Theos-Talk Archives (September 2002 Message tt00045)

Sept 7 2002

Dear Friends:

The following does not relate to any particular "thread" of
discussion, but reading through H P B's THEOSOPHICAL
GLOSSARY I came on some interesting definitions.

Hope these prove of interest

Best wishes,

Dallas

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Series on: ESOTERIC and OCCULT


H P B notes on these from here and there

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1.

Forerunner of the THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT
-- Katyayana: Buddha's favourite disciple
--Now "beyond the Himalayas"


Abhayagiri (Sk.). Lit., "Mount Fearless" in Ceylon. It has
an ancient Vihâra or Monastery in which the well-known
Chinese traveller Fa-hien found 5,000 Buddhist priests and
ascetics in the year 400 of our era, and a School called
Abhayagiri Vâsinah,, "School of the Secret Forest".

This philosophical school was regarded as heretical, as the
ascetics studied the doctrines of both the "greater" and the
"smaller" vehicles- or the Mahâyâna and the Hinayâna systems
and Triyâna or the three successive degrees of Yoga; just as
a certain Brotherhood does now beyond the Himalayas.

This proves that the "disciples of Kâtyâyana were and are as
unsectarian as their humble admirers the Theosophists are
now. (See "Sthâvirâh" School.) This was the most mystical of
all the schools, and renowned for the number of Arhats it
produced. The Brotherhood of Abhayagiri called themselves
the disciples of Kâtyâyana, the favourite Chela of Gautama,
the Buddha. Tradition says that owing to bigoted intolerance
and persecution, they left Ceylon and passed beyond the
Himalayas, where they have remained ever since.
THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY p. 3


2

STHÂVIRÂH, or Sthâviranikaya (Sk.). One of the earliest
philosophical contemplative schools, founded 300 B.C. In the
year 247 before the Christian era, it split into three
divisions: the Mahâvihâra Vâsinâh (School of the great
monasteries), Jêtavaniyâh, and Abhayagiri Vâsinâh. It is one
of the four branches of the Vaibhâchika School founded by
Kâtyâyana, one of the great disciples of Lord Gautama
Buddha, the author of the Abhidharma Jnana Prasthâna
Shastra, who is expected to reappear as a Buddha.
(See "Abhayagiri ", etc.) All these schools are highly
mystical. Lit., Stâviranikaya is translated the " School of
the Chairman" or "President" (Chohan). THEOSOPHICAL
GLOSSARY p. 310


3

MAHAYÂNA (Pal.). A school; lit., "the great vehicle". A
mystical system founded by Nâgârjuna. Its books were written
in the second century B.C. Glos. 201
4

HINAYANA (Sk.). The " Smaller Vehicle"; a Scripture and a
School of the Northern Buddhists, opposed to the Mahayana,
"the Greater Vehicle", in Tibet. Both schools are mystical.
(See "Mahayana".) Also in exoteric superstition the lowest
form of transmigration. Glos. p. 142

5

ÂRYA (Sk.) Lit., "the holy"; originally the title of Rishis,
those who had mastered the "Âryasatyâni" (q.v.) and entered
the Âryanimârga path to Nirvâna or Moksha, the great
"four-fold" path. But now the name has become the epithet of
a race, and our Orientalists, depriving the Hindu Brahmans
of their birth-right, have made Aryans of all Europeans. In
esotericism, as the four paths, or stages, can be entered
only owing to great spiritual development and "growth in
holiness ", they are called the "four fruits". The degrees
of Arhatship, called respectively Srotâpatti, Sakridâgamin,
Anâgâmin, and Arhat, or the four classes of Âryas,
correspond to these four paths and truths. THEOSOPHICAL
GLOSSARY p. 32

6

THEOSOPHIA (Gr.). Wisdom-religion, or "Divine Wisdom". The
substratum and basis of all the world-religions and
philosophies, taught and practised by a few elect ever since
man became a thinking being. In its practical bearing,
Theosophy is purely divine ethics; the definitions in
dictionaries are pure nonsense, based on religious prejudice
and ignorance of the true spirit of the early Rosicrucians
and mediæval philosophers who called themselves
Theosophists.

7
THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, or "Universal Brotherhood". Founded in
1875 at New York, by Colonel H. S. Olcott and H. P.
Blavatsky, helped by W. Q. Judge and several others. Its
avowed object was at first the scientific investigation of
psychic or so-called "spiritualistic" phenomena, after which
its three chief objects were declared, namely (1)
Brotherhood of man, without distinction of race, colour,
religion, or social position; (2) the serious study of the
ancient world-religions for purposes of comparison and the
selection therefrom of universal ethics; ( the study and
development of the latent divine powers in man. At the
present moment it has over 250 Branches scattered all over
the world, most of which are in India, where also its chief
Headquarters are established. It is composed of several
large Sections-the Indian, the American, the Australian, and
the European Sections.

8
THEOSOPHISTS. A name by which many mystics at various
periods of history have called themselves. The
Neo-Platonists of Alexandria were Theosophists; the
Alchemists and Kabbalists during the mediæval ages were
likewise so called, also the Martinists, the Quietists, and
other kinds of mystics, whether acting independently or
incorporated in a brotherhood or society. All real lovers of
divine Wisdom and Truth had, and have, a right to the name,
rather than those who, appropriating the qualification, live
lives or perform actions opposed to the principles of
Theosophy. As described by Brother Kenneth R. Mackenzie, the
Theosophists of the past centuries-" entirely speculative,
and founding no schools, have still exercised a silent
influence upon philosophy; and, no doubt, when the time
arrives, many ideas thus silently propounded may yet give
new directions to human thought. One of the ways in which
these doctrines have obtained not only authority, but power,
has been among certain enthusiasts in the higher degrees of
Masonry. This power has, however, to a great degree died
with the founders, and modern Freemasonry contains few
traces of theosophic influence. However accurate and
beautiful some of the ideas of Swedenborg, Pernetty,
Paschalis, Saint Martin, Marconis, Ragon, and Chastanier may
have been, they have but little direct influence on
society." This is true of the Theosophists of the last three
centuries, but not of the later ones. For the Theosophists
of the current century have already visibly impressed
themselves on modern literature, and introduced the desire
and craving for some philosophy in place of the blind
dogmatic faith of yore, among the most intelligent portions
of human-kind. Such is the difference between past and
modern THEOSOPHY.
9
THERAPEUTÆ (Gr.) or Therapeutes. A school of Esotericists,
which was an inner group within Alexandrian Judaism and not,
as generally believed, a "sect". They were "healers" in the
sense that some "Christian" and " Mental" Scientists,
members of the T.S., are healers, while they are at the same
time good Theosophists and students of the esoteric
sciences. Philo Judæus calls them "servants of god". As
justly shown in A Dictionary of . . . Literature, Sects, and
Doctrines (Vol. IV., art. "Philo Judmus ") in mentioning the
Therapeutes-" There appears no reason to think of a special
"sect", but rather of an esoteric circle of illuminati, of
'wise men' . . . They were contemplative Hellenistic Jews."
THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY pp 328-9


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DTB