Finally, "How to let confusion dawn as wisaom" comprises teach-
ings on how to gain certainty, realization of the natural state by means
of the three great views of Dzogchen, Mahamudra, and Madhyarriika.
This volume encompasses the first of the Four Dharmas and part of
the second. The two subsequent volumes will continue from the second
Dharma through to the end of the fourth Dharma. The material and
program connected to them include advice for deity practice and concep-
tual and nonconceptual meditation, among other things.
The Dzogchen Primer can be used by beginning students as well as
longtime practitioners who serve as teachers at their local Dharma cen-
ters. These facilitators can use it as a veritable textbook for their stu-
dents, an accessible sourcebook. Newer students will be able to find, in
a single source, a complete outline of the entire path as well as in-depth
explanations of each part of that path, along with ways to apply these
teachings to their own practice. The facilitator guidelines at the end of
the book provide an outline for further reading to support group discus-
sions of chapters. The book adapts the presentation of the Dzogchen
path for the modem student, while using traditional principles; among
key topics, for example, are renunciation, compassion, devotion, and
recognizing mind nature.
Moreover, The Primer can serve as a support for students who do
not have a teacher or a center close by, to help them carry on in the right
direction. It provides background material to use for inspiration and
encouragement. However, a book can never substitute for meeting genu-
ine, realized lineage masters of the Dzogchen and Mahamudra tradi-
tions. It is crucial that students include in their programs time to
participate in important teachings and retreats with such masters.
To conclude, I would like to quote Sogyal Rinpoche once more:
"The future of humanity is linked to the accessibility of spiritual teach-
ings like the Buddha Dharma. This, I think, by any analysis, is clear, and
it is the practicality and ingenuity of the West that can make the Dharma
more accessible. There is an almost desperate hunger·and need, in coun-
tries like America, for spiritual vision. I feel that the Buddha Dharma
can play a great part in answering this need for all kinds of people, and
in building a spiritual culture here in the West." 7

MARCIA BINDER SCHMIDT


Nagi Gompa

XV
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sincere gratitude goes to Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, who gave essential


points to adhere to, and to Drubwang Tsoknyi Rinpoche, who helped
chart the course from the beginning and conscientiously examined the
manuscript to prevent any mistakes. Moreover, many thanks to my hus-
band, Erik Perna ,Kunsang, the translator of many of these pieces, who
coached on difficult points as well as supplied needed material, and to
Stephen Goodman, who infused this project with his remarkable enthu-
siasm. Special mention must go to Michael Tweed, who transcribed and
edited the two introductions, looked over the manuscript, and gave
many helpful suggestions. Of course, this book would not have come
into being without the skillful staff at Shambhala Publications.
May this work be a contributing cause for the many hidden Dzog-
chen yogis in the West to advance further on the path, to reach accom-
plishment, and to benefit countless beings!

xvii
THE DzoGCHEN PRIMER
PART ONE

INTRODUCTORY
TEACHINGS
SOCIAL UPLIFT.
In New Orleans during the past year several drug stores have been
opened, a Business League organized, the Pythian Temple finished,
five churches erected and 400 teachers have attended summer
normal schools.

Dr. Cyrus Townsend Brady, by a startling paper read before the


Ministers’ Alliance at a meeting at the Y. M. C. A., awakened the
ministers into a realization of the Negro problem, and for the first
time in the history of Kansas City a movement was organized by the
ministers to investigate and endeavor to better the condition of the
blacks.

The highest average that has been made on the punching machine
in the Census Office was attained by Miss Eva B. Price, a colored girl,
during the last two weeks in October. The work on these machines is
done on the piece basis, and during this period Miss Price earned
$88. The highest up to this time that had been paid any clerk on this
work during any two weeks was $85. There are about 500 clerks
working on the punching machines, and it is considered very high for
a clerk to punch as many as 3,000 cards in one day. Miss Price’s
highest mark for one day was 4,200 cards. She accomplished this
unusual average during the regular seven-hour day, and has never
worked on extra time.

In Philadelphia prominent churchmen of several denominations


participated in a conference on the American Negro question, held in
the Central Young Men’s Christian Association, 1421 Arch Street.
Bishop Mackay-Smith presided, and the speakers included such
leaders in denominational affairs as the Rev. Dr. Frank P. Parkin,
district superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Church; the Rev.
Dr. A. J. Rowland, secretary of the American Baptist Publication
Society; the Rev. Dr. Edwin Heyl Delk, of St. Matthew’s Lutheran
Church; the Rev. Edwin F. Randolph, of Trinity Methodist Episcopal
Church; B. F. Lee, Jr., of the Armstrong Association, and James S.
Stemons.
With the exception of the Bishop, these ministers and laymen are
associated in the Association for Equalizing Industrial Opportunities,
the purpose of which is to secure fair play for the Negro wage earner
in the industrial world.

In Cincinnati the last of the $2,000 needed to start an institution


for colored women similar to the Y. W. C. A. has been received by
Miss Elma C. Leach, of the Elizabeth Gamble Deaconess Association,
and the work will be prosecuted at once. The home will be opened on
West Sixth Street, near Mound. Temporary quarters will there be
provided for colored girls coming into the city for work and for girls
who are found to be living in undesirable environments. A nursery
will be established and theoretical nursing taught. Lectures will also
be given.

In a report the State Inspector of Asylums of Kentucky says that


the buildings in which the Negro patients at the Eastern Kentucky
Asylum are confined are a disgrace to the State. One is a cottage with
basement and one story above. This building, he states, is in a very
dangerous condition, likely to collapse at any time. It is simply held
up with props put under it from time to time, and should a heavy
wind strike it, it probably would collapse. In this building there are
forty-two colored female patients. In the other colored ward
building, which has a basement and two stories, the conditions are
equally as bad. Both male and female patients are confined in this
building, but are kept separate and distinct. The female capacity is
thirty-two—there are forty-one patients; the male capacity is seventy
—there are eighty-eight patients. So crowded is the building that a
great number are compelled to sleep in the basement, which is very
dark and damp and in rainy weather water collects therein. The
inspector states that neither the Board of Control nor the officers of
this institution are to blame, for they are doing everything in their
power to avert a disaster.
COLORED COLLEGES.
Howard University at Washington, D. C., has this year 1,350
students. The college students number 347, of whom 167 are
freshmen. Requirements have been raised both for admission to the
college and medical school. The faculties include 110 professors,
instructors and officers. The endowment amounts to $281,000. The
medical school has received $55,000 in cash for tuition fees during
the last two years. A new Carnegie library and hall of applied science
have recently been added to the plant, and also a steam-heating
plant.

Lincoln University, Chester County, Pa., has 136 students in the


college and 50 in the theological seminary; all of these are taught by
twelve professors and three instructors. The grounds and buildings
are worth $250,000, and the endowment is a little over $600,000.
Lately an electric plant has been added, and a new pipe organ.

Virginia Union University has 35 students in the college and 30 in


the theological department, 120 in the academy and 40 in the grades.
There are sixteen instructors. A special attempt is being made to get
a new dormitory.

Wilberforce University has issued a statement which says:


“Though our existence was threatened in the past by poverty, war
and fire, yet we have passed from a school with 52 acres of land, one
building, a few small cottages, a primary department of instruction,
two teachers and a handful of students, to three large united schools
in operation to-day, aside from the military department. These are
the college, the theological, and the normal and industrial schools,
instructing in the following courses of study: Classical, scientific,
academic, theological, music, English preparatory, military, art,
business, sewing, carpentry, printing, cooking, shoemaking,
blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, brickmaking and bricklaying,
plumbing, tailoring, and applied mechanics and millinery. It has 350
acres of the best land in Ohio. It has now ten brick buildings,
including four large halls, a $60,000 trades building, and a library
costing $18,000, the gift of Mr. Andrew Carnegie. The value of the
entire plant, with equipment, is quite $350,000. There are 32
teachers and an average of 400 students, and we could have over one
thousand if we had accommodations for them.”

Mr. W. A. Joiner, formerly of Howard University, is


superintendent of the State Department at Wilberforce.

Atlanta University has 400 students enrolled. Fifty of these are in


the college course, with 30 teachers and officers. There are 653
normal and college graduates. The plant consists of seven brick
buildings, including a library worth about $300,000; the endowment
is $75,000, and a special effort is being made to raise $60,000 this
year.

Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C., has over 500 students enrolled,


and applicants have been turned away. There are preparatory,
normal and college departments, and classes in theology, medicine
and law. Attention is also given to music and industries. The Leonard
medical building has been enlarged and a hospital is being built;
shower baths have been put into the gymnasium and other buildings
enlarged. President Meserve is just completing his seventeenth year
of service.

The Georgia State Industrial College is near Savannah, Ga. It has


86 acres and 468 students. The school curriculum includes literary
and industrial work. Each student has to take a trade along with his
other studies. The school depends entirely upon income from the
Landscript and Morrill funds. Among its outside activities are
farmers’ conferences and an annual State fair.
EDUCATION.
In South Carolina Governor-elect Cole L. Bleaze is opposed to the
division of the educational fund of the State of South Carolina
between schools for the Negroes and the white children. It became
known lately that the future Governor is convinced that it would be
good for the State if the educational fund is divided so that taxes paid
by whites for educational purposes go for the education of white
children, and that those paid by blacks be used for the education of
Negroes.
“I am firmly convinced, after the most careful thought and study,”
said Colonel Bleaze to-day, “that the Almighty created the Negro to
be a hewer of wood and drawer of water. I also believe that the
greatest mistake the white race has ever made was in attempting to
educate the free Negro.”

The first report of the Louisiana Department of Education for the


year ending July 1, 1910, shows that the total amount spent for the
maintenance of the public schools by the State was $4,936,300.64.
Of this amount colored teachers received in salaries $202,251.13,
while white teachers received $2,404,062.54. There are 5,001 white
teachers employed and 1,285 colored teachers. White male teachers
received an average monthly salary of $75.29, and white female
teachers received an average monthly salary of $50.80. The average
monthly salary of colored male teachers was only $34.25, and of
colored female teachers $28.67. The average length of session of
colored elementary schools is 4.6 months. The average lengths of
session of white elementary and high schools is 8.23 months. There
are 9,771 whites enrolled in the high schools. No figures are given for
colored students enrolled in high schools. There are 54,637 colored
children attending elementary schools, and 128,022 white children;
75.9 per cent. of white educable children are enrolled, and only 45.3
per cent. of the colored children. The average monthly cost of each
child based on average attendance, white $2.90, colored $1.21.
The colored people of Plateau have the credit of being the leading
Negro settlement in Mobile County, Alabama, in respect to raising
money to help educate their children. The patrons of the school have
raised over $180 for their school this year, $144 of this money being
raised Thanksgiving Day. They are buying a beautiful site for a high
school at a cost of $900. Over $600 of this money has been raised,
and they are struggling to finish it this present school term.

That a systematic and organized crusade on idleness among


members of the colored race is to be continued was indicated at the
meeting of the Texas Negro Law and Order League at Houston,
Texas. In a forceful address calling the attention of the members of
the league to many vital questions affecting the welfare of the race
President John M. Atkins stated that the time was ripe for sending
literature over the country urging all Negro parents to look to the
moral training of their boys.

For the purpose of urging every colored resident of New Orleans to


contribute $1 per annum to be used in educating Negro children, a
poll tax association among the colored people has been formed. A
meeting was held Wednesday night and a citywide campaign with
this object in view was planned. Circulars will be printed, stating the
reasons for the movement, and the leaders of every Negro
organization in the city will be asked to prevail upon his respective
membership to see that they pay their poll tax.

Strong addresses were delivered before the Mississippi Conference


of the Methodist Episcopal Church by Professor D. C. Potts,
president of the Mississippi Industrial College, and Dr. F. M.
Williams of the North Mississippi Conference. Professor Potts gave a
detailed report of the work done at the institution and declared that
the enrollment at this time of the year far exceeds that of any
previous year. He stated that the property was conservatively valued
at $150,000 and congratulated the Negroes of Mississippi upon
giving so much for the education of their own children.
THE CHURCH.
There are now five Negro priests in the Catholic Church in the
United States; three are in the Order of St. Joseph, one is a member
of the Holy Ghost order, and the fifth is attached to Archbishop
Ireland’s diocese in St. Paul, Minn.

On Sunday afternoon, October 30, the societies of the Holy Name


of the Roman Catholic Church made a big demonstration in
Washington, D. C. One feature of it was the parade, with several
thousand in line, including delegations from Baltimore and other
nearby places. There were many colored men in line, but there was
no semblance of “jim crowing.” Each marched with his own parish
members of whatever color. There was a full share of colored
mounted marshals and two of the six bands were colored, but the
colored bands were not leading colored contingents.
This was in striking contrast to the action of the local committee of
the World’s Sunday School Congress here last May, which barred the
few colored delegates from the parade altogether, while in other
places they were segregated as far as possible.

Two thousand Negro Baptists have been meeting in Little Rock,


Ark.

The M. E. Conference at Nacogdoches, Texas, opened by singing


“And are we yet alive!”
ECONOMIC.
During the last few days Negroes, generally known as “freedmen”
from the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, have paid over $50,000 to
the commissioner to the five tribes of Indians at Muskogee for land.
The “freedmen” were allowed to select enough land to bring their
allotments up to forty acres, paying for it the appraised value of the
land. This appraisement was made by the government several years
ago, and is about one-fourth of the actual cash value of the land now.
The Negroes were given this preferential right to buy by a special act
of Congress and their right expired December 1, which caused the
rush.

A colored church in Atlanta has opened a labor exchange.

A number of Omaha colored men have incorporated the


International Railroad Safety Pipe Coupling Company. It will
manufacture the Harris coupling for cars. This aims at enabling
coupling of steam air brake and emergency pipes without compelling
a man to go under the cars and risk being crushed. The appliance is
made to go under the Janney coupler. A. H. Harris of Denver is the
inventor, and an Omaha foundry is making the castings for railways
to try out.

Attorney-General Foy of the Province of Ontario, Canada, has


included the name of Delos R. Davis in a new list of king’s counsels
for that province. Mr. Davis is a colored barrister before the
Amherstburg bar of long standing, and will do honor to his new title
of “K. C.”

It required 55,000 enumerators to take the census; of these 1,605


were Negroes, and 1,295 of these Negroes were in the Southern
States. Secretary Nagel said, a few days ago, that he had not heard a
single complaint against them. Ten years ago there were no Negroes
at all taking census in South Carolina, but this year 131 colored were
employed.
ART.
The playing of Miss Helen Hagan at the concert of the Second
Company, Governor’s Foot Guard Band, has been the subject of
much enthusiastic comment during the past week. Many of the best
musicians of New Haven were present, and their opinions constitute
for Miss Hagan a “judgment of her peers.” Miss Hagan is a “prize
student” of the Yale department of music and has been heard several
times in concert work accompanied by the New Haven Symphony
Orchestra. Her playing has always brought down the house. On the
occasion of the Foot Guard concert she appeared twice upon the
program in solos by Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Schumann and
MacDowell, and responded to vehement demands for encores with
compositions by Grieg and Mosznowski.
Although Miss Hagan is not yet twenty years of age and was
graduated from the New Haven High School only last June, she has
gone a long way up on the road toward being a successful concert
artist.—New Haven Register.

William E. Scott has returned to Indianapolis from Paris, where he


went nearly two years ago to continue his art work. He was born and
reared in Indianapolis. He began his art studies under Otto Stark,
while a student at the Manual Training High School. After
graduating he became assistant teacher of art in the high school,
which position he held a year and a half. He entered the Chicago Art
Institute in 1904, won some cash scholarships and became proficient
as a mural artist. During his last year’s attendance at the institute he
did the mural decorations for five of the public school buildings of
Chicago. For a short time after graduating from the institute he was
engaged in special work in illustration, after which he went to Paris
and studied under P. Marcel Beareneau and later under H. O.
Tanner. He exhibited three paintings last August in a Paris salon,
and traveled over England, Holland and Belgium before returning
here.
Both of the persons mentioned above are colored.
OPINION

THE APPEAL TO EUROPE.


On October 26 a statement and appeal was sent to Europe signed
by thirty-two Negro Americans. The appeal was not sent out by the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, nor did
the association stand sponsor for it. It was sent solely on the
authority of the men who signed it. These men include two editors,
one dentist, seven lawyers, two ministers, two bishops, three
physicians, one teacher, two presidents of educational institutions,
one member of a Legislature and others.
This appeal, after stating that its signers do not agree with Mr.
Washington’s picture of conditions here, states the following
grievances:
“Our people were emancipated in a whirl of passion, and then left
naked to the mercies of their enraged and impoverished ex-masters.
As our sole means of defense we were given the ballot, and we used it
so as to secure the real fruits of the war. Without it we would have
returned to slavery; with it we struggled toward freedom. No sooner,
however, had we rid ourselves of nearly two-thirds of our illiteracy
and accumulated $600,000,000 worth of property in a generation,
than this ballot, which had become increasingly necessary to the
defense of our civil and property rights, was taken from us by force
and fraud.
“To-day in eight States where the bulk of the Negroes live, black
men of property and university training can be, and usually are, by
law denied the ballot, while the most ignorant white man votes. This
attempt to put the personal and property rights of the best of the
blacks at the absolute political mercy of the worst of the whites is
spreading each day.
“Along with this has gone a systematic attempt to curtail the
education of the black race. Under a widely advertised system of
‘universal’ education, not one black boy in three to-day has in the
United States a chance to learn to read and write. The proportion of
school funds due to black children are often spent on whites, and the
burden on private charity to support education, which is a public
duty, has become almost intolerable.
“In every walk of life we meet discrimination, based solely on race
and color, but continually and persistently misrepresented to the
world as the natural difference due to condition.
“We are, for instance, usually forced to live in the worst quarters,
and our consequent death rate is noted as a race trait, and reason for
further discrimination. When we seek to buy property in better
quarters we are sometimes in danger of mob violence or, as now in
Baltimore, of actual legislation to prevent.
“We are forced to take lower wages for equal work, and our
standard of living is then criticised. Fully half the labor unions refuse
us admittance, and then claim that as ‘scabs’ we lower the price of
labor.
“A persistent caste proscription seeks to force us and confine us to
menial occupations where the conditions of work are worst.
“Our women in the South are without protection in law and
custom, and are then derided as lewd. A widespread system of
deliberate public insult is customary, which makes it difficult, if not
impossible, to secure decent accommodation in hotels, railway
trains, restaurants and theatres, and even in the Christian church we
are in most cases given to understand that we are unwelcome unless
segregated.
“Worse than all this is the wilful miscarriage of justice in the
courts. Not only have 2,500 black men been lynched publicly by
mobs in the last twenty-five years, without semblance or pretense of
trial, but regularly every day throughout the South the machinery of
the courts is used, not to prevent crime and correct the wayward
among the Negroes, but to wreak public dislike and vengeance and to
raise public funds. This dealing in crime as a means of public
revenue is a system well-nigh universal in the South, and while its
glaring brutality through private lease has been checked, the
underlying principle is still unchanged.
“Everywhere in the United States the old democratic doctrine of
recognizing fitness wherever it occurs is losing ground before a
reactionary policy of denying preferment in political or industrial life
to competent men if they have a trace of Negro blood, and of using
the weapons of public insult and humiliation to keep such men
down. It is to-day a universal demand in the South that on all
occasions social courtesies shall be denied any person of known
Negro descent, even to the extent of refusing to apply the titles of
‘Mr.,’ ‘Mrs.’ or ‘Miss.’
“Against this dominant tendency, strong and brave Americans,
white and black, are fighting, but they need, and need sadly, the
moral support of England and of Europe in this crusade for the
recognition of manhood, despite adventitious differences of race, and
it is like a blow in the face to have one who himself suffers daily
insult and humiliation in America give the impression that all is well.
It is one thing to be optimistic, self-forgetful and forgiving, but it is
quite a different thing, consciously or unconsciously, to misrepresent
the truth.”
This appeal has provoked widespread comment all over the world.
The Vienna (Austria) Die Zeit, in publishing the document, says:
“During the sojourn in Vienna of Booker T. Washington, the
distinguished apostle of the Negro, there appeared in Die Zeit a
report from his pen in which he defended the white race of North
America against the charge of systematic race prejudice and pictured
the condition of the Negro race as on the whole very favorable. This
report created great excitement in America and a deep disagreement
among the intelligent leaders of the American Negroes. Booker T.
Washington was warmly attacked in many American papers by both
white and black speakers, and finally the American Negro leaders
drew up an outspoken protest against Washington’s declarations.”
The Kölnische Volk Zeitung, Germany, speaks of an article which
was “widely printed in Austria and Germany,” in which Mr.
Washington “expressed himself in very optimistic words concerning
his race in America and the undoubted solution of the problem,” and
then reprints a part of the appeal.
In the United States the comment has taken wide range. From the
South comes some bitterness when, for instance, the Raleigh News
and Courier says:
“It is hard to tell which is the worst enemy of the Negro race—the
brute who invites lynching by the basest of crimes, or the social-
equality-hunting fellow like Du Bois, who slanders his country.
Fortunately for the peaceable and industrious Negroes in the South,
the world does not judge them either by Du Bois or the animal, and
helps them and is in sympathy with their efforts to better their
condition.”
The Richmond Leader adds:
“Efforts on the part of the Negro to give practical expression to the
dream of equality may, indeed, cause temporary trouble and
discomfort to the whites, but ultimately and necessarily they could
not fail to provoke stern repression, and, if necessary, cruel
punishment to the blacks. Fortunately, the great bulk of the Negro
population in the South realizes this, and, having—at least for the
time—accepted it as inevitable, they adjust themselves to the
subordinate place to which their race consigns them, and in which
the very existence of the superior race makes it absolutely necessary
to keep them. There is little friction, therefore, between them and the
white people among whom they live.”
The Chattanooga Times regards the document as “treasonable
incendiarism,” and many papers denounce it as a demand for “social
equality.” The New Orleans Times-Democrat says:
“To the average American the most striking feature is this ‘appeal,’
aside from its attack upon Booker Washington, is its confession,
virtually in so many words, that the theory of racial social equality is
losing ground ‘everywhere in the United States.’ Thoughtful students
of the American race problem long ago noted the steady spread of
race instinct, or prejudice, into sections other than the South; but it
was hardly to be expected that the blatant Negro agitators would
confess that their strident demands for race equality have not only
completely failed, but have helped to turn the scale against them.
Such progress as the Negro has made is recorded not by aid of these
aspirants for social equality, but in spite of them.”
The Jersey City Journal says Negroes can vote in the North, they
are educated in the North, they are only partially restricted in
residence, they usually get equal pay for equal work, and the
“objection to having colored people in residence sections is natural.”
The Chicago Tribune “can understand and sympathize” with the
signers of the protest, but points out that the positions occupied by
the signers themselves show the progress of the Negro.
The New York World says:
“Undeniably, the black population of the United States has just
grievances. So also has the white population in the United States.
Race prejudice is here as it is in Europe, and blacks are not the only
sufferers. There is brutal tyranny in industry, but the blacks are not
the only victims. There are social limitations that are cruel and
inexcusable, but the blacks are not the only ones against whom the
gates are shut.
“This is a world in which true men give and take. It is a world in
which all must make allowances. It is a world in which, after all, men
are judged not so much by race or nationality or possessions as by
personal merit. Otherwise, how could a Booker Washington, born a
Virginia slave, have ‘stood before kings’ and associated for the
greater part of his life with the earth’s greatest and best?
“We do not condemn the American men of color who have made
this protest. We simply remonstrate with them. They are asking
more than a white man’s chance, and in the circumstances that is
inadmissible.”
The Boston Globe, however, thinks that “these and other
complaints are backed by educated Negroes, who demand that the
old world shall know their wrongs. They deny that Dr. Washington is
giving the right impression of the situation in this country. It would
seem to the average person that admittedly there is much truth in the
catalog of wrongs the association recites.”
The Brooklyn Times, too, acknowledges that “the lot of the colored
American is a hard one at best, but there is nothing to be gained by
complaining over conditions and prejudices that cannot be altered or
eradicated in the lifetime of a single generation. There are obstacles
in the path of the Afro-American, even the most intelligent and
aspiring, of which the meanest white man can hardly form an
adequate conception; the only thing the Negro can do is to make the
best of hard conditions and do his utmost by his individual
achievements to make the handicap of his color forgotten.
“It is not surprising, however, that to many ambitious colored
citizens patience sometimes ceases to seem a virtue.”
It adds that the appeal “is a mild statement of existing conditions.
The lot of the colored American is indeed a hard one. But it is
improving. The area of sweet reasonableness is being gradually
extended. Old prejudices, and especially racial prejudices, die hard,
as the history of the dispersed Hebrew nation tells on every page of
the annals of 2,000 years. But prejudice is not eternal, and every
colored American who does the utmost of his duty in the place he
fills does his part in bringing about the day when ungenerous and
unjust discrimination will disappear, and when
Man to man, the world o’er,
Shall brothers be, for a’ that.”

Finally, the Buffalo Express says emphatically:


“The memorial recites the long and familiar list of Negro wrongs—
the political disfranchisement, the denial of education in some
States, the discriminations in public places, the forcing into menial
occupations, the hostility of trades unions, the attempts to confine
Negroes to certain quarters of towns, the insults to Negro women,
etc. It need not be gone over here. Readers of the Express are
familiar with the shameful record. The fact that this is an appeal to
the people of Europe against the people of the United States will
arouse fresh antagonism to the Negro in some quarters, but, on the
whole, it will do good. For shame’s sake, if not for that of justice, it
may arouse us to do our duty. The opinion of the civilized world must
have some effect on the most calloused American official conscience.
And it is our governing class, our men and women of light and
leading, that need to be aroused on this question.”
THE GHETTO.
The Baltimore attempt to segregate colored people has called forth
widespread comment. A letter in the New York Sun thus portrays
conditions:
“The Negro invasion in Baltimore is principally in a north and
northwesterly direction, comprising the most beautiful, most
exclusive and most valuable residential sections. About the year 1885
steadily but insidiously the Negro began to invade white residential
sections. In Pennsylvania Avenue, beginning at Franklin Street in the
downtown district and running north about twenty-six blocks to the
intersection of North Avenue and Druid Hill Avenue, beginning at
Paca Street in the downtown district and running north about twenty
blocks to the intersection of North Avenue, as well as all blocks lying
between Pennsylvania and Druid Hill Avenues and containing
substantially built three-story houses, are now in the exclusive
possession of the Negroes. They are now beginning to invade
McCulloh Street, Madison Avenue, Eutaw Place and Linden Avenue,
which run parallel with Pennsylvania and Druid Hill Avenues.”
Some papers see in this indubitable evidence of the rise of colored
people.
As the Fitchburg (Mass.) Sentinel puts it:
“This is one of the most hopeful situations regarding the Negro
which has been painted. It is enough to send shivers down the backs
of the people who believe that ‘Cursed by Canaan’ is to hold good for
all time. But it is an immense reassurance to those who are looking
for the uplift of the black race. It seems, from this picture, that they
must be getting rich rapidly. They are obtaining possession of fine
residential property. They want to live in fine houses, the same as
white folks with money. Doubtless, too, the same as white folks, they
want to have the good things which money will buy.
“Judged by any test other than color, they seem to be very
desirable citizens.”
Other papers, like the Bridgeport Telegram, scent danger:
“If they are deprived of the right to build homes where they please
which is accorded to the most degraded white man who lands upon
these shores provided people will sell land to him, and robbed of the
right to become skilled workmen, their situation will be a much
graver one than that from which the Civil War delivered them.”
Dr. Henry Moskowitz, in the New York Evening Post, points to the
Russian analogy and the Boston Globe also insists on the failure of
the Ghetto idea:
“Segregation has never been a very successful solution of the race
problem, as may be seen in the experience of European cities with
ghettos and in Russia’s attempt to keep Jews confined within certain
pales. The Baltimore city council, however, by a piece of special
pleading in its report, tries to justify the ordinance by saying that its
‘underlying purpose is the maintenance of peace and good order and
the avoidance of friction and irritation between the two races.’ The
ordinance ‘aims to prevent the whites from becoming a disturbing
element to the blacks and likewise to prevent the Negroes from
becoming a disturbing element to the whites.’ Ahem!”
The New York Journal calls the experiment dangerous:
“It is true that the establishment of homes of colored people in
neighborhoods hitherto unfrequented by them causes antagonism
and may produce trouble and disturb real estate values. But it is also
true that it is dangerous, unjust and unworthy of this century to
revive the obsolete ghetto system, denying to certain human beings
the right to live where they please and where they can.
“We suppose that a white man who owns a house has a legal right
to sell it to a Negro if he pleases. And we suppose that the highest
court in the country will sustain the right of a colored man to live in
his own home, subject to the tax laws and regulations of his
neighborhood.
“Probably the plan to compel a hundred thousand colored people
in Baltimore to live all together in one neighborhood could not
legally be enforced.”
On the legal side of the matter Charles J. Bonaparte, formerly
United States Attorney-General, says to a Baltimore Sun reporter:
“I have always understood, however, that it was a lawful use of
private property to sell or rent one’s house for a proper purpose to an
orderly person of whatever race or color, without regard to the
wishes or the complexion of those who live next door, and, if this be
true, then the well-known Radecke case, in Forty-ninth Maryland, to
say nothing of other authorities, would seem to show clearly that if
our always wise Mayor and City Council should undertake to
interfere in such a matter, they could, and would, be politely advised
to mind their own business.”
The Brooklyn Eagle, the Nyack (N. Y.) Star and the Dover (N. H.)
Democrat call attention to the Lee Sing case (43 Federal Reports,
359), which voided an ordinance restricting the residence of a
Chinaman.
The New York Sun says on the “property values” issue:
“The Baltimore ordinance cannot be supported on the ground that
it is intended to protect one race against the indignities invariably
experienced whenever it is compelled to force its presence upon
another race in the pursuit of education, business and pleasure or in
the exercise of political rights. Its frank purpose is to protect the
property interests of the stronger race. In the opinion of the City
Council of Baltimore real estate values in certain avenues have
depreciated 30 to 50 per cent. owing to the presence of Negro
residents, but if the sapient council were to study the recent census
showing of Baltimore it would no doubt find that other causes have
been at work in bringing about the depreciation. In any event, the
proposed ordinance involves a principle which the courts are not
likely to accept.”
The Manchester (N. H.) Union says:
“It would seem as if the Negroes themselves would tire of making
purchases which immediately sink in value from a third to one-half,
and it is somewhat peculiar that in Philadelphia and Washington
there has been no tendency to anything of the kind, either as to
encroachment upon the territory of the whites or a depreciation of
the property occupied by the Negroes.”
The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph sees a chance for the Negro to make
money through such segregation and to be proud of their Ghettos,
but the Southwestern Christian Advocate, a colored paper, says:
“It is almost certain that wherever there is a Negro quarter there
will be little or no city improvement. Notwithstanding Negroes pay
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