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Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken

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Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, Bô Yin Râ (1920)

Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, born as Joseph Anton Schneider, also known as Bô Yin Râ (born 25 November 1876 in Aschaffenburg; died 14 February 1943 in Massagno in Canton of Ticino, Switzerland),[1] was a German and Swiss spiritual teacher, poet and painter.[2][3][4] His legacy comprises forty books and close to two hundred paintings.[5]

Biography

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From 1892 to 1895, Schneiderfranken studied painting at the Städel Art Institute (Städelschule) in Frankfurt. Between 1895 and 1898, he received one and a half years of free tuition from the painter Hans Thoma while also working as a scene painter at the Frankfurt City Theater. He completed his studies at the Städel master workshop in 1899.

From 1900 to 1902, Schneiderfranken continued his artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, then briefly in Munich, and later at the Académie Julian in Paris. In 1912–1913, he traveled to Greece, where he adopted the spiritual name Bô Yin Râ, under which he later published his spiritual writings beginning in 1913.

During World War I, he was drafted into service and in 1917–1918 worked as an interpreter for interned Greek nationals in Görlitz. After the war, he resumed his artistic and literary work. In 1923, he moved permanently to Switzerland, first settling in Horgen on Lake Zurich and then in Massagno near Lugano in 1925. He and his family obtained Swiss citizenship in 1938.

Bô Yin Râ claimed that his teachings were based on direct inner experience of spiritual realities rather than on any external doctrine or tradition. His works, notably The Book of the Living God and The Path to God, describe a path of inner illumination, emphasizing personal realization of the divine, ethical self-discipline, and the unity of all true religions. He denied founding a sect or church, presenting his writings instead as guidance for individual spiritual development grounded in intuitive insight and creative responsibility.

Schneiderfranken influenced author Gustav Meyrink, composer Felix Weingartner,[4][6] and Eckhart Tolle.[7]

Books

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Here is a list of all 32 books in the spiritual teaching cycle called Hortus Conclusus by Bô Yin Râ. Many of them published with Kurt Wolff [8]

Original German Titles English translation Titles
1 Das Buch der königlichen Kunst The Book on The Royal Art
2 Das Buch vom lebendigen Gott The Book on The Living God
3 Das Buch vom Jenseits The Book on Life Beyond
4 Das Buch vom Menschen The Book on Human Nature
5 Das Buch vom Glück The Book on Happiness
6 Der Weg zu Gott The Path to God
7 Das Buch der Liebe The Book on Love
8 Das Buch des Trostes The Book on Solace
9 Das Buch der Gespräche The Book of Dialogues
10 Das Geheimnis The Secret
11 Die Weisheit des Johannes The Wisdom of St. John
12 Wegzeichen Signs Along The Way
13 Das Gespenst der Freiheit The Mirage of Freedom
14 Der Weg meiner Schüler The Way of My Readers
15 Das Mysterium von Golgatha The Mystery of Golgotha
16 Kult-Magie und Mythus Cult and Ceremonial Magic
17 Der Sinn dieses Lebens The Meaning of this Life
18 Mehr Licht More Light
19 Das hohe Ziel The Highest Goal
20 Auferstehung Resurrection
21 Welten Worlds of Spirit
22 Psalmen Psalms
23 Die Ehe On Marriage
24 Das Gebet On Prayer
25 Geist und Form Spirit and Form
26 Scintillae Scintillas
27 Worte des Lebens Words of Life
28 Über dem Alltag Above the Everyday
29 Ewige Wirklichkeit Reality Eternal
30 Leben im Licht Living in Eternal Light
31 Briefe an Einen und Viele Letters to One and to Many
32 Hortus Conclusus The Gated Garden

Notes

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  1. ^ Wolfgang Heller (1995). "Schneiderfranken, Joseph Anton (geistl. Name: Bô Yin Râ)". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 9. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 569–572. ISBN 3-88309-058-1.
  2. ^ Antoine Faivre (1 October 2010). Western Esotericism: A Concise History. SUNY Press. pp. 105–. ISBN 978-1-4384-3377-6.
  3. ^ "Access to Western Esotericism", Antoine Faivre, SUNY Press, 1994, p. 106
  4. ^ a b Corinna Treitel (9 March 2004). A Science for the Soul: Occultism and the Genesis of the German Modern. JHU Press. pp. 128–131. ISBN 978-0-8018-7812-1.
  5. ^ "Brief Biography :: Bo Yin Ra - Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken". www.boyinra.org. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
  6. ^ "The Virtuoso Conductors: The Central European Tradition from Wagner to Karajan", by Raymond Holden, Yale University Press, 2005, p. 114
  7. ^ "Eckhart Tolle: This man could change your life". The Independent. 21 June 2008. Archived from the original on 2022-06-14.
  8. ^ "Brief Biography :: Bo Yin Ra - Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken". www.boyinra.org. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
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