4 101 Access NHL Commentaries

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NHL Commentaries © John Lamb Lash

Access
The NHL Reading Plan is organized into three sets of texts with a total of 32 of the 52
texts in the Greek-Coptic corpus. The order of the text is alphabetic which may appears
arbitrary but turns out to be helpful (as explained in the Introduction). The arrangement in
three sets provides thematic unity.

§ Important note added with release on Nemeta, March 2020: Most of these
commentaries were written 15 years ago when metahistory.org was supported by the
Marion Foundation. Some were later revised, others stand in their original version. My
associations at Marion included Harold Talbott, head of the Buddhayana Foundation
established by Michael Baldwin, one of the co-founders of the Institute. In that time and
setting, I found it natural and congenial to a develop a rapprochment (alliance) between
Buddhism and Gnosis. Also, bear in mind that when I wrote The Tantric Conversion in
October 2008, at a time when these commentaries were already online, I applied a further
measure of syncretism (the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different
religions, cultures, or schools of thought), due to the need to amplify and upscale the
Gnostic message. The Conversion is syncretic, combining and comparing Gnostic intel
with Mahayana Buddhism, Vajrayana, and Asian mystical traditions including the Vedic
and Yogic perspectives, as well as “Hindu Tantra” drawn from Sir John Woodroofe, Alain
Danielou, and David Gordon White (The Alchemical Body, Kiss of the Yogini), not to
mention Buddhist Goddesses of India by Miranda Shaw, Tantric Visions of the Divine
Feminine by David Kingsley, Female Buddhas by Greg Mullin, and a range of other
goddess-centered scholarship.

That being so, you will find passages in these commentaries where I allude to Buddhism
or Asian Tantra to elucidate the Gnostic intel. Such allusions necessarily appear to be
endorsements of the material, themes, and practices cited. Were I to rigorously edit these
materials today, I might be tempted to delete some of the allusions—not all, but some.
Upon release on Nemeta, I will let them stand in the original versions. You can determine
for yourselves how I would qualify that daunting exercise of syncretism were I to
undertake it today.

Use the links in the templates below to access commentaries released incrementally on
Nemeta.

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 Sculpted Buddhic figure in Grecian toga, typical of the syncretic style of Gandhara,
sometimes called Greco-Buddhist, a highly influential style. Wikipedia: The origins
of Greco-Buddhist art are to be found in the Hellenistic Greco-Bacterian Kingdom
(250–130 BC), located in today’s Afghanistan, from which Hellenistic culture
radiated into the Indian subcontinent with the establishment of the Indo-Greek
kingdom (180–10 BC). Under the Indo-Greeks and then the Kushans, the
interaction of Greek and Buddhist culture flourished in the area of Gandhara, in
today’s northern Pakistan, before spreading further into India, influencing the art of
Mathura, and then the Hindu art of the Gupta empire, which was to extend to the
rest of South-East Asia. The influence of Greco-Buddhist art also spread northward
towards Central Asia, strongly affecting the art of the Tarim Basin, and ultimately
the arts of China, Korea, and Japan.

4 NHL Reading Plan

“The Mysteries and the Master”

1. Allogenes p 490 Allogenes

2. Apocalypse of Peter p 372 Apoc Peter

3. The Dialogue of the Savior p 244 Dial Sav

4. The Gospel of Thomas p 124 Gos Thom

5. Second Treatise of Great Seth p 362 Treat Seth

6. Sentences of Sextus p 503 Sent Sextus

7. Teachings of Silvanus p 379 Teach Silv

8. Thunder, Perfect Mind p 295 Thund

“Ritual and Revelation”

9. 1st Apocalypse of James p 260 Apoc Jas

10. Apocryphon of James p 104 Ap Jas

11. Book of Thomas the Contender p 199 Thom Cont

12. Gospel of Philip p 139 Gos Phil

13. Hypostasis of the Archons/Reality of the Rulers p 161 Hyp Arch

14. On the Origin of the World p 170 Orig World

15. Testimony of Truth p 448 Test Truth

16. Tripartite Tractate p 58 Tri Trac

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 17. Valentinian Exposition p 481 Val Exp

“The Sense of Cosmic Order”

18. The Apocalypse of Adam p 277 Apoc Adam

19. (Second) Apocalypse of James p 269 2 Apoc Jas

20. Apocryphon of John p 104 Apoc John

21. Concept of Our Great Power p 311 Great Pow

22. Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth p 321 Disc 8-9

23. Eugnostos the Blessed p 220 Eugnostos

24. Eugnostos parallel: The Sophia of Jesus Christ p 220 Soph JC

25. Exegesis of the Soul p 190 Exeg Soul

26. Gospel of the Egyptians p 208 Gos Eg

27. Gospel of Truth p 38 Gos Truth

28. Marsanes p 460 Marsanes

29. The Paraphrase of Shem p 339 Para Shem

30. The Three Steles of Seth p 396 Steles Seth

31. Trimorphic Protennoia p 511 Trim Prot

32. Zostrianos p 402 Zost

These tables list the selected 32 documents in the reading plan, with page numbers in the
NHLE, and conventional abbreviations of titles. Each of the commentaries opens with
standard information: title, Codex book (Roman numeral) and text number, location in
NHLE, length of text, state of the text (damaged, intact, etc.), type or genre, and CORE or
outstanding themes of the text. For example, text 9 in the second module:

9. The (First) Apocalypse of James: NHC V, 3. NHLE p 260. Six pages,

somewhat damaged. Revelation discourse with dialogue. CORE: facing the
Archons, commission to secret knowledge.

§ Alphabetic List: The Nag Hammadi Library in English

1991 Edition: NHL Alphabetic List

Berlin Codex: pages 523 – 531

BG, 1 The Gospel of Mary
BG, 2 The Apocryphon of John

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Bc, 3 The Sophia of Jesus Christ
BG, 4 The Act of Peter

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