Theos-Talk Archives (January 2011 Message tt00164)

Yes.
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M. Sufilight

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: MKR 
  To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2011 8:15 AM
  Subject: Re: theos-talk FOHAT in Tibetan Dictonaries - by Richard P. Taylor


    
  There has been some discussions on Fohat at theosophy.net. David Reigle,
  a well known theosophist and researcher in original Samskrit and Tibetan has
  some contributions there.

  On Sat, Jan 15, 2011 at 10:19 PM, John W <JohnWW@JboDXnvyBEcgrmAEHLVhLQpk-yoaeUY8ZVQEyP9zzj2FSHoLg6meXQ5GazwyLzcdRjEG4aWpUg.yahoo.invalid> wrote:

  >
  >
  > Thanks for the info re "fohat". The complete pages of Taylor's "Blavatsky
  > And Buddhism" (1999, University of California Berkeley) can be downloaded as
  > a series of linked HTML pages, from the links on this main URL:
  > http://www.blavatsky.net/forum/taylor/tibetanSources1.htm .
  > However, it has not yet been made into a PDF or CHM or DOC file.
  >
  > John W.
  >
  > --- On Sun, 16/1/11, M. Sufilight <global-theosophy@V87SJP6TSTNwh39Zb4sQ1IaOkLwovirFjYV083FD8DZX6AFTCWuF-gDh_46gpgoWBTo_AGMMYI9uAlksubk3DeLfrg.yahoo.invalid<global-theosophy%40stofanet.dk>>
  > wrote:
  > From: M. Sufilight <global-theosophy@V87SJP6TSTNwh39Zb4sQ1IaOkLwovirFjYV083FD8DZX6AFTCWuF-gDh_46gpgoWBTo_AGMMYI9uAlksubk3DeLfrg.yahoo.invalid<global-theosophy%40stofanet.dk>
  > >
  > Subject: theos-talk FOHAT in Tibetan Dictonaries - by Richard P. Taylor
  > To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com <theos-talk%40yahoogroups.com>
  > Date: Sunday, 16, January, 2011, 12:12 PM
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > Dear friends
  >
  > My views are:
  >
  > The following page by Taylor written in 1999 might be of interest to some
  > Seekers after truth and altruism:
  >
  > Blavatsky and Buddhism
  >
  > Chapter Two: Blavatsky and 'Esoteric Buddhism'
  >
  > "Fohat
  >
  > Blavatsky first writes of this term in 1885 while discussing the several
  > souls in Chinese philosophy: "At death the hwan [hun] or spiritual soul
  > wanders away, ascending, and the pho [p'o] (the root of the Tibetan word
  > Pho-hat) descends and is changed into a ghostly shade (the shell)." (32)
  > Afterwards, however, she consistently spells the term as Fohat. In her
  > posthumous Theosophical Glossary, (1892) HPB writes,
  >
  > Fohat (Tib.) A term used to represent the active (male) potency of the
  > Sakti (female reproductive power) in nature. The essence of cosmic
  > electricity. An occult Tibetan term for Daiviprakriti, primordial light; and
  > in the universe of manifestation the ever-present electrical energy and
  > ceaseless destructive and formative power.(33)
  >
  > Of course there is no mention of a Sanskrit Daiviprakriti in any Sanskrit
  > texts, even today-another mystery term. But the connection between Fohat and
  > primordial light is an important one to keep in mind. In her occult
  > cosmogony, The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky elaborates,
  >
  > He is, metaphysically, the objectivised thought of the gods; the "Word made
  > flesh," on a lower scale, and the messenger of Cosmic and human ideations:
  > the active force in Universal Life.â In India, Fohat is connected with
  > Vishnu and Surya in the early character of the (first) God; for Vishnu is
  > not a high god in the Rig Veda. The name Vishnu is from the root vish, "to
  > pervade," and Fohat is called the "Pervader" and the Manufacturer, because
  > he shapes the atoms from crude material..(34)
  >
  > The spelling of this 'Fohat' misled Theosophists for over a century, but I
  > have now identified it as the Tibetan verb '2ÃâÃ3 ('phro-wa) and/or the noun
  > form cuâ/Ã (spros-pa). These two terms are listed in JÃschke's Tibetan
  > English Dictionary (1881) but with inadequate translations. For the verb
  > form 'phro-wa, JÃschke gives "to proceed, issue, emanate from, to spread, in
  > most cases from rays of light â"(35) while for the noun spros-pa he gives
  > "business, employment, activity."(36) JÃschke's definition of the verb
  > certainly corresponds well with one sense of HPB's definition, that of
  > "pervading" like Vishnu, but leaves untouched the mental and creative
  > aspects of the term. But a comprehensive search of 20th century Tibetan
  > dictionaries, word lists and Sanskrit translations has turned up a wealth of
  > information that would appear to validate HPB's understanding of a cosmic,
  > psycho-creative force. Most importantly, Lokesh Chandra in his
  > Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary, gives for spros-pa several Sanskrit
  > equivalents, including 1. sarga 2. prapaÃca. According to the most
  > authoritative Sanskrit dictionary, that of Monier-Williams, Sarga is defined
  > as "Emission or creation of matter, primary creation â creation of the world
  > (as opposed to its pralaya, 'dissolution,' and sthiti, 'maintainence in
  > existence')."(37) From the same source, we find PrapaÃca: "Expansion,
  > development, manifestations (MÃË?Âkya Upani?ad) â (in philosophy) the
  > expansion of the universe, the visible world (cited in Upani?ads; Kapila's
  > SÃÂkhya-pravacana; SarvardarÃana-saÂgraha)." But in Buddhist philosophy,
  > prapaÃca is much more than this: it is the mental fabrication of dualistic
  > consciousness which literally creates the world as the non-enlightened
  > perceiver experiences it. In seeing the activity of dualistic consciousness
  > on a cosmic scale, HPB sees prapaÃca as many Tantric texts do. This
  > 'Tantric'
  > worldview will be investigated more fully in chapter three."
  >
  > http://www.blavatsky.net/forum/taylor/tibetanSources9.htm
  >
  > M. Sufilight
  >
  >
  >
  > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
  >
  > 
  >

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