# Into the heathenish temple of Buddah

### Ron in the East - China 1928

An essential part of the myth of L. Ron Hubbard's interest in philosophy is his visits to Asia in the 1920s. This line has not changed, though much other subtle watering-down has occurred in the past couple of years. Mission into Time (LRH, 1973) states (pp. 5-6) that:

> `He explored many out-of-the-way places and saw many strange-seeming peoples and customs. But it was in Northern China and India, while studying with holy men, that he became vitally engrossed in the subject of the spiritual destiny of Mankind.`

According to Scientology: Fundamentals of Thought (LRH, 1956) Hubbard's research into the human mind started 35 years previously in 1921; the China trip was one of the key elements which, it is said, led to him synthesising Eastern mysticism with Western science to create Scientology. Images of a Lifetime (1996) declares on page 40 that:

> `Upon his return to the China mainland in 1928, the view was just as grim. By the same token, however, it was also through this second China venture that he made his way quite far into Manchuria's Western Hills - to break bread with Mongolian bandits, share campfires with Siberian shamans and befriend the last of the royal magicians from the court of Kublai Khan. Then, too, as all those familiar with Ron's life will recall, he became one of the first Occidentals after Marco Polo to gain access into forbidden Tibetan lamaseries and otherwide drink deep from what he aptly termed "the airy spirals and dread mysteries".`

This quote is a particularly significant one. Until Hubbard's boyhood diaries were rediscovered in 1980, the only source for this information was Hubbard himself. Mission into Time's, biographical sketch for instance, is compiled purely from autobiographical material supplied by Hubbard. The bio sketches in Images of a Lifetime were written by the official LRH Biographer, Dan Sherman (a Scientologist, naturally) who clearly has access to all of Hubbard's personal documents; he quotes from Hubbard's diaries elsewhere in the book.

Hubbard's diaries directly contradict what the quote above. Bluntly, Mr Sherman is knowingly falsifying his account.

The following is Exhibit #65 of the still-sealed papers in the 1984 case Church of Scientology of California vs Gerald Armstrong (the court order has no force outside of the US). Because of Fair Use considerations, we are only able to reproduce a fragment of Hubbard's otherwise extensive journal of his 1927 trip to China. Below are two images which illustrate:

- Hubbard's real attitude towards Eastern mysticism.
- Hubbard's deeply-ingrained racism (a trait he never lost).

In the heathenish llama [sic] temple

The problem with Chinamen

Last updated 6 Dec 1996