Theos-Talk Archives (January 2003 Message tt00347)

Hi. This is a wonderful message and thanks for it. People need to enquire
both individually and together in order to sort things out. When there is a
clearer understanding, it will be easier to generate a certain force that
will help people become motivated and to make efforts that will lead to
order rather than disorder. I see too much referring back to the incomplete
(in my opinion) understanding of one person and then trying to use this as a
base It is not an orderly approach. Buddhism is organic and has been
debated, tested, designed, shaped and formatted by trial and error over many
generations in such a way as to keep things from going off track. It would
be difficult for one person, no matter how knowledgeable and motivated to do
this.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nick Weeks" <nick.weeks@worldnet.att.net>
To: <theos-talk@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 8:16 AM
Subject: Theos-World Re: Mahayana & HPB


> From: "wry" <wry1111@earthlink.net>
> To: <theos-talk@yahoogroups.com>
>
> > Hi. I have recently read some comments on Mahayana Buddhism with which I
> disagree. It is wonderful that Madame Blavatsky was interested in and
admired
> Mahayana Buddhism, had some Tibetan Buddhist teachings (maybe) and aspired
to
> be a Mahayana Buddhist. Her approach to certain material, however, does
not
> appear to be that of a Mahayana Buddhist, as she speaks again and again of
a
> first cause or a primal cause or a primal substance or whatever, and this
is
> not how a Mahayana Buddhist is trained to handle material. Moreover, any
> advanced Buddhist has taken certain vows not to tamper with or distort
> Buddhist teaching. She does seem to refer to the idea of dependent
origination
> in her writings and have a certain grasp of this concept, and some such
> material was recently quoted out here (I forget by whom), but this does
not
> make her a Mahayana Buddhist, as talk of a primal cause OR substance
refutes
> the concept of dependent origination, and no Mahayana Buddhist would
present
> material in this way.
>
> Nicholas:
> The present Dalai Lama has defined a Mahayanist, not doctrinally, but by
> motivation. He said it is the bodhichitta (altruistic wish to become, &
help
> all beings become Buddhas) motivation that is the determinate, not
doctrine or
> even the types of practices, whether tantric or sutric. He even said that
> someone whose doctrinal base is Hinayana, but who posseses the proper &
deep
> altruistic motivation is a Mahayanist.
>
> So I would put HPB in the Mahayana realm, because of her lion heart &
> dedication to an altruistic, bodhisattvic life. She was not trained
> intellectually very much in Buddhism, but there are millions of Buddhists
> today & into the distant past who also were poorly based in understanding
the
> difficult doctrines of Buddhism.
>
>
>
>
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>
>