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The Third Eye, published in 1956, is the most famous book by Cyril Henry Hoskin, born in Plympton, Great Britain, and who died in 1981 in Calgary, Canada. From the various covers of the numerous reprints, it is clear that the author of The Third Eye is Lobsang Rampa. In fact, the story begins when the Irish plumber, after falling from a tall tree, is contacted telepathically by a Tibetan lama named Lobsang Rampa. The lama is dying and asks Mr. Hoskin to allow his soul to transmigrate into his body. From that moment on, Cyril Henry Hoskin becomes definitively Lobsang Rampa.
In his book The Third Eye, he writes:
He placed the instrument at the center of my forehead and turned the handle. For a moment there was a sensation as if someone were pricking me with thorns. It seemed as if time had stopped. There was no particular pain as the instrument pierced the skin and flesh; there was only a small shock when it struck the bone. The operator increased the pressure, slightly oscillating the instrument so that the small teeth could dig into the frontal bone. The pain was not sharp at all, just a sense of pressure and dull pain. I could not move with Lama Mingyar Dondup watching; I would rather die than move or complain. He had faith in me, as I had in him, and I knew that what he did or said was right.
Suddenly there was a small “scrunch” and the instrument penetrated the bone. Immediately the operator stopped. He held the handle of the instrument firmly while Lama Mingyar Dondup passed him a small wooden splint, very hard and smooth. The splint had been treated with fire and herbs to make it as hard as steel. The splint was inserted into the “U” of the instrument and pushed down to just enter the hole in my head. The operator shifted slightly to the side to allow Lama Mingyar Dondup to also face me. Then, at a signal from him, the operator, with infinite care, pushed the splint ever deeper.
Suddenly I felt a prick, a tickling that seemed to come from the bridge of the nose. The sensation subsided and I became aware of a subtle fragrance I could not identify. Then the scent vanished, and suddenly there was a blinding flash, and at that instant Lama Mingyar Dondup said, “Stop.” For a moment the pain was intense, a piercing white flame. The pain decreased and disappeared, replaced by spirals of color and glowing smoke globules. The metal instrument was carefully removed. The wooden splint remained; it would stay in position for two or three weeks, and until it was removed, I was to remain in this small room, almost completely dark.
Lobsang Rampa died in Canada in 1981.