Theos-Talk Archives (July 2006 Message tt00651)

Eldon, thank you for this input.  I hope everyone interested in really 
understanding a subject for themselves gets a chance to check out this 
discussion.  I am quoting a small excerpt from Taylor's presentation 
below in hopes of sparking some further interest.

--bill

"I do not want to get my facts wrong. If wrong, let me know. It
is a fact that on May 17, 1880, HPB and Colonel Olcott took
pansil, a form of Buddhist vows. They took refuge in the Triple
Jewel (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) before a large audience at the
Buddhist temple in Galle.

They took shelter under the Buddha. It is actually a formal
ritual where you repeat three times:

> BUDDHAM SARANAM GACCHAMI
> (I go to the Buddha for refuge),
>
> DHAMMAM SARANAM GACCHAMI
> (I go to the Dharma, the Dhamma, the Buddhist teaching), and
>
> SANGHAM SARANAM GACCHAMI
> (I go to the Buddhist community).

These are technical terms.

Blavatsky was not saying that she is going to take directions
from her friends and her loved ones. She is taking direction and
placing herself under the shelter or triple umbrella of the
Buddha, his teaching, and his Buddhist community. She did not
embrace the Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, or Spiritualists.
She gave herself to BUDDHISM."





Eldon B Tucker wrote:
> For an interesting talk on Theosophy and Buddhism (including a 
> discussion of
> "tantra"), see the talk by Richard Taylor that was given at the Long Beach
> Theosophical Conference in 2002.
>
> http://theosophy.com/longbeach/archives/show.php?NAME=20020810-lb-02-tab 
> <http://theosophy.com/longbeach/archives/show.php?NAME=20020810-lb-02-tab>
> &PATH=txt&DESC=1:06:24&BACK=index&BDESC=CONFERENCE
>
> Eldon
>
>