Julian of Norwich and Other Tibetan Lamas

Thus I toke it for that time that our lord Ihesu, of his curteys love, would shewe me comfort before the time of my temptation. For methought it might well be that I should, by the sufferance of God and with his keping, be tempted of fiends before I died. ₁

Temptation during the process of dying was to be expected, as the medieval texts of spiritual counsel affirm. And one could expect the degree of temptation at that most liminal of moments to be intense indeed. In this way, the second chapter of “The Book of the Craft of Dying,” affirms: “Knowe all men douʒtles þat men þat dyen in her last siknesse & ende haue grettest & most greuouse temptacions, & such as þei neuer had be-for in all her lyfe …” ₂ The text, “Visitatio Infirmorum,” supports this teaching: “[G]risely deuelys, the whiche han tempted men to synne in this lyf, wollen in the laste hour been ful besy to begile hem, and nameliche with wanhope [or despair] of goddys mercy.” ₃ Historian Eamon Duffy writes that the popular pedagogical media of the period portrayed the deathbed as “the centre of an epic struggle for the soul of the Christian, in which the Devil bent all his strength to turn the soul from Christ and his cross to self-loathing or self-reliance.” The scholar continues:

Against these temptations the cross and the armies of the redeemed were marshalled to assist the dying Christian. The bedroom became a crowded battlefield centered on the last agonies of the man or woman in the bed. ₄    

But temptations, as Julians words above imply, were not the sole instrument of the Devil and his minions. Indeed, the text, “The Remedy Against the Troubles of Temptations,” explains:

Our mercyfull lorde god cryst Ihesu chastyseth his chyldren and suffreth them to be tempted for many proufytable causes to theyr soules helth. / & therefore sholde noo man nor woman be heuy or sory for ony temptacyon. For as saynt Iames the appostle techeth vs we sholde haue very greate Ioye when we be tempted with dyuers temptacyons / for as the golde is pured and purged by the fyre / and a knyght in batayle is proued good: ryght so is a man by temptacyon proued for good / but yf he suffer hymselfe to be ouercome / that is to saye but he consent therto by delyberacyon. For sothely whan a man is sharpely tempted he may than haue hope of gr[e]te vertue / and it is necessary for a man moche to be troubled with temptacyons / for euery virtue is proued by its contrarye. ₅

The teachings of these sources help to explain Julian’s sense that she would, “by the sufferance of God and with his keping [protection], be tempted of fiends” before she died. And “The Remedy,” explains the attitude and spiritual posture one should assume in the face of such temptations:

Our enemy the fende is besy daye and nyght to tary and trauayle good men and women with dy∣uers temptacyons in doubtes of the fayth and dredes of saluacyon and other many moo in dyuers maners and specyally now in these dayes he is full besy to de∣ceyue many soules / and therfore wysely rule you to withstande his vyolent sterynges of temptacyon / & for all that take ye noo dredes of his assawtes / ne haue ye ony doubte of his erroures ne dyspytes nor of his false leasynges or fantasyes or ony maner of tra∣uayle of that foule fende whether ye here hym se hym or thynke of hym take noo hede therof / for all be ma∣ters of grete mede and noo synne in noo wyse be they neuer soo troublous or full of anguysshes whyles it cometh of the malyce of the fende or of euyll dysposycyon of mannes nature or compleccyon. And therfore all suche trauayle men ought not to charge but suffre mekely and abyde pacyently tyll god doo remedy therto.  ₆

And “The Remedy” goes to great lengths to advise that the one experiencing such temptations not further their own distress and affliction:

And for as moche as they be maters of grete mede none ought to stryue there agaynst / nor meruayle of them ne seke the cause nor thynke by what skyll he is soo trauaylled / for the more that a man laboureth in sechynge and thynkynge of suche anguysshes the more depely he falleth in to errours / and therfore in as moche as mannes thought is often vayne and dyuers and none ende hath: it ought not to be forced or be taken hede of / ne a man sholde not angre hymselfe therwith ne blame ne impute it to his owne defaute that he is so troubled / for suche trauaylles ben paynefull but not synfull in soo moche as they be gretely agaynst his wyll. ₇

Endnotes

1. Julian of Norwich, The Writings of Julian of Norwich, Eds, Nicholas Watson and Jacqueline Jenkins. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, Chapter 4, lines 13-17, page 137, lines 17-20.
2. “The Book of the Craft of Dying,” Yorkshire Writers: Richard Rolle and His Followers. Edited by C. Horstmann. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1999, page 408.
3. “Visitatio Infirmorum,” Yorkshire Writers: Richard Rolle and His Followers. Edited by C. Horstmann. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1999, page 450.
4. Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of Altars: Traditional Religion in England 1400-1580. New Haven: Yale University Press, page 317.
5. “The Remedy Ayenst the Troubles of Temptacyons,” Yorkshire Writers: Richard Rolle and His Followers. Edited by C. Horstmann. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1999, pages 106-107.
6. “The Remedy Ayenst the Troubles of Temptacyons,” Yorkshire Writers: Richard Rolle and His Followers. Edited by C. Horstmann. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1999, page 107. The tone of this text’s approach resonates with that of “lojong” or “mind training” texts regarding seeming adversities: “Harms are seen as adversities and obstacles by those unfamiliar with Dharma. But for someone who has entered the gateway of Dharma, the master said, they are [exactly] like what Chengawa explained to Shawo Gangpa: ‘If someone possesses mind training, all of this – physical illness and mental sufferings – is skillful means through which the teachers and the Three Jewels bestow their blessings and higher attainments. Therefore, you should transform all circumstances into factors conducive for training in the awakening mind.” (Se Chilbu Chokyi Gyaltsen (1121-1189), “A Commentary on the ‘Seven-Point Mind Training.’” Mind Training: The Great Collection. Translated and edited by Thupten Jinpa. Somerville: Wisdom Publications, page 97.)     
7. “The Remedy Ayenst the Troubles of Temptacyons,” Yorkshire Writers: Richard Rolle and His Followers. Edited by C. Horstmann. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1999, page 107.