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    "title": "Esoteric Buddhism (5th ed., 1893)",
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    "text": "# Esoteric Buddhism\n\n\n*by A. P. Sinnett (London: Trübner, 1883; 5th ed. 1893)*\n\n\n## Esoteric Buddhism (5th ed., 1893)\n\n\n'\n\n^ v*x\n\n0 0'\n\n■\n\ns '\n\nl'* *%. ^\n\nV *\n\nK •\n\n^\n\nr %■-\n\n'. *<<■\n\n\"o\n\n»/. s*\n\n*«\n\n,v '*k\n\ncP\n\n:^ ■•\n\n#' %\n\n& %.\n\n*' c^\n\n.\n\nESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\nBooks bp #♦ P* £mtmtt«\n\nTHE RATIONALE OF MESMERISM.\n\ni6mo, $1.25.\n\nESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\nNew American Edition. With Introduction pre-\npared expressly for it by the Author. i6mo,\n$1.25.\n\nTHE OCCULT WORLD.\n\nNew American from the Fourth English Edi-\ntion. With an Introduction written for the\nAmerican Edition by the Author, and Appen-\ndix. i6mo? $1.25.\n\nHOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.,\nBoston and New York.\n\nESOTERIC BUDDHISM\n\nBY\n\nA. P. SINNETT\n\nPRESIDENT OF THE SIMLA ECLECTIC THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY\nAUTHOR OF \"THE OCCULT WORLD \"\n\nBOSTON AND NEW YORK\nHOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY\n\ni8Q3\n\nb*\n\nCopyright, 1884,\nBy HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.\n\nAll rights reserved.\n\nTo Replace lost copy\n\nNOV 2 0.1946\n\nHie Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., IT. S. A.\nElectrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Company\n\nPUBLISHER'S NOTE.\n\nThe fifth English edition of Esoteric Bud-\ndhism consists of the text of the fourth Amer-\nican edition, together with the larger part of the\npreface specially furnished by Mr. Sinnett for\nthe American edition. He took the opportunity\nafforded by a new edition, also, to append to\nsome of the chapters annotations upon points\ncalling for explication. These annotations are\nnow added to the sixth American edition as an\nappendix. The present edition therefore cor-\nresponds with the latest English edition, and\nhas besides matter in the author's preface not\nincorporated in any English edition.\n\nINTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN\nEDITION.\n\nThis book was written in the early part of\n1883, and now that I am venturing to recom-\nmend it to public notice afresh in the latter\npart of 1884, after three English editions have\npassed through the press, I find myself in pos-\nsession of much additional information bearing\non many of the problems dealt with. But I\nam glad to be able to say that such later teach-\ning as I have yet received only reveals incom-\npleteness in my original conceptions of the eso-\nteric doctrine, — no material error so far. In-\ndeed, I am happy enough to have received, from\nthe great adept himself from whom I obtained\nmy instruction in the first instance, the assur-\nance that the book as it now stands is a sound\nand trustworthy statement of the scheme of\nNature as understood by the initiates of occult\nscience, which may have to be a good deal de-\nveloped in future, if the interest it excites is\nkeen enough to constitute an efficient demand\n\n6 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION.\n\nfor further teaching of this kind on the part of\nthe world at large, but will never have to be\nremodeled or apologized for.\n\nFurther than this, the reception of the book\nin India has shown that the doctrines thus\nfor the first time set forth in a coherent and\nstraightforward way are recognized, when thus\nstated, by various schools of Oriental philoso-\nphy as consonant with their fundamental views.\nA Brahman Hindoo, writing in the Indian\nmagazine, \"The Theosophist,\" for June, 1884,\ncriticises the present volume as departing un-\nnecessarily from accepted Sanskrit nomencla-\nture ; but his objection merely is that I have\ngiven unfamiliar names in some cases to ideas\nwhich are already expressed in Hindoo sacred\nwritings, and that I have done too much honor\nto the religious system commonly known as\nBuddhism, by representing that as more closely\nallied with the esoteric doctrine than any other.\n\" The popular wisdom of the majority of the\nHindoos to this day,\" says my Brahman critic,\n\" is more or less tinged with the esoteric doc-\ntrines taught in Mr. Sinnett's book, misnamed\n'Esoteric Buddhism,' while there is not a sin-\ngle hamlet or village in the whole of India in\nwhich people are not more or less acquainted\nwith the sublime tenets of the Vedanta philoso-\nphy. . . . The effects of Karma in the next\n\nINTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION. 7\n\nbirth, the enjoyment of its fruits, good or evil, in\na subjective or spiritual state of existence prior\nto the re-incarnation of the spiritual monad in\nthis or any other world, the loitering of the\nunsatisfied souls or human shells in the earth\n(Kamaloca), the pralayic and manwantaric pe-\nriods, . . . are not only intelligible but are even\nfamiliar to a great many Hindoos, under names\ndifferent from those made use of by the author\nof ' Esoteric Buddhism.' \" So much the better\nfrom the point of view of Western readers, to\nwhom it is a matter of indifference whether the\nexoteric Hindoo or Buddhist religion is nearest\nto absolutely true spiritual science, which should\ncertainly bear no name that appears to wed it\nto any one faith in the external world more\nthan to another. All that we in the West can\nbe anxious for is to arrive at a clear understand-\ning as to the essential principles of that science,\nand if we find the principles defined in this\nbook claimed by the cultured representatives of\nmore than one great Oriental creed as equally\nthe underlying truths of their different systems,\nwe shall be all the better inclined to believe the\npresent exposition of doctrine worth our atten-\ntion.\n\nIn regard to the complaint itself, that the\nteachings here reduced to an intelligible shape\nare incorrectly described by the name this book\n\n8 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION.\n\nbears, I cannot do better than quote the note\nby which the editor of \" The Theosophist \" re-\nplies to his Brahman contributor. He says:\n\" We print the above letter, as it expresses, in\ncourteous language and in an able manner, the\nviews of a large number of our Hindoo broth-\ners. At the same time it must be stated that\nthe name of ' Esoteric Buddhism ' was given to\nMr. Sinnett's latest publication, not because\nthe doctrine propounded therein is meant to be\nspecially identified with any particular form of\nfaith, but because Buddhism means the doc-\ntrine of the Buddhas, the Wise, i. e. the Wis-\ndom Religion.\" For my own part I need only\nadd that I fully accept and adopt that explana-\ntion of the matter. It would, indeed, be a mis-\nconception of the design which this book is in-\ntended to subserve, to suppose it concerned with\nthe recommendation, to a dilettante modern\ntaste, of old world fashions in religious thought.\nThe external forms and fancies of religion in\none age may be a little purer, in another age a\nlittle more corrupt, but they inevitably adapt\nthemselves to their period, and it would be\nextravagant to imagine them interchangeable.\nThe present statement is not put forward in\nthe hope of making Buddhists from among the\nadherents of any other system, but with the\nview of conveying to thoughtful readers, as well\n\nINTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION. 9\n\nin the East as in the West, a series of leading\nideas, relating to the actual verities of Nature,\nand the real facts of Man's progress through\nevolution, which have been communicated to the\nwriter in their present shape by Eastern phi-\nlosophers, and thus fall most readily into an\nOriental mould. But the value of these teach-\nings will perhaps be most fully realized when\nwe clearly perceive that they are scientific in\ntheir character, rather than polemical. Spirit-\nual truths, if they are truths, may evidently be\ndealt with in a no less scientific spirit than\nchemical reactions. And no religious feeling,\nof whatever color it may be, need be disturbed\nby the importation into the general stock of\nknowledge of new discoveries about the consti-\ntution and nature of Man on the plane of his\nhigher activities. True religion will eventually\nfind a way to assimilate such fresh knowledge\nin the same way that it finally acquiesces in a\ngradual enlargement of knowledge on the phys-\nical plane. This, in the first instance, may\nsometimes disconcert notions associated with\nreligious belief, — as geological science at first\nembarrassed biblical chronology. But in time\nmen came to see that the essence of the biblical\nstatement does not reside in the literal sense of\ncosmological passages, and religious conceptions\ngrew all the purer for the relief thus afforded\n\n10 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION.\n\nIn just the same way, when positive scientific\nknowledge begins to embrace a comprehension\nof laws relating to the spiritual development\nof Man, some misconceptions of Nature long\nblended with religion may have to give way,\nbut still it will be found that the central ideas\nof true religion have been cleared up and bright-\nened all the better for the process. Especially,\nas such processes continue, will the internal dis-\nsensions of the religious world be inevitably\nsubdued. The warfare of sects can only be due\nto a failure on the part of rival sectarians to\ngrasp fundamental facts. Could a time come\nwhen the basic ideas on which religion rests\nshould be comprehended with the same cer-\ntainty with which we comprehend some pri-\nmary physical laws, and disagreement about\nthem be recognized by all educated people as\nridiculous, then there would not be room for\nvery acrimonious divergences of religious senti-\nment. Externals of religious thought would\nstill differ in different climates and among dif-\nferent races, — as dress and dietaries differ, ■ —\nbut such differences would not give rise to in-\ntellectual antagonism.\n\nBasic facts of the kind that must, when they\ncome to be widely recognized as such, have a\ntendency in this way to blend together super-\nficially divergent views, not to provoke a trial\n\n.\n\nINTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION. 11\n\nof strength between them, are developed, it\nappears to me, in the exposition of spiritual\nscience we have now obtained from our Eastern\nfriends. It is quite unnecessary for religious\nthinkers to turn aside from them under the\nimpression that they are arguments in favor of\nsome Eastern, in preference to the more gen-\neral Western, creed. If medical science were to\ndiscover a new fact about Man's body, were to\nunveil some hitherto concealed principle on\nwhich the growth of skin and flesh and bone\nis carried on, that discovery would not be re-\ngarded as trenching at all on the domain of\nreligion. Would the domain of religion be in-\nvaded by a discovery, for example, that should\ngo one step behind the action of the nerves,\nand disclose a finer set of activities manipulat-\ning these as they manipulate the muscles? At\nall events, even if such a discovery might begin\nto reconcile science and religion, no man who\nallows any of his higher faculties to enter into\nhis religious thinking would put aside a posi-\ntive fact of Nature, clearly shown to be such,\nas hostile to religion. Being a fact, it is inevi-\ntable that it should fit in with all other facts,\nand with religious truth among the number.\nSo with the great mass of information in refer-\nence to the evolution of Man embodied in the\npresent statement. Our best plan evidently is,\n\n12 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION.\n\nto ask, before we look into the report I bring\nforward, not whether it will square in all re-\nspects with preconceived views, but whether it\nreally does introduce us to a series of natural\nfacts connected with the growth and develop-\nment of Man's higher faculties. If it does this,\nwe may wisely examine the facts first in the\nscientific spirit, and leave them to exercise\nwhatever effect on collateral beliefs may be\nreasonable and legitimate, later on.\n\nRamifying, as the explanation proceeds, into\na great many side paths, it will be seen by\nthe readers of this book that the central idea\nnow presented to us completes and spiritualizes\nthe great conception of physical anthropology,\nwhich accounts for the evolution of Man's body\nby successive and very gradual improvements\nof animal forms from generation to generation.\nThat is a very barren and miserable theory, re-\ngarded as an all-embracing account of creation ;\nbut, properly understood, it paves the way for\na comprehension of the higher concurrent pro-\ncess, which is all the while evolving the soul of\nMan in the higher spiritual realms of existence.\nThe circumstances under which this is done\nreconcile the evolutionary method with the in-\nstinctive craving of every self-conscious entity\nfor perpetuity of individual life. The dis-\njointed series of improving forms on this earth\n\nINTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION. 13\n\nhave no individuality, and the life of each in\nturn is a separate transaction which finds no\ncompensation for suffering involved, no justice,\nno fruit of its efforts, in the life of its successor.\nIt is possible to argue on the assumption of a\nnew independent creation of a human soul,\nevery time a new human form is produced by\nphysiological growth, that in the after spiritual\nstate of such soul justice may be awarded ; but\nthen this conception is itself at variance with\nthe fundamental idea of evolution, which traces,\nor believes that it traces, the origin of each soul\nto the working of highly developed matter in\neach case. Nor is it less at variance with the\nanalogies of Nature, as these come under our\nobservation ; but without going into that, it is\nenough for the moment to perceive that the\ntheory of spiritual evolution, as set forth in the\nteaching of esoteric science, is, at any rate, in\nharmony with these analogies, while at the\nsame time it satisfactorily meets the require-\nments of justice and of the instinctive demand\nfor continuity of individual life.\n\nThis theory recognizes the evolution of the\nsoul as a process that is quite continuous in\nitself, though carried out partly through the\nintermediation of a great series of dissociated\nforms. Putting aside, for the moment, the\nprofound metaphysics of the theory which trace\n\n14 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION.\n\nthe principle of life from the original first\ncause of the Cosmos, we find the soul as an\nentity emerging from the animal kingdom and\npassing into the earliest human forms, without\nbeing at that time ripe for the higher intellec-\ntual life with which the present state of hu-\nmanity renders us familiar. But through suc-\ncessive incarnations in forms whose physical\nimprovement, under the Darwinian law of\nevolution, is constantly fitting them to be its\nhabitations at each return to objective life, it\ngradually gathers that enormous range of ex-\nperience which is summed up in its higher de-\nvelopment. In the intervals between its physi-\ncal incarnations, it prolongs and works out, and\nfinally exhausts or transmutes into so much ab-\nstract development, the personal experiences of\neach life. This is the clue to that apparent\ndifficulty which besets the cruder form of the\ntheory of re-incarnation, which independent\nspeculation has sometimes thrown out. Each\nman is unconscious of having led previous lives,\ntherefore he contends that subsequent lives can\nafford him no compensations for this one. He\noverlooks the enormous importance of the in-\ntervening spiritual condition, in which he by\nno means forgets the personal adventures and\nemotions he has just passed through, and in\nwhich he distills them into so much cosmic\n\nINTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION. 15\n\nprogress. In the following pages the elucida-\ntion of this profoundly interesting mystery is\nattempted, ancf it will be seen that the view of\nevents now afforded us is not only a solution\nof the problems of life and death, but of many\nvery perplexing experiences on the border land\nbetween those conditions, — or rather between\nphysical and spiritual life, — which have en-\ngaged attention and speculation so widely of\nrecent years in most civilized countries.\n\nIt was time, in fact, that the esoteric doc-\ntrine should be offered to modern thinkers\nto assist them in grappling with the enigmas\n-which the spasmodic operation of very exalted\nspiritual faculties in some cases — the manifes-\ntation of some extra-physical laws and forces\nof Nature in others — have been latterly ac-\ncumulating on our hands in great abundance.\nRather, I imagine, because the conjectures put\nforward to account for them were unacceptable\nto the cultivated world at large, than because\nthe occurrence of extra-physical manifestations\nof late years has been disbelieved altogether,\nhave most people been unwilling to pay close\nattention to such occurrences. Nor is it neces-\nsary that they should do so now, in order to\nreach an intellectual standpoint from which the\nwhole range of possibilities in regard to com-\nmunications that may be established between\n\n16 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION.\n\nthe seen and the unseen worlds may be broadly\ncomprehended. The higher culture of the East\nhas been concerned with the investigation, in\nits own congenial retirement, of that side of Na-\nture, while we in the West have been pushing\nforward our physical civilization to its present\ngreat height. Different races in the world ad-\nvance in this way along different lines of prog-\nress ; or, rather, — to state the idea more sci-\nentifically in the light of the occult doctrine,\n— all races have their cyclic progress to accom-\nplish, at one period of whkh they are concerned\nwith physical and at another with spiritual cul-\nture. We of the white race in Europe and\nAmerica — embodying within the last few cen-\nturies one phase of the progress of our sub-\nsection of humanity — have been concerned al-\nmost entirely, during the historic period, with\nthe development of our material civilization.\nOur religions, meanwhile, have had to do rather\nwith the maintenance of spiritual aspirations in\na potential state, than with the keen investiga-\ntion of the facts of Nature in the spiritual re-\ngion. We have keenly investigated these facts\non the physical plane, for that was the proper\nfunction of our age ; but all earnestness of ef-\nfort on the part of Oriental races, in the mean-\nwhile, has been turned in another direction.\nThere, physical civilization has been stagnant,\n\nINTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION. 17\n\nmaterial progress quite unimportant, but spirit'\nual aspirations have been not merely kept up\nas an underlying sentiment in people's minds,\n— they have operated to produce the greatest\nmanifestations of activity with which the race\nhas been concerned. I do not mean that the\nIndian or any other Asiatic race has been as\nactive in writing books and publishing discov-\neries in spiritual science as we in the West\nhave been with the literature and research of\nphysics. That kind of activity is itself a mani-\nfestation of material civilization. But the Asi-\natic races have fermented with capacities for\ngreat spiritual development, and the conse-\nquence has been that many Eastern people\nhave devoted their lives to spiritual study and\nresearch, always, of course, pursuing the meth-\nods of research and the modes of life appro-\npriate to a cycle of spiritual progress, — meth-\nods which lead the student of — and still more\nthe adept in — such science into seclusion and\nsecrecy.\n\nProbably it may be due in some way to an\nopposite fermentation of causes in the East and\nthe West now that a certain interchange of\nmethods begins to be possible. I do not mean\nthat the West is turning away yet from ma-\nterial civilization, nor the East slackening its\ndevotion to spirituality, but we here are cer-\n\n18 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION,\n\nthinly readier now than we were a generation\nor two ago to recognize the possibility of ac-\nquiring real knowledge of spiritual science, and\nare more generally impressed with the neces-\nsity of such acquisitions. The East on the other\nhand has partially relaxed its hitherto inviola-\nble reserve. The important movement of which\nthis little book is one outcome constitutes a\ndouble illustration of the new tendency at last\ndiscernible. It is discernible in several differ-\nent ways to acute observers who once possess\nthemselves of the key to what is going on. But\nit is only of that particular effort in which my\nown willing services have been engaged that I\nneed now speak. A book more or less, in this\nocean of books which is constantly welling forth\nfrom active Western civilization, may seem a\nvery small matter ; but to the highly conserva-\ntive devotees of occult science in the East, a\nbook which sets forth in plain language, which\nall who run may read, the hitherto secret in-\nterpretations of Nature's spiritual design that\nhave hitherto been communicated only in the\ndeadliest secrecy to students of long absorption\nin the pursuit of such teaching, constitutes a\nviolation of the old occult usage which is quite\nbewildering and appalling. As my Brahman\ncritic above referred to points out, now that\nthe esoteric doctrine is once for all plainly\n\nINTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION. 19\n\nstated, it is seen to be embodied, a bit here\nand a bit there, in the various sacred writings\nof India. But at the same time it was nowhere\nstated in such terms as to be comprehensible\nwithout prolonged and special study. And for\nthe most part the doctrine, in so far as it was\nstated, was wrapped in allegory that Western\nreaders have rarely had the patience to unravel.\nTo all intents and purposes, though the knowl-\nedge here set forth is no new discovery for those\nby whom it is now revealed, it is a new revela-\ntion for the whole world, — Eastern and West-\nern alike, — in its present explicit distinctness,\nand has only been prepared for in the West,\nbut I trust prepared for sufficiently, by that\nwidespread seething interest in spiritual things\nwhich has been working among us for some\nyears past.\n\nThis interest has been stimulated in various\nways. The casual occurrence of phenomena\nlinking our physical perceptions with the un-\nseen world has kindled an ardent enthusiasm\nfor inquiry along the path of investigation thus\npointed out, but the laws of Nature affecting\nthe vast realm of spiritual existence are far too\ncomplicated to be discovered from an observa-\ntion of the phenomena of the relatively nar-\nrow subdivision of that realm brought within\nour cognizance almost exclusively by casual and\n\n20 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION.\n\nirregular occurrences of the kind referred to.\nIt is only with the help of esoteric science —\nthe accumulated experience of a great school of\ninquirers, devoting faculties of the highest kind,\nfor a long series of ages, to the exploration\nof spiritual mysteries — that a sufficiently wide\nview of Nature can be obtained to embrace the\napparently disorderly phenomena of the astral\nworld, — the first beyond the physical frontier,\n— in all-sufficing generalizations that cover the\nwhole scheme of spiritual evolution. These far-\nreaching and magnificent conceptions of Nature\nshould not only recommend themselves, when\nproperly understood, to minds that have shrunk\nfrom crude conclusions based on the imperfect\ndata of modern spiritual observation in the\nWest, but should also be recognized by modern\nspiritualists themselves as calculated to purify\nand expand their own doctrines, and guard\nthem from liability to underrate the grandeur\nof the region into which they have partly\npenetrated, by relying, for its interpretation,\ntoo confidently on experiences gathered at its\nthreshold. For the theosophic teaching, which\nhas been too hastily resented by some spiritual-\nists who have conceived it hostile to their own\nacquired knowledge, will be discovered, on a\ncloser examination, to include these experi-\nences, and only to disconcert some of the con-\n\nINTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION. 21\n\nelusions derived from them. It must be re-\nmembered that my statements concerning the\nphenomena of Kama loca, — the astral world,\nfrom which most of the phenomena of spirit-\nualism emanate, — have been the fruit of my\nown questions and inquiries rather than a por-\ntion of a carefully adjusted series of lessons in\noccult science, dictated by professors applying\nthemselves to the art of teaching. That, in-\ndeed, has been the way in which the whole\nbody of exposition which this book contains\nhas been worked out, and it naturally follows\nthat some parts of it are less complete than\nothers, and that none can be much better than\ngeneral outlines. In esoteric science, as in mi-\ncroscopy, the application of higher and higher\npowers will always continue to reveal a grow-\ning wealth of detail ; and the sketch of an or-\nganism that appeared satisfactory enough when\nits general proportions were first discerned, is\nbetrayed to be almost worse than insufficient\nwhen a number of previously unsuspected minu-\ntiae are brought to notice. In this way, while\nno mistake has been made as regards any state-\nment actually put forward in the following\npages on the subject of human evolution after\ndeath, there will be more, I apprehend, to add\nto that part of the explanation in later expan-\nsions of it, if these become practicable, than to\n\n22 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION.\n\nany other. The points which, meanwhile, I\nwill ask spiritualist readers to bear in mind\nare especially these :\n\n1st. It is already indicated that the dissolu-\ntion of the human principles after death, though\none cannot help speaking of the process as one\nof dispersion, is not actually a mechanical sepa-\nration of parts, nor even a process analogous to\nthe chemical dissolution of a compound body\ninto elements on the same plane of matter.\nThe discussion of the process as if it were a\nmechanical separation was represented from\nthe first as \" a rough way of dealing with the\nmatter,\" and was adopted for the sake of em-\nphasizing the transition of consciousness from\none principle to another which goes on in the\nastral world after death. This transition of\nconsciousness is, in fact, the struggle between\nthe higher and lower duad.\n\n2d. The struggle just referred to may be\nregarded as an oscillation of consciousness be-\ntween the two duads ; and when the return of\nconsciousness to the lower principles, during\nthis struggle, is stimulated and encouraged by\nconverse with still living entities on the earth\nplane, with the help of medium ship, the proper\nspiritual growth of the entity in Kama loca is,\nto that extent, — perhaps to a very consider-\nable extent, — retarded. It is this considers\n\nINTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION. 23\n\ntion which may, in a greater degree than any\nother, account for the disapproval with which\nthe adepts of occult science regard the active\npractice of spiritualistic intercourse with de-\nparted human beings. Such intercourse, though\ndictated from this side by the purest affection,\nmay seriously retard and embarrass the spirit-\nual development of those who have gone in\nadvance of us.\n\n3d. It is recognized in the following pages\n-that intercourse between living human beings\ngifted with a very elevated sort of mecliumship,\nor spiritual clairvoyance, and departed friends\nwith whom they have been closely united in\nsympathy during life, is possible on the higher\nspiritual plane, after such persons have passed\nthrough the struggle of Kama loca and have\nbeen completely spiritualized. That intercourse\nmay be of a more subtle kind than can readily\nbe realized by reference to examples of inter-\ncourse on the earth plane, but may evidently\nbe none the less exhilarating to the higher per-\nceptions.\n\nBy dwelling on the points of contact between\nthe theosophic teachings and the experience of\nthe higher spiritualism, I think it will be found\nthat the alleged incompatibility of theosophy\nand spiritualism is much less complete than is\nsupposed. It is impossible, I venture to assert,\n\n24 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN EDITION.\n\nthat there can be any true psychic experience\nwhich the doctrines of theosophy — or, to speak\nmore accurately, of that esoteric science of which\ntheosophy is the study — will fail to interpret\nand explain. And if this partial exposition of\nesoteric science may leave a good deal not yet\nexplained in the vast region of mystery which\nseparates death and re-birth, surely the revela-\ntions which are made here go far enough to es-\ntablish a good claim on our respectful attention\nfor the present, so that some embarrassments\nthey may still leave to trouble our understand-\ning may fairly be passed to a suspense account,\nwhile we await a further illumination, to be,\nperhaps, obtainable hereafter.\n\nPREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.\n\nThe teachings embodied in the present vol-\nume let in a flood of light on questions con-\nnected with Buddhist doctrine which have\ndeeply perplexed previous writers on that re-\nligion, and offer the world for the first time a\npractical clue to the meaning of almost all\nancient religious symbolism. More than this,\nthe esoteric doctrine, when properly under-\nstood, will be found to advance an overpower-\ning claim on the attention of earnest thinkers.\nIts tenets are not presented to us as the in-\nvention of any founder or prophet ; its testi-\nmony is based on no written scriptures; its\nviews of Nature have been evolved by the re-\nsearches of an immense succession of investiga-\ntors, qualified for their task by the possession\nof spiritual faculties and perceptions of a higher\norder than those belonging to ordinary human-\nity. In the course of ages, the block of knowl-\nedge thus accumulated, concerning the origin\nof the world and of man, and the ultimate des-\n\n26 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.\n\ntinies of our race, — concerning also the na-\nture of other worlds and states of existence dif-\nfering from those of our present life, — checked\nand examined at every point, verified in all\ndirections, and constantly under examination\nthroughout, has come to be looked on by its\ncustodians as constituting the absolute truth\nconcerning spiritual things, the actual state of\nthe facts regarding vast regions of vital activ-\nity lying beyond this earthly existence.\n\nEuropean philosophy, whether concerned\nwith religion or pure metaphysics, has so long\nbeen used to a sense of insecurity in specula-\ntions outrunning the limits of physical experi-\nment, that absolute truth about spiritual things\nis hardly recognized any longer by prudent\nthinkers as a reasonable object of pursuit ; but\ndifferent habits of thought have been acquired\nin Asia. The secret doctrine which, to a con-\nsiderable extent, I am now enabled to expound,\nis regarded not only by all its adherents, but\nby vast numbers who have never expected to\nknow more of it than that such a doctrine ex-\nists, as a mine of entirely trustworthy knowl-\nedge, from which all religions and philosophies\nhave derived whatever they possess of truth,\nand with which every religion must coincide if\nit claims to be a mode of expression for truth.\n\nThis is a bold claim indeed, but I venture to\n\nPREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 27\n\nannounce the following exposition as one of\nimmense importance to the world, because I\nbelieve that claim can be substantiated.\n\nI do not say that within the compass of\nthis volume the authenticity of the esoteric\ndoctrine can be proved. Such proof cannot\nbe given by any process of argument ; only\nthrough the development in each inquirer for\nhimself of the faculties required for the direct\nobservation of Nature along the lines indicated.\nBut his primd facie conclusion may be deter-\nmined by the extent to which the views of\nNature about to be unfolded may recommend\nthemselves to his mind, and by the reasons\nwhich exist for trusting the powers of observa-\ntion of those by whom they are communicated.\n\nWill it be supposed that the very magnitude\nof the claim now made on behalf of the eso-\nteric doctrine, lifts the present statement out\nof the region of inquiry to which its title re-\nfers, — inquiry as to the real inner meaning of\nthe definite and specific religion called Bud-\ndhism ? The fact is, however, that esoteric\nBuddhism, though by no means divorced from\nthe associations of exoteric Buddhism, must not\nbe conceived to constitute a mere imperium in\nimperio, — a central school of culture in the\nvortex of the Buddhist world. In proportion\nas Buddhism retreats into the inner penetralia\n\n28 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.\n\nof its faith, these are found to merge into the\ninner penetralia of other faiths. The cosmic\nconceptions, and the knowledge of Nature on\nwhich Buddhism not merely rests, but which\nconstitute esoteric Buddhism, equally consti-\ntute esoteric Brahmanism. And the esoteric\ndoctrine is thus regarded by those of all creeds\nwho are \" enlightened \" (in the Buddhist sense)\nas the absolute truth concerning Nature, Man,\nthe origin of the Universe, and the destinies\ntoward which its inhabitants are tending. At\nthe same time, exoteric Buddhism has remained\nin closer union with the esoteric doctrine than\nany other popular religion. An exposition of\nthe inner knowledge addressed to English read-\ners in the present day, will thus associate itself\nirresistibly with familiar outlines of Buddhist\nteaching. It will certainly impart to these a\nliving meaning they generally seem to be with-\nout, but all the more on this account may the\nesoteric doctrine be most conveniently studied\nin its Buddhist aspect ; one, moreover, which\nhas been so strongly impressed upon it since\nthe time of Gautama Buddha, that though the\nessence of the doctrine dates back to a far more\nremote antiquity, the Buddhist coloring has\nnow permeated its whole substance. That\nwhich I am about to put before the reader is\nesoteric Buddhism, and for European students\n\nPREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 29\n\napproaching it for the first time, any other des-\nignation would be a misnomer.\n\nThe statement I have to make must be con-\nsidered in its entirety before the reader will be\nable to comprehend why initiates in the eso-\nteric doctrine regard the concession involved in\nthe present disclosure of the general outlines\nof this doctrine as one of startling magnitude.\nOne explanation of this feeling, however, may\nbe readily seen to spring from the extreme\nsacredness that has always been attached by\ntheir ancient guardians to the inner vital truths\nof Nature. Hitherto this sacredness has al-\nways prescribed their absolute concealment\nfrom the profane herd. And so far as that\npolicy of concealment — the tradition of count-\nless ages — is now being given up, the new de-\nparture which the appearance of this volume\nsignalizes will be contemplated with surprise\nand regret by a great many initiated disciples.\nThe surrender to criticism, which may some-\ntimes perhaps be clumsy and irreverent, of doc-\ntrines which have hitherto been regarded by\nsuch persons as too majestic in their import to\nbe talked of at all except under circumstances\nof befitting solemnity, will seem to them a ter«\nrible profanation of the great mysteries. From\nthe European point of view it would be un-\nreasonable to expect that such a book as this\n\n30 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.\n\ncan be exempt from the usual rough-and-tumble\ntreatment of new ideas ; and special convictions\nor commonplace bigotry may sometimes ren-\nder such treatment in the present case pecul-\niarly inimical. But all that, though a matter\nof course to European exponents of the doc-\ntrine like myself, will seem very grievous and\ndisgusting to its earlier and more regular repre-\nsentatives. They will appeal sadly to the wis-\ndom of the time-honored rule which, in the old\nsymbolical way, forbade the initiates from cast-\ning pearls before swine.\n\nHappily, as I think, the rule has not been\nallowed to operate any longer to the prejudice,\nof those who, while still far from being initi-\nated, in the occult sense of the term, will prob-\nably have become, by sheer force of modern\nculture, qualified to appreciate the concession.\n\nPart of the information contained in the fol-\nlowing pages has been thrown out in a frag-\nmentary form during the last eighteen months\nin \" The Theosophist,\" a monthly magazine,\npublished hitherto at Bombay, but now at\nMadras, by the leaders of the Theosophical So-\nciety. As almost all the articles referred to\nhave been my own writing, I have not hesi-\ntated to weld parts of them, when this course\nhas been convenient, into the present volume.\nA certain advantage is gained by thus showing\n\nPREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 31\n\nhow the separate pieces of the mosaic, as first\npresented to public notice, drop naturally into\ntheir places in the (comparatively) finished\npavement.\n\nThe doctrine or system now disclosed in its\nbroad outlines has been so jealously guarded\nhitherto, that no mere literary researches, though\nthey might have currycombed all India, could\nhave brought to light any morsel of the infor-\nmation thus revealed. It is given out to the\nworld at last by the free grace of those in whose\nkeeping it has hitherto lain. Nothing could ever\nhave extorted from them its very first letter. It\nis only after a perusal of the present explanations\nthat their position generally, as regards their\npresent disclosures or their previous reticence,\ncan be criticised or even comprehended. The\nviews of Nature now put forward are altogether\nunfamiliar to European thinkers ; the policy of\nthe graduates in esoteric knowledge, which has\ngrown out of their long intimacy with these\nviews, must be considered in connection with\nthe peculiar bearings of the doctrine itself.\n\nAs for the circumstances under which these\nrevelations were first foreshadowed in \" The\nTheosophist,\" and are now rounded off and ex-\npanded as my readers will perceive, it is enough\nfor the moment to say, that the Theosophical\nSociety, through my connection with which the\n\n32 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.\n\nmaterials dealt with in this volume have come\ninto my hands, owes its establishment to certain\npersons who are among the custodians of eso-\nteric science. The information poured out at\nlast for the benefit of all who are ripe to receive\nit has been destined for communication to the\nworld through the Theosophical Society since\nthe foundation of that body, and later circum-\nstances only have indicated myself as the agent\nthrough whom the communication could be con-\nveniently made.\n\nLet me add, that I do not regard myself as\nthe sole exponent for the outer world, at this\ncrisis, of esoteric truth. These teachings are the\nfinal outcome, as regards philosophical knowl-\nedge, of the relations with the outer world\nwhich have been established by the custodians\nof esoteric truth, through me. And it is only\nregarding the acts and intentions of those eso-\nteric teachers who have chosen to work through\nme, that I can have any certain knowledge.\nBut, in different ways, some other writers are\nengaged in expounding for the benefit of the\nworld — and, as I believe, in accordance with a\ngreat plan, of which this volume is a part —\nthe same truths, in different aspects, that I am\ncommissioned to unfold. A remarkable book,\npublished within the hist year or two, \"The\nPerfect Way,\" may be specially mentioned, as\n\nPREFACE TO TEE FIRST EDITION. 33\n\nshowing bow more roads than one may lead\nto a mountain-top. The inner inspirations of\n\" The Perfect Way\" appear to me identical with\nthe philosophy that I have learned. The sym-\nbols in which those inspirations are clothed, in\nmy opinion, I am bound to add, are liable to\nmislead the student ; but this is a natural con-\nsequence of the circumstances under which\nthe inner inspiration has been received. Far\nmore important and interesting to me than the\ndiscrepancies between the teachings of \" The\nPerfect Way \" and my own, are the identities\nthat may be traced between the clear scientific\nexplanations now conveyed to me on the plane\nof the physical intellect, and the ideas which\nmanifestly underlie those communicated on an\naltogether different system to the authors of\nthe book I mention. These identities are a\ngreat deal too close to be the result either of\ncoincidence or parallel speculation.\n\nProbably the great activity at present of\nmere ordinary literary speculation on problems\nlying beyond the range of physical knowledge,\nmay also be in some way provoked by that\npolicy, on the part of the great custodians of\nesoteric truth, of which my own book is cer-\ntainly one manifestation, and the volume I\nhave just mentioned, probably another. I find,\nfor example, in M. Adolphe d'Assier's recently\n\n84 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.\n\npublished \" Essai sur PHurnanite* Posthume,\"\nsome conjectures respecting the destination of\nthe higher human principles after death, which\nare infused with quite a startling flavor of\ntrue occult knowledge. Again, the ardor now\nshown in \" Psychical Research,\" by the very\ndistinguished, highly gifted, and cultivated men\nwho lead the society in London devoted to that\nobject, is, to my inner convictions, — knowing,\nas I do, something of the way the spiritual\naspirations of the world are silently influenced\nby those whose work lies in that department of\nNature, — the obvious fruit of efforts parallel to\nthose with which I am more immediately con-\ncerned.\n\nIt only remains for me to disclaim, on behalf\nof the treatise which ensues, any pretension to\nhigh finish as regards the language in which it\nis cast. Longer familiarity with the vast and\ncomplicated scheme of cosmogony disclosed,\nwill no doubt suggest improvements in the\nphraseology employed to expound it. Two\nyears ago, neither I nor any other European\nliving knew the alphabet of the science here\nfor the first time put into a scientific shape, —\nor subject, at all events, to an attempt in that\ndirection, — the science of spiritual causes and\ntheir effects, of super-physical consciousness,\nof cosmical evolution. Though, as I have ex«\n\nPREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 35\n\nplained above, ideas had begun to offer them-\nselves to the world in more or less embarrassing\ndisguise of mystic symbology, no attempt had\never been made by any esoteric teacher, two\nyears back, to put the doctrine forward in its\nplain abstract purity. As my own instruction\nprogressed on those lines, I have had to coin\nphrases and suggest English words as equiv-\nalents for the ideas which were presented to\nmy mind. I am by no means convinced that\nin all cases I have coined the best possible\nphrases and hit on the most neatly expressive\nwords. For example, at the threshold of the\nsubject we come upon the necessity of giving\nsome name to the various elements or attributes\nof which the complete human creature is made\nup. \" Element \" would be an impossible word\nto use, on account of the confusion that would\narise from its use in other significations ; and\nthe least objectionable, on the whole, seemed to\nme \" principle,\" though to an ear trained in the\nniceties of metaphysical expression this word\nwill have a very unsatisfactory sound in some\nof its present applications. Quite possibly,\ntherefore, in progress of time the Western\nnomenclature of the esoteric doctrine may be\ngreatly developed in advance of that I have\nprovisionally constructed. The Oriental no-\nmenclature is far more elaborate, but metaphys-\n\n36 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.\n\nical Sanskrit seems to be painfully embarrassing\nto a translator, — the fault, my India friends\nassure me, not of Sanskrit, but of the language\nin which they are now required to express the\nSanskrit idea. Eventually we may find that,\nwith the help of a little borrowing from familiar\nGreek quarries, English may prove more re-\nceptive of the new doctrine — or, rather, of the\nprimeval doctrine as newly disclosed — than\nhas yet been supposed possible in the East.\n\nCONTENTS.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nESOTERIC TEACHERS.\n\nPAGE\n\nNature of the Present Exposition. — Seclusion of\nEastern Knowledge. — The Arhats and their At-\ntributes. — The Mahatmas. — Occultists generally.\n\n— Isolated Mystics. — Inferior Yogis. — Occult\nTraining. — The Great Purpose. — Its Incidental\nConsequences. — Present Concessions .... 41\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION OF MAN.\n\nEsoteric Cosmogony. — Where to Begin. — Working\nback from Man to Universe. — Analysis of Man.\n\n— The Seven Principles 60\n\nCHAPTER m.\n\nTHE PLANETARY CHAIN.\n\nEsoteric Views of Evolution. — The Chain of Globes.\n\n— Progress of Man round them. — The Spiral\nAdvance. — Original Evolution of the Globes. —\nThe Lower Kingdoms 75\n\n38 CONTENTS.\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE WORLD PERIODS.\n\nPAGE\n\nUniformity of Nature. — Rounds and Races. — The\nSeptenary Law. — Objective and Subjective Lives.\n\n— Total Incarnations. — Former Races on Earth.\n\n— Periodic Cataclysms. — Atlantis. — Lemuria. ,\n\n— The Cyclic Law 94\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nDEVACHAN.\n\nSpiritual Destinies of the Ego. — Karma. — Divis-\nion of the Principles at Death. — Progress of the\nHigher Duad. — Existence in Devachan. — Sub-\njective Progress. — Avitchi. — Earthly Connection\nwith Devachan. — Devachanic Periods . . . .121\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nKAMA LOCA.\n\nThe Astral Shell. — Its Habitat. — Its Nature. —\nSurviving Impulses. — Elementals. — Mediums\nand Shells. — Accidents and Suicides. — Lost Per-\nsonalities 150\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nTHE HUMAN TIDE-WAVE.\n\nProgress of the Main Wave. — Obscurations. — Twi-\nlight and Dawn of Evolution. — Our Neighboring\n\nCONTENTS. 39\n\nPAGE\n\nPlanets.— Gradations of Spirituality.— Prematurely\nDeveloped Egos. — Intervals of Re-Incarnation . 171\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTHE PROGRESS OF HUMANITY.\n\nThe Choice of Good or Evil. — The Second Half\nof Evolution. — The Decisive Turning-Point. —\nSpirituality and Intellect. — The Survival of the\nFittest. — The Sixth Sense. — Development of\nthe Principles in their Order. — The Subsidence\nof the Unfit. — Provision for All. — The Excep-\ntional Cases. — Their Scientific Explanation. —\nJustice Satisfied. — The Destiny of Failures. —\nHuman Evolution Reviewed 188\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nBUDDHA.\n\nThe Esoteric Buddha. — Re-Incarnations of Adepts.\n\n— Buddha's Incarnation. — The Seven Buddhas\nof the Great Races. — Avalokiteshwara. — Addi\nBuddha. — Adeptship in Buddha's Time. — San-\nkaracharya. — Vedantin Doctrines. — Tsong-ka-pa.\n\n— Occult Reforms in Tibet 209\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nNIRVANA.\n\nIts Remoteness. — Preceding Gradations. — Par-\ntial Nirvana. — The Threshold of Nirvana. — Nir-\n\n40 CONTENTS.\n\nPAGE\n\nvana.— Para Nirvana. — Buddha and Nirvana. —\nNirvana attained by Adepts. — General Progress\ntowards Nirvana. — Conditions of its Attainment.\n— Spirituality and Religion. — The Pursuit of\nTruth 233\n\nCHAPTER XL\n\nTHE UNIVERSE.\n\nThe Days and Nights of Brahma. — The Various\nManvantaras and Pralayas. — The Solar System.\nThe Universal Pralaya. — Recommencement of\nEvolution. — \" Creation.\" — The Great First\nCause. _ The Eternal Cyclic Process .... 246\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nTHE DOCTRINE REVIEWED.\n\nCorrespondences of the Esoteric Doctrine with Visi-\nble Nature. — Free Will and Predestination.—\nThe Origin of Evil. — Geology, Biology, and the\nEsoteric°Teaching.— Buddhism and Scholarship.\n_ The Origin of all Things. — The Doctrine as\nDistorted. — The Ultimate Dissolution of Con-\nsciousness.-Transmigration.- The Soul and the\nSpirit. — Personality and Individuality. — Karma 265\n\nESOTEEIC BUDDHISM.",
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