The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 1 of 4: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and PhilosophyBlavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Religion
The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 1 of 4: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy
Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Theosophy
Âdi, or Âdhi Budha, the One, or the First, and Supreme Wisdom, is a term
used by Âryâsanga in his secret treatises, and now by all the mystic
Northern Buddhists. It is a Sanskrit term, and an appellation given by the
earliest Âryans to the Unknown Deity; the word “Brahmâ” not being found in
the _Vedas_ and the early works. It means the Absolute Wisdom, and
Âdibhûta is translated by Fitzedward Hall, “the primeval uncreated cause
of all.” Æons of untold duration must have elapsed, before the epithet of
Buddha was so humanized, so to speak, as to allow of the term being
applied to mortals, and finally appropriated to one whose unparalleled
virtues and knowledge caused him to receive the title of the “Buddha of
Wisdom Unmoved.” _Bodha_ means the innate possession of divine intellect
or understanding; _Buddha_, the acquirement of it by personal efforts and
merit; while _Buddhi_ is the faculty of cognizing, the channel through
which divine knowledge reaches the Ego, the discernment of good and evil,
also divine conscience, and the Spiritual Soul, which is the vehicle of
Âtmâ. “When Buddhi absorbs our Ego‐tism (destroys it) with all its
Vikâras, Avalokiteshvara becomes manifested to us, and Nirvâna, or Mukti,
is reached,” Mukti being the same as Nirvana, _i.e._, freedom from the
trammels of Mâyâ or Illusion. _Bodhi_ is likewise the name of a particular
state of trance‐condition, called Samâdhi, during which the subject
reaches the culmination of spiritual knowledge.
Unwise are those who, in their blind and, in our age, untimely hatred of
Buddhism, and, by reäction, of Budhism, deny its esoteric teachings, which
are those also of the Brâhmans, simply because the name suggests what to
them, as Monotheists, are noxious doctrines. _Unwise_ is the correct term
to use in their case. For in this age of crass and illogical materialism,
the Esoteric Philosophy alone is calculated to withstand the repeated
attacks on all and everything man holds most dear and sacred in his inner
spiritual life. The true philosopher, the student of Esoteric Wisdom,
entirely loses sight of personalities, dogmatic beliefs and special
religions. Moreover, Esoteric Philosophy reconciles all religions, strips
every one of its outward human garments, and shows the root of each to be
identical with that of every other great religion. It proves the necessity
of a Divine Absolute Principle in Nature. It denies Deity no more than it
does the sun. Esoteric Philosophy has never rejected God in Nature, nor
Deity as the absolute and abstract _Ens_. It only refuses to accept any of
the gods of the so‐called monotheistic religions, gods created by man in
his own image and likeness, a blasphemous and sorry caricature of the
Ever‐Unknowable. Furthermore, the records we mean to place before the
reader embrace the esoteric tenets of the whole world since the beginning
of our humanity, and Buddhistic Occultism occupies therein only its
legitimate place, and no more.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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