Theos-Talk Archives (March 2004 Message tt00660)

Hallo all,

My views are:

May I add:

H. P. Blavatsky: Vol. 1, Page 108 THE SECRET DOCTRINE:

"So, for instance, Amitabha is the Dhyani-Buddha of Gautama Sakyamuni,
manifesting through him whenever this great Soul incarnates on earth as He
did in Tzon-kha-pa.** As the synthesis of the seven Dhyani-Buddhas,
Avalokiteswara was the first Buddha (the Logos), so Amitabha is the inner
"God" of Gautama, who, in China, is called Amita(-Buddha)."

......."

** The first and greatest Reformer who founded the "Yellow-Caps," Gyalugpas.
He was born in the year 1355 A.D. in Amdo, and was the Avatar of Amitabha,
the celestial name of Gautama Buddha."




from
M. Sufilight with peace and love...


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dallas TenBroeck" <dalval14@earthlink.net>
To: "AA-BNStudy" <study@blavatsky.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 2:23 PM
Subject: Theos-World RE: Were the Mahatmas Buddhists?


March 27th 2004

RE: Were the Mahatmas Buddhists?


Dear Friends:

Perhaps this might answer a few things in regard to Sri Shankaracharya
(see THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY p. 307-8)


SHANKARACHARYA & BUDDHA

=================================

"Sri Sankaracharya, the greatest Initiate living in the historical ages,

wrote many a Bhashya on the *Upanishads*. But his original treatises, as

there are reasons to suppose, have not yet fallen into the hands of the
Philistines, for they are too jealously preserved in his *maths*
(monasteries, *mathams*). And there are still weightier reasons to
believe
that the priceless Bhashyas (Commentaries) on the esoteric doctrine of
the
Brahmins, by their greatest expounder, will remain for ages yet a dead
letter to most of the Hindus, except the *Smartava* Brahmins."
(Secret Doctrine, Vol I, page 271.)

============================================

QUESTION:

"Historically the Buddha is said to have reincarnated as Shankaracharya,
who reformed Brahmanism on the West cost of India among the Smartava
brahmins with a chief Mutt (vihara or teaching temple ?) was founded by
him in Sringeri in the Western Ghats, near Coorg, Mysore. "

I have heard Theosophists speak of this reincarnation as a known fact -
as
you do. Is that written anywhere? Where does it come from? I have
found
HPB referring to the "mysterious connection" between Buddha and
Shankaracharya but not seen anything in Theosophy more specific.


An ANSWER:

A student suggests:


With regards the Buddha reincarnating as Sankaracharya, have a look at
HPB's article, "THE MYSTERY OF BUDDHA", BLAVATSKY, Collected Writings,
vol XIV, pp. 388-399. It is probably also worth reading her previous
article "THE DOCTRINE OF THE AVATARS" in the same work.

The connection between these two personages is also described in
ESOTERIC BUDDHISM, by A. P. Sinnett.

As I understand HPB.:

Sankara, she avers, is a Buddha and an Avatar, but HPB does not
categorically state that he was a reincarnation of Gautama the Buddha,
as such. She uses, I believe, the word 'overshadow.'

HPB explains that each of our principles has its essence in, and is
therefore derived from, one or another of the seven primordial Celestial
Principles - i.e., the 'head' and essence of each principle is that of
the hierarchy of Dhyani Chohans and Dhyani Buddhas (S D I 570-574)..

Thus, it appears one could say that when the Gautama Buddha 'entered
Nirvana' the essence of each of those principles had been perfected and
united by him. It is these perfected "remains" or 'aggregates,'
(skandhas) which a Buddha uses to continue his work on earth. It is,
one might say, a Bodhisattvic 'body,' a 'spiritual form'.

In the MAHATMA LETTERS (Barker Edition, p 43, Letter ix) we find the
Master writing.

When Gautama: -- 

"reached first Nirvana on earth, he became a Planetary Spirit; ie - his
spirit could at one and the same time rove the interstellar spaces IN
FULL CONSCIOUSNESS, and continue at will on Earth in his original and
individual body. For the divine Self had so completely disfranchised
itself from matter that it could create at will an inner substitute for
itself, and leaving it in the human form for days, weeks, sometimes
years, affect in no wise by the change either the vital principle or the
physical mind of its body." M L p. 43


Now, presumably the Master is speaking of the period when Gautama
Buddha still had a physical body (i.e., "when [he] first reached
Nirvana"). But it seems to me it is also this "inner substitute" that
HPB is referring to in her article above when she writes of the Buddha
after death, saying that it is: --

"the Bodhisattva [the created inner substitute, the perfected inner
principles] that replaces in him [i.e., Gautama] the Karana Sarira, the
Ego principle and the rest accordingly." (p391)

I think a further clue is offered in Subba Row's article on the Seven
Principles and especially TARAKA RAJA YOGA. HPB refers to this on page
157 of the SD, vol 1.

One of the clues for us, may be in what Subba Row adds after giving the
table:

".. the classification mentioned in the last column [ie that of Taraka
Raja Yoga] is, for all practical purposes connected with Raja Yoga...
Though there are seven principles in man, there are but three distinct
Upadhis (bases) in each of which his Atma may work independently of the
rest. These three upadhis can be separated by an Adept without killing
himself. He cannot separate the seven principles from each other
without destroying his constitution." S D I 157


The Taraka Raja Yoga system has


PRINCIPLES ESOTERIC BUDDHISM PLANE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

---------------- --------------------------------
------------------------------------------

Atma, (the Higher Self) Turiya - Samadhi
(Meditation)

Karanopadhi The form of Wisdom Buddhi. Sushupti (Deep
sleep)

Sukshmopadhi The form that combines emotion, desire Swapna (Dreams
and Visions)
And the dual Mind (higher and lower Manas)

Sthulopadhi The physical; and astral forms combined Jagrat
(Waking consciousness)
with Prana - life-energy

------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------

We might note that these three correspond to the triple scheme of
evolution mentioned earlier on in the SD, i.e., the spiritual
(monadic), mental and physical (see SD I 181) and thus they also refer
to the three main celestial hierarchies o: m-- 1. Dhyani Buddhas, 2.
Agnishwattas (solar pitris), and 3. Barhishads (lunar pitris).


As I understand it, not only may an Adept separate and use any one of
his upadhis independently of the rest, in order to help humanity; but he
may also use or associate one or another of those upadhis with chelas
under his direct instruction. Presumably, he is able to do this through
the celestial hierarchy associated (with both individuals) with the
upadhi in question. If correct, this would provide enormous scope
(always under Karma) to the Adept influence on all planes.

It would seem, in the case of a Buddha, after the death of his
'physical body' and after 'he' has refused to enter Nirvana. (see The
VOICE OF THE SILENCE , pp. 72-79) that it is these three perfected
Upadhis which are referred to by some, as 'the astral remains'. The word
"astral" is, in this case, to be expanded to include the superior forms.

In the case of a Buddha these may be what are collectively referred to
as: 'the mind born son', the Bodhisattva, of the full Buddha (BCW,
XIV, 391). This INTELLIGENCE may then be used to help humanity, if
Karma permits, after the Buddha has (apparently to us) "entered
Nirvana," or as the Master puts it, after he has become a Planetary
Spirit, and, as necessary, has developed the faculty of being able to
rove (in consciousness) interstellar (or other) spaces (as of our own
world) at will, leaving behind, in all cases, this INTELLIGENT and FULLY
OPERATIONAL substitute of himself.

In the case of Gautama and Sankaracharya, as HPB puts it:

"Samkarâchârya was reputed to be an Avatâra, an assertion the writer
implicitly believes in, but which other people are, of course, at
liberty to reject. And as such he took the body of a southern Indian,
newly-born Brâhman baby; that body, for reasons as important as they are
mysterious to us, is said to have been animated by Gautama's astral
personal remains. This divine Non-Ego chose as its own Upâdhi (physical
basis), the ethereal, human Ego of a great Sage in this world of forms,
as the fittest vehicle for Spirit to descend into."


Best wishes,


Dallas

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-----Original Message-----
From: Ali
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 7:51 PM
To:
Subject: RE :Were the Mahatmas Buddhists?