Theos-Talk Archives (May 2004 Message tt00123)

May 14, 2004

 

Dear Friends:

 

This may help in resolving some of the problems relating to the
doctrines about the “bodies of Perfection” spoken of in exoteric and
esoteric Buddhism.

 

[ It also has some relevance to the questions, advanced again (is it a
cycle?) about HPB “plagiarizing” from some Orientalists. In her book
The VOICE OF THE SILENCE . I notice that in the THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY
she repeats the same definitions and amplifies them. (see below) ]

 

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

 

VESTURES.DOC

 

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

 

 

 

“VESTURES ON THE PATH”

 

[ Nirmanakaya, Sambhogakaya, Dharmakaya ]

 

 

 

 

On the subject of the "vestures" named by you relating to those that

successful Candidates for Adeptship can choose from, it has always

seemed to me that the information in The VOICE OF THE SILENCE and

in the THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY are the best sources:

 

The first clue may be in the SECRET DOCTRINE I p. 157 (table) under

the Taraka Raja column where the REAL MAN the ATMA is able to work in

and through 3 upadhis without destroying them or the rest. -- those
are

also related to the states of consciousness as : waking, dreaming,

mediation (Deep sleep) -- or Jagrat, Swapna, Sushupti (Turiya), 

 

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

 

From: The VOICE OF THE SILENCE (pp. 76 – 79)

 

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

 

"Yet, one word. Canst thou destroy divine COMPASSION? Compassion is no

attribute. It is the LAW

 

============ Footnotes ==========================

            

 

(1) From the Sanscrit Arhat or Arhan.

 

(2) Klesha is the love of pleasure or of worldly enjoyment, evil or

good.

 

(3) Tanha, the will to live, that which causes rebirth.

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

 

of LAWS—eternal Harmony, Alaya's SELF; a shoreless universal essence,

the light of everlasting Right, and fitness of all things, the law of

love eternal.

 

The more thou dost become at one with it, thy being melted in its
BEING,

the more thy Soul unites with that which IS, the more thou wilt become

COMPASSION ABSOLUTE. (1)

 

Such is the Arya Path, Path of the Buddhas of perfection.

 

Withal, what mean the sacred scrolls which make thee say?

 

"OM! I believe it is not all the Arhats that get of the Nirvanic Path

the sweet fruition."

 

"OM! I believe that the Nirvana-Dharma is entered not by all the

Buddhas". (2)

 

============ Footnotes ==================

            

(1) This "compassion" must not be regarded in the same light as "God,

the divine love" of the Theists. Compassion stands here as an
abstract,

impersonal law whose nature, being absolute Harmony, is thrown into

confusion by discord, suffering and sin.

 

(2) Thegpa Chenpoido, "Mahayana Sutra," Invocations to the Buddhas of

Confession," Part I., iv. In the Northern Buddhist phraseology all the

great Arhats, Adepts and Saints are called Buddhas.

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

 

"Yea; on the Arya Path thou art no more Srotapatti, thou art a

Bodhisattva. (1) The stream is cross'd. 'Tis true thou hast a right to

Dharmakaya vesture; but Sambogakaya is greater than a Nirvanee, and

greater still is a Nirmanakaya—the Buddha of Compassion. (2)

 

============= Footnotes ===================

            

 

(1) A Bodhisattva is, in the hierarchy, less than a "perfect Buddha."
In

the exoteric parlance these two are very much confused. Yet the innate

and right popular perception, owing to that self-sacrifice, has placed
a

Bodhisattva higher in its reverence than a Buddha.

 

(2) This same popular reverence calls "Buddhas of Compassion" those

Bodhisattvas who, having reached the rank of an Arhat (i.e., having

completed the fourth or seventh Path), refuse to pass into the
Nirvanic

state or "don the Dharmakaya robe and cross to the other shore," as it

would then become beyond their power to assist men even so little as

Karma permits. 

 

They prefer to remain invisibly (in Spirit, so to speak)

in the world, and contribute toward man's salvation by influencing
them

to follow the Good Law, i.e., lead them on the Path of Righteousness.
It

is part of the exoteric Northern Buddhism to honour all such great

characters as Saints, and to offer even prayers to them, as the Greeks

and Catholics do to their Saints and Patrons; on the other hand, the

esoteric teachings countenance no such thing. There is a great

difference between the two teachings. The exoteric layman hardly knows

the real meaning of the word Nirmanakaya—hence the confusion and

inadequate explanations of the Orientalists. For example Schlagintweit

believes that Nirmanakaya-body, means the physical form assumed by the

Buddhas when they incarnate on earth —"the least sublime of their
earthly

encumbrances" (vide BUDDHISM IN TIBET) —and he proceeds to give an

entirely false view on the subject. 

 

The real teaching is, however, this:

 

The three Buddhic bodies or forms are styled

 

1. Nirmanakaya.

 

2. Sambhogakaya.

 

3. Dharmakaya.

 

The first is that ethereal form which one would assume when leaving
his

physical he would appear in his astral body—having in addition all the

knowledge of an Adept. 

 

The Bodhisattva develops it in himself as he

proceeds on the Path. Having reached the goal and refused its
fruition,

he remains on Earth, as an Adept; and when he dies, instead of going

into Nirvana, he remains in that glorious body he has woven for
himself,

invisible to uninitiated mankind, to watch over and protect it.

 

Sambhogakaya is the same, but with the additional lustre of "three

perfections," one of which is entire obliteration of all earthly

concerns.

 

The Dharmakaya body is that of a complete Buddha, i.e., no body at
all,

but an ideal breath: Consciousness merged in the Universal

Consciousness, or Soul devoid of every attribute. 

 

Once a Dharmakaya, an Adept or Buddha leaves behind every 

possible relation with, or thought for this earth. 

 

Thus, to be enabled to help humanity, an Adept who has won the right 

to Nirvana, "renounces the Dharmakaya body" in mystic

parlance; keeps, of the Sambhogakaya, only the great and complete

knowledge, and remains in his Nirmanakaya body. 

 

The Esoteric School teaches that Gautama Buddha with 

several of his Arhats is such a Nirmanakaya, higher than 

whom, on account of the great renunciation and

sacrifice to mankind there is none known.

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

 

Now bend thy head and listen well, O Bodhisattva—Compassion speaks and

saith: "Can there be bliss when all that lives must suffer? Shalt thou

be saved and hear the whole world cry?"

 

Now thou hast heard that which was said.

 

Thou shalt attain the seventh step and cross the gate of final
knowledge

but only to wed woe—if thou would'st be Tathagata, follow upon thy

predecessor's steps, remain unselfish till the endless end.

 

Thou art enlightened—Choose thy way.

 

* * * * * *
*

 

 

Behold, the mellow light that floods the Eastern sky. In signs of
praise

both heaven and earth unite. And from the four-fold manifested Powers
a

chant of love ariseth, both from the flaming Fire and flowing Water,
and

from sweet-smelling Earth and rushing Wind.

 

Hark! . . . from the deep unfathomable vortex of that golden light in

which the Victor bathes, ALL NATURE'S wordless voice in thousand tones

ariseth to proclaim:

 

JOY UNTO YE, O MEN OF MYALBA. (1)

 

A PILGRIM HATH RETURNED BACK "FROM THE OTHER SHORE."

 

A NEW ARHAN (2) IS BORN. . . .

 

Peace to all beings. (3)

 

Voice 75-9

 

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

 

 

>From T Glossary

 

 

 

TRIKÂYA (Sk) Lit., three bodies, or forms. This is a most abstruse

teaching which, however, once understood, explains the mystery of
every

triad or trinity, and is a true key to every three-fold metaphysical

symbol. In its most simple and comprehensive form it is found in the

human Entity in its triple division into spirit, soul, and body,
and-in

the universe, regarded pantheistically, as a unity composed of a
Deific,

purely spiritual Principle, Supernal Beings—its direct rays — and

Humanity. 

 

The origin of this is found in the teachings of the prehistoric 

Wisdom Religion, or Esoteric Philosophy. The grand Pantheistic

ideal, of the unknown and unknowable Essence being transformed first

into subjective, and then into objective matter, is at the root of all

these triads and triplets. 

 

Thus we find in philosophical Northern Buddhism 

 

(1) Adi-Buddha (or Primordial Universal Wisdom) ; 

 

( 2) the Dhyâni-Buddhas (or Bodhisattvas); 

 

(3) the Mânushi (Human) Buddhas. 

 

In European conceptions we find the same: God, Angels and Humanity

symbolized theologically by the God-Man. 

 

The Brahmanical Triműrti and also the three-fold body of Shiva, 

in Shaivism, have both been conceived on the same basis, 

if not altogether running on the lines of Esoteric teachings. 

Hence, no wonder if one finds this conception of the triple

body—or the vestures of Nirmânakâya, Sambhogakâya and Dharmakâya,the

grandest of the doctrines of Esoteric Philosophy— accepted in a more
or

less disfigured form by every religious sect, and explained quite

incorrectly by the Orientalists. 

 

Thus, in its general application, the three-fold body 

symbolizes Buddha’s statue, his teachings and his stűpas;

in the priestly conceptions it applies to the Buddhist profession of

faith called the Triratna, which is the formula of taking “refuge in

Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha “. 

 

Popular fancy makes Buddha ubiquitous, placing him 

thereby on a par with an anthropomorphic god, and lowering

him to the level of a tribal deity; and, as a result, it falls into
flat

contradictions, as in Tibet and China. 

 

Thus the exoteric doctrine seems to teach that while in his 

Nirmâ kâya body (which passed through 100,000 kotis of 

transformations on earth), he, Buddha, is at the same time a

Lochana (a heavenly Dhyâni-Bodhisattva), in his Sambhogakâya “robe of

absolute completeness,” and in Dhyâna, or a state which must cut him
off

from the world and all its connections; and finally and lastly he is,

besides being a Nirmânakâya and a Sambhogakâya, also a Dharmakâya “of

absolute purity “, a Vairotchana or Dhyâni-Buddha in full Nirvana!
(See

Eitel’s Sanskrit-Chinese Dictionary.) 

 

This is the jumble of contradictions, impossible to reconcile, which
is given 

out by missionaries and certain Orientalists as the philosophical
dogmas of

Northern Buddhism. If not an intentional confusion of a philosophy

dreaded by the upholders of a religion based on inextricable

contradictions and guarded “ mysteries, “ then it is the product of

ignorance. As the Trailokya, the Trikâya, and the Triratna are the
three

aspects of the same conceptions, and have to be, so to say, blended in

one, the subject is further explained under each of these terms. (See

also in this relation the term “ Trisharana”.)

 

 

Trisharana (Sk.). The same as” Triratna ”and accepted by both the

Northern and Southern Churches of Buddhism. After the death of the

Buddha it was adopted by the councils as a mere kind of formula fidei,

enjoining “to take refuge in Buddha ”, “to take refuge in Dharma ”,
and

“to take refuge in Sangha ”, or his Church, in the sense in which it
is

now interpreted; but it is not in this sense that the “Light of Asia”

would have taught the formula. 

 

Of Trikâya, Mr. E. J. Eitel, of Hongkong, tells us in his 

HANDBOOK OF CHINESE BUDDHISM that this

“trichotomism was taught with regard to the nature of all Buddhas. 

Bodhi being the characteristic of a Buddha ”—a distinction was made 

between “essential Bodhi” as the attribute of the Dharmakâya, i.e.,
“essential

body;” “reflected Bodhi” as the attribute of Sambhogakâya; and

“practical Bodhi” as the attribute of Nirmânakâya.  

 

Buddha combining in himself these three conditions of existence, was 

said to be living at the same time in three different spheres. Now,
this 

shows how greatly misunderstood is the purely pantheistical 

and philosophical teaching.

 

Without stopping to enquire how even a Dharmakâya vesture can have any

“attribute” in Nirvana, which state is shown, in philosophical

Brahmanism as much as in Buddhism, to be absolutely devoid of any

attribute as conceived by human finite thought — it will be sufficient
to

point to the following —

 

(1) the Nirmânakâya vesture is preferred by the “Buddhas of 

Compassion” to that of the Dharmakâya state, precisely because 

the latter precludes him who attains it from any communication

or relation with the finite, i.e., with humanity; 

 

(2) it is not Buddha (Gautama, the mortal man, or any other 

personal Buddha) who lives ubiquitously in “three different 

spheres, at the same time, ” but Bodhi, the universal and 

abstract principle of divine wisdom, symbolised in

philosophy by Adi-Buddha. It is the latter that is ubiquitous because
it

is the universal essence or principle. It is Bodhi, or the spirit of

Buddhaship, which, having resolved itself into its primordial

homogeneous essence and merged into it, as Brahmâ (the universe)
merges

into Parabrahm, the ABSOLUTENESS—that is meant under the name of

“essential Bodhi ”. 

 

For the Nirvânee, or Dhyâni Buddha, must be supposed—

by living in Arűpadhâtu, the formless state, and in

Dharmakâya—to be that “ essential Bodhi” itself. 

 

It is the Dhyâni Bodhisattvas, the primordial rays of the universal
Bodhi, who 

live in “reflected Bodhi “in Rüpadhâtu, or the world of subjective
“forms;”

and it is the Nirmânakâyas (plural) who upon ceasing their lives of 

“practical Bodhi,” in the “enlightened” or Buddha forms, remain

voluntarily in the Kâmadhâtu (the world of desire), whether in
objective

forms on earth or in subjective states in its sphere (the second

Buddhakshetra). 

 

This they do in order to watch over, protect and help mankind. 

 

[see Pledge of Kwan Yin

 

Never shall I seek nor receive

Private individual salvation.

Never shall I enter into eternal peace alone.

But, forever and everywhere, 

shall I Live and strive for the redemption

Of every creature in the world – dtb ] 

 

Thus, it is neither one Buddha who is meant, nor any particular

avatar of the collective Dhyâni Buddhas, but verily Adi-Bodhi—the
first

Logos, whose primordial ray is Mahâbuddhi, the Universal Soul, ALAYA,

whose flame is ubiquitous, and whose influence has a different sphere
in

each of the three forms of existence, because, once again, it is

Universal Being itself or the reflex of the Absolute. 

 

Hence, if it is philosophical to speak of Bodhi, which “as Dhyâni
Buddha rules in the

domain of the spiritual” (fourth Buddhakshetra or region of Buddha);
and

of the Dhyâni Bodhisattvas “ruling in the third Buddhakshetra ”or the

domain of ideation; and even of the Mânushi Buddhas, who are in the

second Buddhakshetra as Nirmanakâyas— to apply the 

“idea of a unity in trinity” to three personalities—is highly
unphilosophical.

 

 

"SAMBHOGAKÂYA (Sk.). One of the three “Vestures” of glory, or bodies,

obtained by ascetics on the “Path “. Some sects hold it as the second,

while others as the third of the Buddhahshętras; or forms of Buddha.

Lit., the “Body of Compensation” (See VOICE OF THE SILENCE, 

Glossary iii). 

 

Of such Buddhakshętras there are seven, those of Nirmanakâya,

Sambhogakáya and Dharmakâya, belonging to the Trikâya, or three-fold

quality." Glos 287

 

 

 

NIRMÂNAKÂYA (Sk.). Something entirely different in esoteric philosophy

from the popular meaning attached to it, and from the fancies of the

Orientalists. 

 

Some call the Nirmânakâya body “Nirvana with remains”

(Schlagintweit, etc.) on the supposition, probably, that it is a kind
of

Nirvânic condition during which consciousness and form are retained.

 

Others say that it is one of the Trikâya (three bodies), with the
“power

of assuming any form of appearance in order to propagate Buddhism “

(Eitel’s idea); again, that “it is the incarnate avatara of a deity”

(ibid.), and so on. 

 

Occultism, on the other hand, says: that Nirmânakâya, 

although meaning literally a transformed “body,” is a state. 

 

The form is that of the adept or yogi who enters, or chooses,

that post mortem condition in preference to the Dharmakâya or absolute

Nirvânic state. 

 

He does this because the latter kâya separates him for ever 

from the world of form, conferring upon him a state of selfish

bliss, in which no other living being can participate, the adept being

thus precluded from the possibility of helping humanity, or even
devas.

[Pratyekha Buddha or Ekashringa Rishi. (Voice, 47fn) – dtb]

 

As a Nirmânakâya, however, the man leaves behind him only his physical

body, and retains every other “principle” save the Kamic—for he has

crushed this out for ever from his nature, during life, and it can
never

resurrect in his post mortem state. 

 

Thus, instead of going into selfish bliss, he chooses a life of 

self-sacrifice, an existence which ends only with the life-cycle, 

in order to be enabled to help mankind in an invisible yet 

most effective manner. (See The Voice of the Silence,

third treatise, “The Seven Portals”.) 

 

Thus a Nirmânakâya is not, as popularly believed, the body 

“in which a Buddha or a Bodhisattva appears on earth,” but 

verily one, who whether a Chutuktu or a Khubilkhan, an

adept or a yogi during life, has since become a member of that
invisible

Host which ever protects and watches over Humanity within Karmic
limits.

 

Mistaken often for a “Spirit”, a Deva, God himself, &c., a Nirmânakâya

is ever a protecting, compassionate, verily a guardian angel, to him
who

becomes worthy of his help. 

 

Whatever objection may be brought forward against this doctrine; 

however much it is denied, because, forsooth, it has never 

been hitherto made public in Europe and therefore since it is

unknown to Orientalists, it must needs be “a myth of modern

invention”— no one will be bold enough to say that this idea of
helping

suffering mankind at the price of one’s own almost interminable

self-sacrifice, is not one of the grandest and noblest that was ever

evolved from human brain." Glos 231

 

 

 

DHARMAKÂYA (Sk). Lit., “the glorified spiritual body” called the

“Vesture of Bliss “. The third, or highest of the Trikâya (Three

Bodies), the attribute developed by every “Buddha “, i.e., every

initiate who has crossed or reached the end of what is called the

“fourth Path” (in esotericism the sixth “portal” prior to his entryon

the seventh). The highest of the Trikâya, it is the fourth of the

Buddhakchetra, or Buddhic planes of consciousness, represented

figuratively in Buddhist asceticism as a robe or vesture of luminous

Spirituality. In popular Northern Buddhism these vestures or robes
are: 

 

(1) Nirmanakâya 

 

(2) Sambhogakâya 

 

(3) and Dharmakâya 

 

the last being the highest and most sublimated of alt, as it places
the

ascetic on the threshold of Nirvâna. (See, however, the Voice of the

Silence, page 96, Glossary, for the true esoteric meaning.)"

T Gloss, p. 100

 

 

There is a 4th "Body" that of the "Pratyekha Buddha." Or "Spiritual

Selfishness" in other words it is the one who chooses "Nirvana."

 

 

PRATYĘKA BUDDHA (Sk). The same as “Pasi-Buddha “. 

The Pratyęka Buddha is a degree which belongs exclusively to the 

Yogâchârya school, yet it is only one of high intellectual 

development with no true spirituality.

 

It is the dead-letter of the Yoga laws, in which intellect and

comprehension play the greatest part, added to the strict carrying out

of the rules of the inner development. It is one of the three paths to

Nirvana, and the lowest, in which a Yogi —” without teacher and
without

saving others “— by the mere force of will and technical observances,

attains to a kind of nominal Buddhaship individually; doing no good to

anyone, but working selfishly for his own salvation and himself alone.

 

The Pratyękas are respected outwardly but are despised inwardly by
those

of keen or spiritual appreciation. A Pratyéka is generally compared to
a

Khadga” or solitary rhinoceros and called Ekashringa Rishi, a selfish

solitary Rishi (or saint). “ As crossing Sansâra (‘the ocean of birth

and death’ or the series of incarnations), suppressing errors, and yet

not attaining to absolute perfection, the Pratyęka Buddha is compared

with a horse which crosses a river swimming, without touching the

ground.” (Sanskrit-Chinese Dict.) He is far below a true “Buddha of

Compassion. He strives only for the reaching of Nirvâna."

Glos, p. 261

 

 

"PRATYEKA BUDDHAS are those Bodhisattvas who strive after and often

reach the Dharmakaya robe after a series of lives. 

 

Caring nothing for the woes of mankind or to help it, but only for
their own bliss, they

enter Nirvana and — disappear from the sight and the hearts of men. In

Northern Buddhism a "Pratyeka Buddha" is a synonym of spiritual

Selfishness." Voice 47fn

 

 

"NIRVÂNA (Sk.). According to the Orientalists, the entire “blowing
out”,

like the flame of a candle, the utter extinction of existence. But in

the esoteric explanations it is the state of absolute existence and

absolute consciousness, into which the Ego of a man who has reached
the

highest degree of perfection and holiness during life goes, after the

body dies, and occasionally, as in the case of Gautama Buddha and

others, during life. (See “Nirvânî”.)” T Gloss., p. 232

 

 

"NIRVÂNÎ (Sk.). One who has attained Nirvana—an emancipated soul. That

Nirvana means nothing of the kind asserted by Orientalists every
scholar

who has visited China, India and Japan is well aware. 

 

It is “escape from misery” but only from that of matter, freedom 

from Klęsha, or Kâma, and the complete extinction of animal desires. 

If we are told that Abidharma defines Nirvâna : --

“as a state of absolute annihilation”, we concur, adding

to the last word the qualification “of everything connected with
matter

or the physical world”, and this simply because the latter (as also
all

in it) is illusion, mâyâ. 

 

Sâkya-műni Buddha said in the last moments of his life 

that “the spiritual body is immortal” (See SANS. CHIN. DICT.).

As Mr. Eitel, the scholarly Sinologist, explains it: “The popular

exoteric systems agree in defining Nirvana negatively as a state of

absolute exemption from the circle of transmigration; as a state of

entire freedom from all forms of existence; to begin with, freedom
from

all passion and exertion; a state of indifference to all sensibility”

and he might have added “death of all compassion for the world of

suffering”. 

 

And this is why the Bodhisattvas who prefer the Nirmânakâya

to the Dharmakáya vesture, stand higher in the popular estimation than

the Nirvânîs. 

 

But the same scholar adds that: “Positively (and esoterically) 

they define Nirvâna as the highest state of spiritual

bliss, as absolute immortality through absorption of the soul (spirit

rather) into itself, but preserving individuality so that, e.g.,

Buddhas, after entering Nirvâna, may reappear on earth “—i.e., in the

future Manvantara." T Gloss, p. 232

 

 

 

Returning Nirvanees (and Nirmanakayas) are mentioned in 

 

the SECRET DOCTRINE II bottom, p. 79, top p. 94,

 

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

 

I hope this helps.

 

[ It also has some relevance to the questions, advanced again (is it a
cycle?)  

about HPB plagiarizing from some Orientalists. ]

 

Best wishes, 

 

Dallas

 

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

 

-----Original Message-----
From: steve
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 2:42 PM
To: study@blavatsky.net
Subject: [bn-study] RE: Much Food for Thought

 

Jerome-

 

Thanks. 

 

This is really interesting and thought provoking. It is as if the
genuine psychological doctrines, dealing with the Four Noble Truths,
which are actually the teaching regarding the metaphysics of manas and
have aways been what they are by "design", if you will. But their
codifcation seems to have occured, from epoch to epoch and Teacher to
desciple, which have wrought changes, perhaps, through application of
doctrine and "bent" of mind upon reception. 

 

You can see the basis for dogma here, but fortunately, there
appears to be a natural beauty inherent to this teaching, which
remains, regardless of codification. There is something about the
poetic method of transmission which appeals so quickly that it seems
to have a therapeutic effect, just upon reading or hearing.

 

Steve

 



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