Identity Theft - Beware of Passing Lamas
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| One man's journey to spiritual awareness began when he fell out of a tree in Weston Green Road |
It all started in Thames Ditton on 13 June 1949, when misunderstood mystic Cyril Hoskins fell out of a tree in the garden of Rosecroft House in Weston Green Road and, if the words of productive author T. Lobsang Rampa are to be believed, went via the astral plane to Tibet and became a Tibetan lama.
Hoskins, a Devonian by birth, was a struggling writer and plumber with a compulsion to adopt Oriental ways who had previously changed his name to Carl KuonSuo. He had climbed the tree to photograph an owl when, according to William Scanlon Murphy in a 1995 BBC Radio 4 broadcast:
"Unfortunately his weight proved too much for one of the branches and he came down, head first, sending his terrified cat for cover.
"Meanwhile lama T. Lobsang Rampa was cruising by on the astral plane. Rampa had hit a bad patch in Tibet, his body was coming to bits after a hard life of man-carrying kites, Japanese torturers and assorted metaphysical fender-benders. He was in the market for a new model. Hoskins was sick of his meaningless, materialistic Western existence. The two fell into conversation. They both nipped across to Tibet, via the astral plane, of course, so that Lobsang's Abbot and the ever-present Lama Mingyar Dondup could act as brokers. Before long a deal had been struck. Rampa negotiated a large karmic discount for Hoskins, for which Hoskins would trade in his body shell, Rampa would get Hoskins' body, not to mention his wife, cat and colossal overdraft, while Hoskins would simply drift off into nirvana."
And so began the erstwhile Hoskins' incredible career as author T. Lobsang Rampa, who wrote more than 20 spiritual knowledge books - starting in 1956 with The Third Eye and finishing with I Believe, which was published in April 1977. The Third Eye became a bestseller: the Times Literary Supplement described it as "near to being a work of art. " Rampa maintained that one of his books, Living With The Lama, was dictated to him telepathically by his pet Siamese cat, Mrs. Fifi Greywhiskers.
From the very first book Rampa claimed that every word he wrote was true. But it caused a furore in London, when some Tibetan scholars challenged the authenticity of Rampa and averred he was not a Tibetan and had never been to Tibet! Rampa rebutted that with the statement: "All that I write in that book is fact. I, a Tibetan lama, now occupy what was originally the body of a Western man, and I occupy it to the permanent and total exclusion of the former occupant. He gave his willing consent - being glad to escape from life on this earth in view of my urgent need."
One of his devotees, Gray Barker, a Buddist from America, said: "His narrative is full of life, colour and exciting adventure. As Rampa could travel in the astral plane at will, you can glean a great deal of metaphysical insights by reading his books."
Whether or not the story is true, hundreds and thousand thousands of his readers believed it and the more Rampa was criticised as a fraud by the media, the more they believed him. In fact he alleged that he had had to escape to live in Ireland, and later Canada, because of the hounding of the tabloids. He had a cult following in Canada, but most of all in California - the home of the New Age industry - where thousands of his books are still printed every month. Unfortunately he didn't live to see how huge he became.
Rampa died in Alberta in 1981, a Canadian citizen, after 10 years in a wheelchair. Strangely enough he died on the same day as the Dalai Lama's mother. Her real name, according to her obituary, was Lamu Donup. The Dalai Lama's eldest brother was called Lobsang, so maybe Hoskins was reading one of his Oriental books at the time his amazing metamorphosis took place in Weston Green Road.
According to the current owner of Rosecroft House, Mrs Irene Taylor, colourful parakeets now inhabit the tree. There is no owl and, although she has a lovely black and white cat, she has never seen any Lamas strolling in the garden!
Carolyn Howie
The author is a former journalist for various publications and for the BBC.
Footnote: Our membership secretary has no record that Cyril Hoskins, Carl KuonSuo or T. Lobsang Rampa ever paid their subscriptions to the Residents' Association. Mrs Fifi Greywhiskers may still have a book loan outstanding at the Library.