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    "slug": "02-chapter-ii",
    "title": "CHAPTER II.",
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    "text": "## CHAPTER II.\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION OF MAN.\n\nA SUEVEY of cosmogony, as comprehended\nby occult science, must precede any attempt to\nexplain the means by which a knowledge of\nthat cosmogony itself has been acquired. The\nmethods of esoteric research have grown out\nof natural facts, with which exoteric science is\nwholly unacquainted. These natural facts are\nconcerned with the premature development in\noccult adepts of faculties which mankind at\nlarge has not yet evolved ; and these faculties,\nin turn, enable their possessors to explore the\nmysteries of Nature, and verify the esoteric\ndoctrines, setting forth its grand design. The\npractical student of occultism may develop the\nfaculties first, and apply them to the observa-\ntion of Nature afterwards; but the exhibition\nof the theory of Nature for Western readers\nmerely seeking its intellectual comprehension,\nmust precede consideration of the inner senses,\nwhich occult research employs. On the other\nhand, a survey of cosmogony, as comprehended\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION OF MAN, 61\n\nby occult science, could only be scientifically\narranged at the expense of intelligibility for\nEuropean readers. To begin at the beginning,\nwe should endeavor to realize the state of the\nuniverse before evolution sets in. This subject\nis by no means shirked by esoteric students;\nand later on, in the course of this sketch, some\nhints will be given concerning the views occult-\nism entertains of the earlier processes through\nwhich cosmic matter passes on its way to evolu-\ntion. But an orderly statement of the earliest\nprocesses of Nature would embody references\nto man's spiritual constitution, which would\nnot be understood without some preliminary\nexplanation.\n\nSeven distinct principles are recognized by\nesoteric science as entering into the consti-\ntution of man. The classification differs so\nwidely from any with which European readers\nwill be familiar, that I shall naturally be asked\nfor the grounds on which occultism reaches so\nfar-fetched a conclusion. But I must, on ac-\ncount of inherent peculiarities in the subject,\nwhich will be comprehended later on, beg for\nthis Oriental knowledge I am bringing home a\nhearing (in the first instance, at all events) of\nthe Oriental kind The Oriental and the Eu-\nropean systems of conveying knowledge are as\nunlike as any two methods can be. The West\n\n62 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\npricks and piques the learner's controversial\ninstinct at every step. He is encouraged to\ndispute and resist conviction. He is forbidden\nto take any scientific statement on authority.\nPari passu, as he acquires knowledge, he must\nlearn how that knowledge has been acquired,\nand he is made to feel that no fact is worth\nknowing, unless he knows, with it, the way to\nprove it a fact. The East manages its pupils\non a wholly different plan. It no more disre-\ngards the necessity of proving its teaching than\nthe West, but it provides proof of a wholly dif-\nferent sort. It enables the student to search\nNature for himself, and verify its teachings, in\nthose regions which Western philosophy can\nonly invade by speculation and argument. It\nnever takes the trouble to argue about any-\nthing. It says : \" So and so is fact ; here is\nthe key of knowledge ; now go and see for\nyourself.\" In this way it comes to pass that\nteaching per se is never anything else but\nteaching on authority. Teaching and proof\ndo not go hand in hand ; they follow one an-\nother in due order. A further consequence of\nthis method is that Eastern philosophy employs\nthe method which we in the West have dis-\ncarded for good reasons as incompatible with\nour own line of intellectual development, — the\nsystem of reasoning from generals to particu-\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION OF MAN. 63\n\nlars. The purposes which European science\nusually has in view would certainly not be an-\nswered by that plan, but I think that any one\nwho goes far in the present inquiry will feel\nthat the system of reasoning up from the de-\ntails of knowledge to general inferences is in-\napplicable to the work in hand. One cannot\nunderstand details in this department of knowl-\nedge till we get a general understanding of the\nwhole scheme of things. Even to convey this\ngeneral comprehension by mere language is a\nlarge and by no means an easy task. To pause\nat every moment of the exposition in order to\ncollect what separate evidence may be avail-\nable for the proof of each separate statement,\nwould be practically impossible. Such a method\nwould break down the patience of the reader,\nand prevent him from deriving, as he may from\na more condensed treatise, that definite concep-\ntion as to what the esoteric doctrine means to\nteach, which it is my business to evoke.\n\nThe reflection may suggest, in passing, a new\nview, having an intimate connection with our\npresent subject, of the Platonic and Aristotelian\nsystems of reasoning. Plato's system, roughly\ndescribed as reasoning from universals to partic-\nulars, is condemned by modern habits in favor\nof the later and exactly inverse system. But\nPlato was in fetters in attempting to defend his\n\n64 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\nsystem. There is every reason to believe that\nhis familiarity with esoteric science prompted\nhis method, and that the usual restrictions un-\nder which he labored, as an initiated occultist,\nforbade him from saying as much as would\nreally justify it. No one can study even as\nmuch occult science as this volume contains,\nand then turn to Plato, or even to any intelli-\ngent epitome of Plato's system of thought, with-\nout finding correspondences cropping out at\nevery turn.\n\nThe higher principles of the series which go\nto constitute man are not fully developed in the\nmankind with which we are as yet familiar,\nbut a complete or perfect man would be resolv-\nable into the following elements. To facilitate\nthe application of these explanations to ordi-\nnary exoteric Buddhist writings, the Sanskrit\nnames of these principles are given, as well as\nsuitable terms in English.1\n\ni The nomenclature here adopted differs slightly from that hit\nupon when some of the present teachings were first given out in a\nfragmentary form in The Theosoph/st. Later on it will be seen that\nthe names now preferred embod}' a fuller conception of the whole\nsystem, and avoid some difficulties to which the earlier names give\nrise. If the earlier presentations of esoteric science were thus im-\nperfect, one can hardly be surprised at so natural a consequence\nof the difficulties under which its English exponents labored. But\nno substantial errors have to be confessed or deplored. The con-\nnotations of the present names are more accurate than those of the\nphrases first selected, but the explanations originally given, as far\nas they went, were quite in harmony with those now developed.\n\nTEE CONSTITUTION OF MAN. 65\n\n1. The Body Rupa.\n\n2. Vitality Prana, or Jiva.\n\n3. Astral Body Linga Sharira.\n\n4. Animal Soul Kama Rupa.\n\n5. Human Soul Manas.\n\n6. Spiritual Soul Buddhi.\n\n7. Spirit Atma.\n\nDirectly conceptions so transcendental as\nsome of those included in this analysis are set\nforth in a tabular statement, they seem to incur\ncertain degradation, against which, in endeav-\noring to realize clearly what is meant, we must\nbe ever on our guard. Certainly it would be\nimpossible for even the most skillful professor\nof occult science to exhibit each of these princi-\nples separate and distinct from the others, as\nthe physical elements of a compound body can\nbe separated oy analysis and preserved inde-\npendently of each other. The elements of a\nphysical body are all on the same plane of ma-\nteriality, but the elements of man are on very\ndifferent planes. The finest gases of which\nthe body may to some extent be chemically\ncomposed are still, on one scale at all Bvents,\non nearly the lowest level of materiality. The\nsecond principle which, by its union with gross\nmatter, changes it from what we generally call\ninorganic, or what might more properly be\ncalled inert, into living matter, is at once a\n\n66 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\nsomething different from the finest example of\nmatter in its lower state. Is the second princi-\nple, then, anything that we can truly call mat-\nter at all? The question lands us, thus, at the\nvery outset of this inquiry, in the middle of the\nsubtle metaphysical discussion as to whether\nforce and matter are different or identical.\nEnough for the moment to state that occult\nscience regards them as identical, and that it\ncontemplates no principle in Nature as wholly\nimmaterial. In this way, though no concep-\ntions of the universe, of man's destiny, or of\nNature generally, are more spiritual than those\nof occult science, that science is wholly free\nfrom the logical error of attributing material\nresults to immaterial causes. The esoteric doc-\ntrine is thus really the missing link between\nmaterialism and spirituality.\n\nThe clue to the mystery involved lies of\ncourse in the fact, directly cognizable by occult\nexperts, that matter exists in other states be-\nsides those which are cognizable by the five\nsenses.\n\nThe second principle of man, Vitality, thus\nconsists of matter in its aspect as force ; and\nits affinity for the grosser state of matter is so\ngreat that it cannot be separated from any\ngiven particle or mass of this, except by instan-\ntaneous translation to some other particle or\n\nTEE CONSTITUTION OF MAN. 67\n\nmass. When a man's body dies, by desertion\nof the higher principles which have rendered it\na Hying reality, the second, or life principle, no\nlonger a unity itself, is nevertheless inherent\nstill in the particles of the body as this decom-\nposes, attaching itself to other organisms to\nwhich that very process of decomposition gives\nrise. Bury the body in the earth, and its Jiva\nwill attach itself to the vegetation which springs\nabove, or the lower animal forms which evolve\nfrom its substance. Burn the body, and inde-\nstructible Jiva flies back none the less instan-\ntaneously to the body of the planet itself from\nwhich it was originally borrowed, entering into\nsome new combination as its affinities may de-\ntermine.\n\nThe third principle, the Astral Body, or\nLinga Sharira, is an ethereal duplicate of the\nphysical body, its original design. It guides\nJiva in its work on the physical particles, and\ncauses it to build up the shape which these\nassume. Vitalized itself by the higher princi-\nples, its unity is only preserved by the union of\nthe whole group. At death it is disembodied\nfor a brief period, and, under some abnormal\nconditions, may even be temporarily visible to\nthe external sight of still living persons. Under\nsuch conditions it is taken of course for the\nghost of the departed person. Spectral appari-\n\n68 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\ntions may sometimes be occasion ed in other\nways, but the third principle, when that results\nin a visible phenomenon, is a mere aggregation\nof molecules in a peculiar state, having no life\nor consciousness of any kind whatever. It is\nno more a being than any cloud-wreath in the\nsky which happens to settle into the semblance\nof some animal form. Broadly speaking, the\nLinga Sharira never leaves the body except at\ndeath, nor migrates far from the body even in\nthat case. When seen at all, and this can but\nrarely occur, it can only be seen near where the\nphysical body still lies. In some very peculiar\ncases of spiritualistic mediumship, it may for a\nshort time exude from the physical body and be\nvisible near it, but the medium in such cases\nstands the while in considerable danger of his\nlife. Disturb unwillingly the conditions under\nwhich the Linga Sharira was set free, and its\nreturn might be impeded. The second prin-\nciple would then soon cease to animate the\nphysical body as a unity, and death would\nensue.\n\nDuring the last year or two, while hints and\nscraps of occult science have been finding their\nway out into the world, the expression \"Astral\nBody \" has been applied to a certain semblance\nof the human form, fully inhabited by its higher\nprinciples, which can migrate to any distance\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION OF MAN. 69\n\nfrom the physical body, projected consciously\nand with exact intention by a living adept, or\nunintentionally, by the accidental application\nof certain mental forces to his loosened princi-\nples, by any person at the moment of death.\nFor ordinary purposes there is no practical in-\nconvenience in using the expression \" Astral\nBody\" for the appearance so projected; in-\ndeed, any more strictly accurate expression, as\nwill be seen directly, would be cumbersome,\nand we must go on using the phrase in both\nmeanings. No confusion need arise; but,\nstrictly speaking, the Linga Sharira, or third\nprinciple, is the Astral Body, and that cannot\nbe sent about as the vehicle of the higher prin-\nciples.\n\nThe three lower principles, it will be seen,\nare altogether of the earth, perishable in their\nnature as a single entity, though indestructible\nas regards their molecules, and absolutely done\nwith by man at his death.\n\nThe fourth principle is the first of those\nwhich belong to man's higher nature. The\nSanskrit designation, Jcama rupa, is often trans-\nlated \" Body of Desire,\" which seems rather a\nclumsy and inaccurate form of words. A closer\ntranslation, having regard to meanings rather\nthan words, would, perhaps, be \" Vehicle of\nWill,\" but the name already adopted above,\n\n70 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\nAnimal Soul, may be more accurately sugges-\ntive still.\n\nIn \"The Theosophist \" for October, 1881,\nwhen the first hints about the septenary con-\nstitution of man were given out, the fifth prin-\nciple was called the animal soul, as contra-dis-\ntinguished from the sixth or \" spiritual soul ;.\"\nbut though this nomenclature sufficed to mark\nthe required distinction, it degraded the fifth\nprinciple, which is essentially the human prin-\nciple. Though humanity is animal in its na-\nture as compared with spirit, it is elevated\nabove the correctly defined animal creation in\nevery other aspect. By introducing a new\nname for the fifth principle, we are enabled to\nthrow back the designation \" animal soul \" to\nits proper place. This arrangement need not\ninterfere, meanwhile, with an appreciation of\nthe way in which the fourth principle is the\nseat of that will or desire to which the Sanskrit\nname refers. And, withal, the Kama Rupa is\nthe animal soul, the highest developed principle\nof the brute creation, susceptible of evolution\ninto something far higher by its union with\nthe growing fifth principle in man, but still\nthe animal soul which man is by no means yet\nwithout, the seat of all animal desires, and a\npotent force in the human body as well, press^\ning upward, so to speak, as well as downward,\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION Oh MAN. 71\n\nand capable of influencing the fifth, for practi-\ncal purposes, as well as of being influenced by\nthe fifth for its own control and improvement.\n\nThe fifth principle, human soul, or Manas\n(as described in Sanskrit in one of its aspects),\nis the seat of reason and memory. It is a por-\ntion of this principle, animated by the fourth,\nwhich is really projected to distant places by\nan adept, when he makes an appearance in\nwhat is commonly called his astral body.\n\nNow the fifth principle, or human soul, in\nthe majority of mankind is not even yet fully\ndeveloped. This fact about the imperfect de-\nvelopment as yet of the higher principles is\nvery important. We cannot get a correct con-\nception of the present place of man in Nature\nif we make the mistake of regarding him as a\nfully perfected being already. And that mis-\ntake would be fatal to any reasonable anticipa-\ntions concerning the future that awaits him, —\nfatal also to any appreciation of the appropri-\nateness of the future which the esoteric doctrine\nexplains to us as actually awaiting him.\n\nSince the fifth principle is not yet fully de-\nveloped, it goes without saying that the sixth\nprinciple is still in embryo. This idea has been\nvariously indicated in recent forecasts of the\ngreat doctrine. Sometimes, it has been said,\nwe do not truly possess any sixth principle, we\n\n72 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\nmerely have germs of a sixth principle. It has\nalso been said, the sixth principle is not in us ;\nit hovers over us ; it is a something that the\nhighest aspirations of our nature must work up\ntoward. But it is also said: All things, not\nman alone, but every animal, plant, and min-\neral, have their seven principles, and the high-\nest principle of all — the seventh itself — vital-\nizes that continuous thread of life which runs\nall through evolution, uniting into a definite\nsuccession the almost innumerable incarnations\nof that one life which constitute a complete se-\nries. We must imbibe all these various con-\nceptions, and weld them together, or extract\ntheir essence, to learn the doctrine of the sixth\nprinciple. Following the order of ideas which\njust now suggested the application of the term\nanimal soul to the fourth principle and human\nsoul to the fifth, the sixth may be called the\nspiritual soul of man, and the seventh, there-\nfore, spirit itself.\n\nIn another aspect of the idea, the sixth prin-\nciple may be called the vehicle of the seventh,\nand the fourth the vehicle of the fifth ; but yet\nanother mode of dealing with the problem\nteaches us to regard each of the higher princi-\nples, from the fourth upwards, as a vehicle of\nwhat, in Buddhist philosophy, is called the One\nLife or Spirit. According to this view of the\n\nTHE CONSTITUTION OF M AN. 73\n\nmatter the one life is that which perfects, by\ninhabiting the various vehicles. In the animal\nthe one life is concentrated in the kama rupa.\nIn man it begins to penetrate the fifth princi-\nple as well. In perfected man it penetrates the\nsixth, and when it penetrates the seventh, man\nceases to be man, and attains a wholly superior\ncondition of existence. %\n\nThis latter view of the position is especially\nvaluable as guarding against the notion that\nthe four higher principles are like a bundle of\nsticks tied together, but each having individu-\nalities of its own if untied. Neither the ani-\nmal soul alone, nor the spiritual soul alone, has\nany individuality at all ; but, on the other\nhand, the fifth principle would be incapable of\nseparation from the others in such a way, that\nits individuality would be preserved while both\nthe deserted principles would be left uncon-\nscious. It has been said that the finer princi-\nples themselves even are material and molecu-\nlar in their constitution, though composed of a\nhigher order of matter than the physical senses\ncan take note of. So they are separable, and\nthe sixth principle itself can be imagined as di-\nvorcing itself from its lower neighbor. But in\nthat state of separation, and at this stage of\nmankind's development, it could simply re-in-\ncarnate itself in such an emergency 5 and grow\n\n74 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\na new fifth principle by contact with a human\norganism ; in such a case, the fifth principle\nwould lean upon and become one with the\nfourth, and be proportionately degraded. And\nyet this fifth principle, which cannot stand\nalone, is the personality of the man ; and its\ncream, in union with the sixth, his continuous\nindividuality through successive lives.\n\nThe circumstances and attractions under the\ninfluence of which the principles do divide up,\nand the manner in which the consciousness of\nman is dealt with then, will be discussed later\non. Meanwhile, a better understanding of the\nwhole position than could ensue from a contin-\nued prosecution of the inquiry on these lines\nnow will be obtained by turning first to the\nprocesses of evolution by means of which the\nprinciples of man have been developed.",
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