Theos-Talk Archives (October 1998 Message tt00049)

Dear Theosophical Friends,

I have nearly finished up my doctoral program in Buddhism at UC
Berkeley, and the moment I have been waiting for has arrived.  My
advisor has approved the following dissertation topic: HPB
BLAVATSKY AND CANONICAL BUDDHISM.  The dissertation will be my
chance to prove that HPB not only correctly reports Buddhism in
her works, especially the Voice of the Silence, but also goes
beyond current scholarship in attributing Buddhism to the
remotest antiquity and in showing its connections to early Aryan
and even Egyptian and Chaldean wisdom.

Why am I making this dissertation work public? Because I need the
occasional help of volunteers -- experts in Theosophy -- to help
me attribute quotes, track down sources, etc.  I have only ten
years experience with Theosophical literature, and often I can't
remember where I read something, or what it means.  Mind you I am
not asking for people to do the work for me, but to help bounce
ideas around and to make sure I have things correctly.  Nothing
will damage my attempted scholarly vindication of HPB more than
having my facts wrong.  Scholars are already quite skeptical of
HPB; here's our chance to show Blavatsky's solid and enduring
value to modern academia, using their own methods.

If any are interested, please email me privately and I can give
more information as to what exactly I need.  As a sample, I have
listed a few points that currently stump me.

(1) Where is it the late Buddhist scholar D.T.  Suzuki praises
HPB's Buddhism?

(2) What is the original document in which HPB claims to have
translated the Voice of the Silence from the south Indian
language Telugu, as printed in the Concord Grove Press edition of
the Voice?

(3) Where can I find the original 1927 Peking edition of the
Voice, where the 9th Panchen Lama sends his "Enter the Path"
message?

(4) Where does the Lama Kazi Dawa Samdup (who with Evans-Wentz
translated the TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD) say that HPB has
"intimate acquaintance with the higher lamaistic teachings"?

(5) Where does HPB describe the Masters, speaking of themselves,
as Pre-Vedic Buddhists?

Richard Taylor