Quick
Blasts of Theosophy
Quick Blasts
of
Theosophy
One Liners and Quick
Explanations
About Aspects of Theosophy
Theosophical Glossary
prepared by W Q Judge
Included as a useful reference
guide
to Theosophical terms
Posted
ABHIDHARMA,
the third division of the "Tripitaka" or
Buddhist canon. It contains
the philosophical dissertations and metaphysics
of the Buddhists, and from it the Mahayana and Hinayana
schools got their fundamental doctrines.
ABSOLUTE,
anything of which it can be predicated that it is "not relative". In pure metaphysics that
which exists independent of any other cause; unconditioned. Hence the same as Parabrahmam, or the
"unknowable". That state or condition into which it is said
the manifested universe disappears upon the great Pralaya. Said to be, by some,
the combination of Spirit and Matter.
ADAM, the
first man in the Hebraic system.
The word really means Man and not a man.
ADAM
KADMON, in the Kabalah, the Heavenly Man; Humanity in
its ideal form, for Adam Kadmon is said to stand with
his head in heaven and his feet on earth.
ADIBUDDHA,
the first or supreme Buddha. Buddha in reality is not a person, but a
principle incarnating in different so-called Buddhas.
AEONS,
periods of time of such duration as to be incomprehensible; also celestial beings.
AETHER,
same as Ether. The great luminiferous substance
throughout the whole universe. Astral Light, Akasa, and the like are
forms of Aether.
AHURA-MAZDA,
the divine principle with the Parsees.
AIN-SOPH,
from the Kabalah; the boundless, the expanding Deity. It is also written En-Soph.
AJNANA,
ignorance, or not-knowledge.
(See Ajnyana, the word is the same.)
ALAYA, in
addition to meaning already given it, may be rendered Universal Soul.
ALKORAN,
same as Koran, which see.
AMENTI, in
the Egyptian system the dwelling of the God Amon; the
same as Hades of the Greeks.
In fact the state of man after death, as it was divided into various parts
corresponding to the possible various conditions of the soul after death of the
body.
ANTARATMA,
mind, the human soul.
ANTARYAMIN,
that which is latent in all; a title of Ishwara.
ANTASKARANA,
the same as antakarana.
ANU, on p.
4 of Glossary should be atom, and also, one of the names of Brahma.
ASHWATTHA,
same as asvatha.
ATLANTIS,
a former continent which was submerged long ago during the cataclysms which
overtook other races. A part of
it was on the Atlantic floor, and hence the name of that ocean as well as
probably the
ATMAN, the
same as Atma, which see.
AUM, the
same as Om, which see.
AVARANA-SAKTI,
centripetal force or power.
AVITCHI, a
state of the soul. The place
or time for this state is not always after death, for it may be in life and on
this very earth. It is called "the last of the eight hells", and is
commonly thought of as a state after death of
the body.
BHIKSHUS,
religious mendicants, or mendicant scholars among the Buddhists. There are two sorts, those who control
themselves by religion and those who control themselves by the nature of their
foods. At one time they were supposed to be wonder-workers.
BHUMI, the
earth. See also Bhuh.
BINAH
(Heb.), understanding. The third of the ten Sephiroth of the Kabalah. The third of the supernal
triad. A female potency.
BLACK
MACIC, sorcery, necromancy, calling back of the dead, selfish use of occult
power of any sort. For
instance, the use of hypnotism, magnetism, mesmerism, or the like for any
purpose for one's own ends, whether those ends be apparently
good or evil, partakes of the nature of black magic. The development of
telepathic suggestion will lead to black magic, inasmuch as it can be used for
the personal ends of the operator.
BOOK OF
THE DEAD, an Egyptian ritualistic work found on mummies, and parts of which are
given in Egyptian paintings. It represents in great part the supposed trial of
the soul after the death of the body, and in fact refers to the imperishable
records of a man's life in the Astral Light, and the effects in nature of his
thoughts and acts, by all of which he is self-judged.
BRAHMA
VACH, the speech of Brahma, and hence Brahma male and female.
BRAHMA
VIDYA, the knowledge of or about Brahman; true knowledge -- not literally, but
in the sense that if of Brahman it must be true.
BRAHMA
VIRAJ, almost the same as Brahma Vach; it is Brahman
differentiated into material unintelligent nature and into spiritual
intelligent nature.
BROTHERS
OF THE SHADOW, the opposite of the Adepts of the white or unselfish school.
Those of the shadow include all black magicians, sorcerers, and others who
intelligently abuse occult powers for selfish ends. They are not only living in
bodies, but are also still undestroyed or not yet disintegrated shades of
former living beings who were magicians of the black school. See also Dugpa and
Gyalukpa.
BUDDHI,
the sixth "principle" of man's sevenfold constitution.
CAUSAL
BODY, the principle Buddhi in conjunction with Manas, as it thus is the
cause for incarnation through its connection with
spirit above and matter below. In this sense it is soul, thus with the other
two bringing out the classification of body, soul, spirit.
CHESED
(Heb.), mercy. The fourth of the ten Sephiroth
of the Kabalah. A masculine potency, sometimes
called Gedulah.
CHOCKMAH
(Heb.), wisdom. The second of the ten Sephiroth
in the Kabalah. The second
of the supernal triad. A masculine potency.
CHOHAN,
Lord and Master. Spiritual beings. See Secret Doctrine for fuller
explanations.
CODEX
NAZARAEUS, the Codex of the Nazarenes; the Book of Adam. See Norberg's Codex
Nazaraeus.
CYCLE, a
ring or turn, from the Greek Kuklos; more properly a
spiral; a day and night are a cycle; a year is another. The
returning again of any time or any impression. The subject of cycles is
of the greatest importance, as it includes all history and all evolution. The
best known large cycle is the sidereal, a little over 25,000 years.
DANA, true
charity.
DAY OF
BRAHMA, the great period during which universal manifestation lasts. A space of time said to include 2,160,000,000
years, or 14 Manvantaras. See Yuga.
DESATIR,
an ancient Persian book containing the books of the various prophets. It is full of mysticism and not clear to the
modern mind.
DEVAGANA, a
troop of Gods or celestial beings possessing much wisdom, for they are presided
over by Indra, chief of the Gods.
DEVAGANESHWARA,
an epithet of Indra, because he is lord of a
collection or troop of Gods.
DHARMAKAYA,
the "glorified spiritual body" developed by every Buddha; the body of
the law, not as a collection of laws but as a body or vehicle obtained by
practice of the precepts through countless incarnations.
DOPPELGANGER,
the double which goes; the same as astral body when that wanders from the
physical; synonymous with wraith or apparition or forerunner.
DOUBLE,
the same as Doppelganger, or the astral body detached from the physical.
DWELLER ON
THE THRESHOLD, found in Lytton's Zanoni;
the shades of defunct bad men in Kamaloka, full of evil, able to do evil, and
with a kind of intelligence not easily explained; also the combined evil
thoughts of the race and family to which every one belongs, and said to become,
as it were, visible when one passes the threshold of ordinary experience.
DWIJADRUSHTA,
the inner vision.
DWIPA, the
same as Dvipa.
There are said to be seven Dwipas, and these are the
great divisions of the world as given in the allegories of the Puranas. There names are: Jambu, Plaksha, Shalmali, Kusha, Krauncha, Shaka, and Pushkara. An
explanation of these allegorical divisions will be found in THE PATH for April
and May, 1889.
EIGHT
SUPERHUMAN FACULTIES. These are
given under Vibhuti, which see.
ELOHIM,
one of the names occurring in Genesis, which have been rendered in the Christian
bible as God and Lord; but the Hebrews had a different meaning, and the word
may be translated as plural.
ENS,
being, existence, essence. With the alchemists the recondite part of a
substance from which all its qualities flow. The real Presence in Nature of the
Greeks.
EN-SOPH,
the same as Ain-Soph, which see.
ETHER, in
physics and astronomy a hypothetical medium of extreme tenuity
universally diffused throughout all space, and which is supposed to be the
medium for the transmission of sound and light, and in a sense the basis of
form. It corresponds almost exactly to the Astral Light of the Kabalist, which is an aspect of the Akasa. There are
differences between the two, however. It should not be confounded with the
Ether of the ancients, which might be said to be the same as the Akasa itself,
whereas Ether is only an aspect of that.
ESOTERIC,
hidden, secret, within. From the Greek "Esoterikos".
The term was first applied to the private instructions and doctrines of
Pythagoras, taught only to a select number of his pupils and not intended or
designed for the general outer body. Opposed to exoteric or
public.
EXOTERIC,
public, unconcealed. The opposite of esoteric, which see.
GEBURAH
(Heb.), power. The fifth of the ten Sephiroth
of the Kabalah. A female
potency.
GEDULAH
(Heb.), same as Chesed.
GELUKPA,
the same as Gyalugpa. Literally, the "yellow
caps", from their wearing such color. They are a sect in
GNOSIS,
"knowledge". The term
used in the earlier Western mystical systems to denote the final wisdom to be
achieved. The same as the Gupta Vidya
of the Hindus.
GNOSTICS,
philosophers of the first, second, and third century who followed the Gnosis
(knowledge) and taught a doctrine almost identical with present-day Theosophy.
GUARDIAN
WALL, the metaphorical wall of protection created around mankind by the
accumulated efforts of all the hosts of Saints, Adepts, Narjols,
and Nirmanakayas, to save it from falling lower in
the scale than it already is, and to shield it from yet more terrible evils
than are at present its lot.
GUNASAMYA,
the state in which the qualities -- gunas -- are in
equilibrium.
HANUMAN,
the "monkey god".
HARPOCRATES,
the "god of Silence and Mystery" in Egyptian mythology. He is
represented with a finger on his mouth, and is either
standing, or sitting on a Lotus. An aspect of Horus, the child of Isis and Osiris.
HERMES
TRISMEGISTUS, the "founder" of the Hermetic philosophy. A purely
mythical personage, whose name has been appropriated by many of the Greek Alchemists. The same as the Egyptian god Thoth, the celestial scribe, who records the thoughts and
words of all men, and on whose tablets are to be found the mysteries of the
ages.
HIGHER
EGO, Buddhi-Manas. The spiritual part of the human ego. The
god within us, or our "Father in Heaven."
HIGHER
SELF, Atma. The spiritual essence in man. The supreme
Soul, the divine Monad, overshadowing the human Ego.
HOD (Heb.),
splendor. The eighth of the ten Sephiroth of the Kabalah. A female potency.
HORUS, the
son of Osiris and Isis, the Father and Mother, or
spiritual and material aspects of Being, in Egyptian mysticism. Therefore he is
the fount of life, the germ, the "mystic child of the ark"; that out
of which the whole universe grows or becomes.
HYPERBOREAN,
the regions round the North Pole comprised within the
ILDA
BAOTH, the son of Darkness and god of our material (fourth) globe according to
the Gnostic teaching in the Codex Nazaraeus.
INCARNATION,
the descent into matter, or contacting of the Soul with physical existence.
INCUBUS,
the male Elemental called into existence by sexual passion and lust. The female
is called the Succubus.
INDIVIDUALITY,
the permanent principle in man.
A name applied by Theosophists to the Higher Ego, in contradistinction to the
lower, transitory element, the "personality". (See Higher Ego.)
INITIATE, one who has passed through an Initiation;
especially, one who has passed the seventh or final Initiation on this planet.
INITIATION,
the ceremony of introducing to fresh knowledge concerning anything. Applied to the rite of
admission into the sacred mysteries.
ISIS, the
mystic "Mother" of Nature in Egyptian lore. The "woman clothed
with the sun".
ISITA, one
of the eight superhuman faculties.
The power to exercise supreme dominion. See Vibhuti.
JEHOVAH,
literally Male-Female. The god of procreation, or sex-god. The tribal-god of the
Jews -- now worshipped by Christians as the "Most High".
JESOD
(Heb.), foundation. The ninth of the ten Sephiroth
of the Kabalah. A
masculine potency.
KADMON,
see Adam Kadmon.
KAMALOKA,
sometimes written Kama Loka and Kama -Loca. Literally, the place,
world, or sphere of desire, from
Kamaloka
is much the same as the purgatory of the Christians, and in it remain the
bodies of the dead infused with the desires and passions, for which reason is
the term Kamarupa. The disincarnated Ego sheds its astral body in Kamaloka, and
from that state passes to Devachan; hence the state is intermediate between
earth-life and the joys of the Devachanic state.
KAMA-MANAS,
a compound term used in Theosophical literature to designate the
state of
mind or manas when closely associated with Kama, or
desire; it may therefore be said to be lower manas,
as it is mind directed by, and functioning in, desire to a greater extent than
in and by -Buddhi.
KAMAVASAYITA,
one of the eight superhuman faculties.
The power to suppress all desire. See Vibhuti.
KASHI, the
same as Casi and Kasi.
KAURAVAS,
the same as Kuravas.
KETHER
(Heb.), the Crown. The highest of the ten Sephirroth,
the emanations of Deity in the Hebrew Kabalah.
The first of the supernal Triad.
KLESHA, lit. "misery".
Cleaving to existence; love of life;
KORAN, the
sacred Scriptures of the Mussalmans -- Mohamedans -- containing their moral and religious code;
revealed to Mohamet.
KOSHA, the
same as Kosa, which see.
KOUNBOUM,
a sacred Tree of Thibet, on whose leaves and bark are
said to be imprinted innumerable religious sentences in sacred characters, each
leaf containing a distinct word or sentence. The tree is said to have grown out
of the hair of the Lama Tson-ka-pa, who was buried
under the soil on which it flourishes.
KURUS, the
enemies of the Pandavas in the Mahabharata. The Kurus represent
the lower material elements in our nature: the Pandavas
the higher. The war which is carried on between these on the plane of Kurukshetra represents the struggle Man has to make in
order to gain control over his lower nature.
KWAN-SHAI-YIN,
the manifested spiritual side of nature in Northern and Chinese Buddhism. The Male Logos.
KWAN-YIN,
the permanent, hidden side of the manifested Universe. The female
Logos. (Chinese).
LAMA, a
title properly given only to the superior priests of Thibet;
now of ten, however, applied to those of any caste. The Grand Lama is supposed
to be an incarnation of Buddha.
LAOTZE, a
great Chinese philosopher; the founder of Taoism. He preceded Confucius. The mystic doctrine of
the latter (now almost universal in
LEMURIA,
the name given by some writers to a continent supposed to have existed at one
time, but now hidden under the waves. The Secret Doctrine affirms its previous
existence and holds that it extended between
of the Third Race.
LHAMAYIN,
an order of Elementals. (Thibetan).
LIPIKAS,
the celestial scribes; the recorders of every thought, act, and word of man. Collectively, the
"Book of the Recording Angel". Agents of Karma in the greater
sense; mentioned in the Secret Doctrine,
LOBHA,
avarice.
LOTUS, the
sacred plant of oriental nations,
LUCIFER,
the planet Venus as the "Morning Star". Lucifer is the symbol of purity and wisdom,
and not of the devil; the alter-ego and "better half
" of the earth.
MACROPOSOPUS,
a Kabalistic term, meaning the "Great Countenance". The Universe as a whole, or the totality of the manifested Cosmos.
The Heavenly
MAGIC, the
science of bringing into visible action forces ordinarily hidden. The ancients
recognized three sorts: Theurgia, or White Magic; Goetia, or Black Magic; and Natural Magic. Theurgia had to do with the powers of the soul, the
philosopher's stone, the magic which makes of man a God. Goetia
was sorcery, or the communication with the regents of the invisible worlds with
evil intent. Natural Magic had dealings entirely with nature, and might be
either Black or White according as the Adept whose will called it into action
was of the Left- or Right-hand path. The physician who heals with the use of
his drugs is as much a natural magician as the necromancer who effects cures by
his thaumaturgy; with the difference, however, that the one can give no reason
for the effects he produces, while the other can.
MAHA,
(Sans.) great.
MAHABHARATA,
a great epic poem of
MAHA-BUDDHI,
mahat.
The great intelligence of the Universe; Cosmic Ideation.
MAHA
CHOHAN, the "great Chohan". The head of a spiritual Hierarchy. On this
planet the head of the trans-Himalayan
MANASA
DHYANIS, the Agnishwatta Pitris: those who incarnated
in man at the close of the Third Race and gave him mind, thereby making him a
rational being.
MAHA-MANVANTARA,
the great manvantara, or period of universal
activity. Said to include 311,040,000,000,000 years, or a Maha-Kalpa.
MAHA
PRALAYA, a great pralaya, or period of universal rest
and dissolution. The "Night of Brahma".
MAHARAJA,
"Great King". The four
Maharajas are the four Karmic deities said to be at the four cardinal points to
watch mankind.
MAHA-SUSHUPTI,
the great dreamless sleep of all, signifying pralaya
or dissolution, for at the great pralaya everything
goes into a state which for us can only be rendered as dreamless sleep.
MALKUTH,
(Heb.), the kingdom. The tenth of the ten Sephiroth.
A female potency. The "Inferior Mother"; the
earth.
MANAS
TAIJASI, "Manas radiant"; Manas illumined by the light of Buddhi; the
Ego in conjunction with spirit.
MANTRIKA
SAKTI; in Glos. this is improperly put matrikas.
MATERIALIZATION,
a term used among spiritualists to designate the supposed appearance
objectively and tangibly at a seance, of a spirit.
Materializations, however, are not such as spiritualists claim. They are
brought about -- according to the "spirits" themselves in agreement
with occult philosophy -- by a combination of magnetic and electric forces and
material with pictures from the astral light wherein all pictures forever are.
A framework, skeleton form, or flat surface of magnetic and electric matter is
first constructed which is perfectly transparent like glass but also tangible, and
upon it is reflected the image desired to be seen, whereupon the onlookers
think they see a once incarnated spirit. It is the greatest of illusions, and,
on the astral plane, is, in the opinion of occultism, nothing more than a
"pepper's ghost". That these images speak does not add to proofs of
identification, because all such things may be psychologically imitated, and an
impression of speech may be produced upon every one who views the phenomenon.
But it does happen, sometimes, that one among the onlookers may not hear the
speech the others think they hear. A medium is absolutely necessary for a
materialization to occur, unless it is brought about by an Adept.
METEMPSYCHOSIS. While this means transmigration it should be
applied only to
animals, so as to distinguish it from Reincarnation,
now applied to the reembodiment of the soul in human
bodies. For many years European encyclopcedias have
given the meaning as "passing after death into the body of some
animal", and thus misunderstood the doctrine of the passing from one human
body into another. Yet it has been often used to describe rebirth in human
form. Herder has "Dialogues on Metempsychosis", devoted to the
doctrine of human rebirth.
There is
not the slightest doubt that the doctrine of passing into an animal form can be
found in both Buddhism and Brahmanism. It doubtless arose from the theory,
which has great authority behind it, that the physical atoms will pass, after
death and the flight of the soul, into animal forms if the life of the man has
been low and animal-like; for, every atom in the body is impressed with the
actual character of the person; and further it was taught that a man having
thus misused the atoms in his charge during life, would reap bad karma; from
this arose the doctrine, with the vulgar, that men's souls passed into animal
forms of different kinds as penalty for this, that, and the other crime.
MICROPOSOPUS,
the "Lesser Countenance", a kabalistic term applied to any part of
nature's manifestations, in antithesis to Macroposopus
which includes them all; the Microcosm.
MORYA, the
name of a Rajpoot tribe, so-called because of its
being almost altogether composed of the descendants of the famous Moryan sovereign of Marya-Nagara.
The Moryan Dynasty began with certain Kshatriyas of
the Sakya line closely related to Gautama
Buddha, who founded the town of
MURHA,
perplexing.
MYSTERIES,
the secret ceremonies which took place during the Ancient Initiations, in which
the candidates were taught the origin of things, the nature of the soul, and
shown the births of worlds and systems by dramatic representations. They were
divided into the Greater and the Lesser Mysteries.
MYSTERY-LANGUAGE,
the language of the "mysteries" or those things which cannot be told. The sacerdotal language used in discussing
sacred things.
NADI,
passage, channel, method.
NEOPHYTE,
a candidate or novice. One not initiated but preparing to be admitted into the sacred
mysteries.
NEO-PLATONISM,
the revived Platonism of the second and third centuries. Ammonius
Saccas founded an Eclectic School of Theosopoy in
NETZACH,
(Heb.), Victory; the seventh of the ten Sephiroth of
the Kabalah.
A masculine potency.
NIDANA, a
band, a rope, a halter. Theosophically, a first or
original cause; a primary or remote cause; original form or cause of a thing;
in ancient medicine of the Hindus the study of symptoms to determine remote or
primary cause of the disease was a department with sixteen divisions, one being
called nidana sthana. In
metaphysics and the psychology of occultism, a nidana
is the beginning of a current leading to acts and circumstances. It is related
to another word -- nida -- which means a
resting-place, a bird's-nest, a lair, a den; that is, the resting-place for a
cause or start of a current or nidana.
NIGHT OF
BRAHMA, a period of non-manifestation, of the same length as Day of
Brahma,
which see.
OANNES,
the same as Dag or Dagon, the "man-fish". A generic name for the Initiates of
ORMAZD,
(see Ahura-Mazda).
PANDU, the
father of the Pandava Princes, who were the foes of
the Kurus as related in the Bhagavat-Gita.
PARAMATMAN,
the Great or Supreme Spirit; beyond atman.
PARAMITAS,
the seven Paramitas of perfection are: Dana, Charity; Shila,
Harmony; Kshanti, Patience; Virag,
the higher Indifference; Virya, Courage; Dhyana, Contemplation; Prajna,
the capacity for Mahatic perception.
PINGALA,
in addition to what is given in the [[Working]] Glossary it should be
understood that the breath and its channels referred to are not the lungs and
air passages but the inner psychic breath.
PISTIS
SOPHIA, a sacred Gnostic work; full of mysticism; very obscure in its terms.
PLANE, a
level surface; specifically, a field of consciousness; as dream-plane,
mental-plane, physical-plane, etc.
PLANETARY
SPIRIT, the Regent of a planet; its Archangel, Governor, Spirit or
Dhyan-Chohan.
PLASTIC
BODY, a name for the Linga-Sharira, or astral form. Called "Plastic"
or "Protean" because of its power to assume any shape or form.
POSEIDONIS,
(Gr.), the last remaining portion of the great Atlantic Continent, the
PRAKAMYA,
one of the eight superhuman faculties; the power to exercise
irresistible will. See Vibhuti.
PRAPTI,
one of the eight superhuman faculties.
See Vibhuti for description.
PUJA,
worship or adoration to idols, images or persons.
QABALLAH,
this is also written Kaballah and Kabalah,
which see. For a good series of hints on the Kabala see Lucifer, vol. x, May
92, p. 185.
QUATERNARY,
the four lower "principles" in man's sevenfold constitution, to wit:
Rupa, Life, Astral Body, and
RACE, a
division of Humanity. Occultism
teaches that Mankind arises on the Earth in seven successive classes, called
races. Each of these again divides into sub-races. The present
"civilized" nations constitute the Fifth Subrace
of the Fifth Root-Race; and it is taught that there are still extant specimens
of the older races.
RAHAT, the
same as Arhat and Arahat
which see.
RAMA, in
Hindu mythology the seventh Avatar, or manifestation on Earth of the Supreme. He is the hero of the Ramayana, the famous
epic poem of
RAMAYANA,
the twin epic poem of the Mahabharata; the allies of the hero (Rama)
are monkeys, which under the able generalship of
Hanuman finally conquer Ravana, the demon-king, and
the Rakshasas, or demons and giants of Lanka or
REINCARNATION,
rebirth of the soul into human bodies.
The oldest belief of the
world,
viz., that the Soul or Ego of man has lived on Earth many times previously to
the present life, and will be reborn, or incarnated again, many
times in the future, before the full experience
attainable on this planet has been gathered, Not to bee confounded with transmigration
however, for which it is often mistaken. See Metempsychosis.
RING-PASS-NOT,
the limit of possibility in the expansion of consciousness or perception for
Man, while he remains such. To cross its border-line is to enter Nirvana, to
become one with all and to lose the personality. The circle is broken for all
only on the great day Be-with-us, when all go into para-nirvana.
ROUND, the
journey of the monad once around the seven globes composing the Earth-chain or
any other planetary chain.
The word "round" was used
interchangeably with "ring", in the early writings
on the subject in Theosophical literature. It is applied generally in respect
to the Monad in
human body, although it is the same f