THEOSOPHICAL
GLOSSARY
BY
H.
P. BLAVATSKY
First
Published 1892
T.—The twentieth letter of the alphabet. In the Latin Alphabet
its value was 160, and, with a dash over it (T) signified 160,000. It is the
last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the Tau whose equivalents are T, TH,
and numerical value 400. Its symbols are as a tau, a cross +, the
foundation framework of construction; and as a teth (T), the
ninth letter, a snake and the basket of the Eleusinian mysteries.
Taaroa
(Tah.). The creative power and
chief god of the Tahitians.
Tab-nooth (Heb.). Form; a Kabbalist term.
Tad-aikya (Sk.). “Oneness”; identification or unity with
the Absolute. The universal, unknowable Essence (Parahrahm) has no name in the Vedas
but is referred to generally as Tad, “ That”.
Tafne
(Eg.). A goddess; daughter of
the sun, represented with the head of a lioness.
Tahmurath
(Pers.). The Iranian Adam,
whose steed was Simorgh Anke, the griffin-phśnix or infinite cycle. A
repetition or reminiscence of Vishnu and Garuda.
Tahor (Heb.). Lit., Mundus, the world; a name
given to the Deity, which identification indicates a belief in Pantheism.
Taht
Esmun (Eg.). The Egyptian
Adam; the first human ancestor.
Taijasi
(Sk.). The radiant,
flaming—from Tejas “fire”; used sometimes to designate the
Mânasa-rűpa, the “thought-body ”, and also the stars.
Tairyagyonya (Sk.). The fifth creation, or rather the fifth
stage of creation, that of the lower animals, reptiles, etc. (See “
Tiryaksrotas ”.)
Taittrîya (Sk.). A Brâhmana of the Yajur Veda.
Talapoin (Siam.). A Buddhist monk and ascetic in Siam;
some of these ascetics are credited with great magic powers.
Talisman. From the Arabic tilism or tilsam, a
“magic image”. An object, whether in stone, metal, or sacred wood; often a
piece of parchment filled with characters and images traced under certain
planetary influences in magical formulć given by one versed in occult sciences
to one unversed, either with the object of preserving him from evil, or for the
accomplishment of certain desires. The greatest virtue and efficacy of the
talisman, however, resides in the faith of its possessor; not because of the
credulity of the latter, or that it possesses no virtue, but because faith is a
quality endowed with a most potent creative power; and
therefore—unconsciously to the believer—intensifies a hundredfold the power
originally imparted to the talisman by its maker.
Talmidai
Hakhameem (Heb.). A class of
mystics and Kabbalists whom the Zohar calls “Disciples of the Wise”, and
who were Sârisim or voluntary eunuchs, becoming such for spiritual
motives. (See Matthew xix., 11-12, a passage implying the laudation of
such an act.)
Talmud (Heb.). Rabbinic Commentaries on the Jewish
faith. It is composed of two parts, the older Mishnah, and the more
modern Gemara. Hebrews, who call the Pentateuch the written law,
call the Talmud the unwritten or oral law.
The
Talmud contains the civil and canonical laws of the Jews, who claim a
great sanctity for it. For, save the above-stated difference between the Pentateuch
and the Talmud, the former, they say, can claim no priority over the
latter, as both were received simultaneously by Moses on Mount Sinai from
Jehovah, who wrote the one and delivered the other orally.
Tamâla
Pattra (Sk.). Stainless, pure,
sage-like. Also the name of a leaf of the Laurus Cassia, a tree regarded
as having various very occult and magical properties.
Tamarisk, or Erica. A sacred tree in Egypt of great
occult virtues. Many of the temples were surrounded with such trees,
pre-eminently one at Philć, sacred among the sacred, as the body of Osiris was
s to lie buried under it.
Tamas
(Sk.). The quality of
darkness, “foulness” and inertia; also of ignorance, as matter is blind. A term
used in metaphysical philosophy. It is the lowest of the three gunas or
fundamental qualities.
Tammuz (Syr.). A Syrian deity worshipped by
idolatrous Hebrews as well as by Syrians. The women of Israel held annual
lamentations over Adonis (that beautiful youth being identical with Tammuz).
The feast held in his honour was solstitial, and began with the new moon, in
the month of Tammuz (July), taking place chiefly at Byblos in Phśnicia; but it
was also celebrated as late as the fourth century of our era at Bethlehem, as
we find St. Jerome writing (Epistles p. 9) his lamentations in these
words: “Over Bethlehem, the grove of Tammuz, that is of Adonis, was casting its
shadow! And in the grotto where formerly the infant Jesus cried, the lover of
Venus was being mourned.” Indeed, in the Mysteries of Tammuz or Adonis a whole
week was spent in lamentations and mourning. The funereal processions were
succeeded by a fast, and later by rejoicings; for after the fast Adonis-Tammuz
was regarded as raised from the dead, and wild orgies of joy, of eating and
drinking, as now in Easter week, went on uninterruptedly for several days.
Tamra-Parna
(Sk.). Ceylon, the ancient
Taprobana.
Tamti
(Chald.). A goddess, the same
as Belita. Tamti-Belita is the personified Sea, the mother of the City of
Erech, the Chaldean Necropolis. Astronomically, Tamti is Astoreth or Istar,
Venus.
Tanaim (Heb.). Jewish Initiates, very learned
Kabbalists in ancient times. The Talmud contains sundry legends about
them and gives the chief names among them.
Tanga-Tango
(Peruv.). An idol much
reverenced by the Peruvians. It is the symbol of the Triune or the Trinity,
“One in three, and three in One”, and existed before our era.
Tanha (Pali). The thirst for life. Desire to live
and clinging to life on this earth. This clinging is that which causes rebirth
or reincarnation.
Tanjur (Tib.). A collection of Buddhist works
translated from the Sanskrit into Tibetan and Mongolian. It is the more
voluminous canon, comprising 225 large volumes on miscellaneous subjects. The Kanjur,
which contains the commandments or the “Word of the Buddha ”, has only 108
volumes.
Tanmâtras
(Sk.). The types or rudiments
of the five Elements; the subtile essence of these, devoid of all qualities and
identical with the properties of the five basic Elements—earth, water, fire,
air and ether; i.e., the tanmâtras are, in one of their aspects, smell,
taste, touch, sight, and hearing.
Tantra
(Sk.). Lit., “rule or ritual”.
Certain mystical and magical works, whose chief peculiarity is the worship of
the female power, personified in Sakti. Devî or Durgâ (Kâlî, Siva’s
wife) is the special energy connected with sexual rites and magical powers-The
worst form of black magic or sorcery.
Tântrika (Sk) Ceremonies connected with the above
worship. Sakti having a two-fold nature, white and black, good and bad, the
Saktas are divided into two classes, the Dakshinâchâris and Vâmâchâris, or the
right-hand and the left-hand Saktas, i.e., “white” and “black” magicians. The
worship of the latter is most licentious and immoral.
Tao (Chin.). The name of the philosophy of
Lao-tze.
Taöer (Eg.). The female Typhon, the hippopotamus,
called also Ta-ur, Ta-op-oer, etc. ; she is the Thoueris of the
Greeks. This wife of Typhon was represented as a monstrous hippopotamus,
sitting on her hind legs with a knife in one hand and the sacred knot in the
other the pâsa of Siva). Her back was covered with the scales of a
crocodile, and she had a crocodile’s tail. She is also called Teb,
whence the name of Typhon is also, sometimes, Tebh. On a monument of the
sixth dynasty she is called “the nurse of the gods”. She was feared in Egypt
even more than Typhon. (See “ Typhon”.)
Tao-teh-king (Chin.). Lit., “The Book of the Perfectibility
of Nature” written by the great philosopher Lao-tze. It is a kind of cosmogony which
contains all the fundamental tenets of Esoteric Cosmo genesis. Thus he says
that in the beginning there was naught but limitless and boundless Space. All
that lives and is, was born in it, from the “Principle which exists by Itself,
developing Itself from Itself”, i.e., Swabhâvat. As its name is unknown
and it essence is unfathomable, philosophers have called it Tao (Anima Mundi),
the uncreate, unborn and eternal energy of nature, manifesting periodically.
Nature as well as man when it reaches purity will reach rest, and then all
become one with Tao, which is the source of all bliss and felicity. As in the
Hindu and Buddhistic philosophies, such purity and bliss and immortality can
only be reached through the exercise of virtue and the perfect quietude of our
worldly spirit; the human mind has to control and finally subdue and even crush
the turbulent action of man’s physical nature; and the sooner he reaches the
required degree of moral purification, the happier he will feel. (See Annales
du Musée Guimet, Vols. XI. and XII.; Etudes sur lie Religion des Chinois,
by Dr. Groot.) As the famous Sinologist, Pauthier, remarked: “Human Wisdom can
never use language more holy and profound ”.
Tapas (Sk.). “Abstraction”, “meditation”. “To
perform tapas” is to sit for contemplation. Therefore ascetics
are often called Tâpasas.
Tâpasâ-tarű
(Sk.). The Sesamum
Orientate, a tree very sacred among the ancient ascetics of China and
Tibet.
Tapasvî (Sk.). Ascetics and anchorites of every
religion, whether Buddhist, Brahman, or Taoist.
Taphos
(Gr.). Tomb, the sarcophagus
placed in the Adytum and used for purposes of initiation.
Tapo-loka (Sk.). The domain of the fire-devas named
Vairâjas. It is known as the “world of the seven sages ”, and also “the realm
of penance ”. One of the Shashta-loka (Six worlds) above our own, which is the
seventh.
Târâ (Sk.). The wife of Brihaspati (Jupiter),
carried away by King Soma, the Moon, an act which led to the war of the Gods
with the Asuras. Târâ personifies mystic knowledge as opposed to ritualistic
faith. She is the mother (by Soma) of Buddha, “Wisdom ”.
Târakâ (Sk) Described as Dânava or Daitya, i.e., a
“Giant Demon”, whose superhuman austerities as a yogi made the gods tremble for
their power and supremacy. Said to have been killed by Kârttikeya. (See
Secret Doctrine, II., 382.)
Târakâmaya (Sk.). The first war in Heaven through Târâ.
Târakâ
Râja Yoga (Sk.). One of the
Brahminical Yoga systems for the development of purely spiritual powers and
knowledge which lead to Nirvâna.
Targum (Chald.). Lit., “Interpretation”, from the
root targem to interpret. Paraphrases of Hebrew Scriptures. Some of the
Targums are very mystical, the Aramaic (or Targumatic) language being used all
through the Zohar and other Kabbalistic works. To distinguish this
language from the Hebrew, called the “face ” of the sacred tongue, it is
referred to as ahorayim, the “ back part ”, the real meaning of which
must be read between the lines, according to certain methods given to students.
The Latin word tergum, “back ”, is derived from the Hebrew or rather
Aramaic and Chaldean targum. The Book of Daniel begins in Hebrew,
and is fully comprehensible till chap. ii., V. 4, when the Chaldees (the
Magician-Initiates) begin speaking to the king in Aramaic—not in Syriac, as
mistranslated in the Protestant Bible. Daniel speaks in Hebrew before
interpreting the king’s dream to him; but explains the dream itself (chap.
vii.) in Aramaic. “ So in Ezra iv., v. and vi., the words of the kings being
there literally quoted, all matters connected therewith are in Aramaic ”, says
Isaac Myer in his Qabbalah. The Targumim are of different ages, the latest
already showing signs of the Massoretic or vowel-system, which made them still
more full of intentional blinds. The precept of the Pirke Aboth (c. i.,
i), “ Make a fence to the Thorah ” (law), has indeed been faithfully followed
in the Bible as in the Targumim ; and wise is he who would interpret either
correctly, unless he is an old Occultist-Kabbalist.
Tashilhűmpa (Tib.). The great centre of monasteries and
colleges, three hours’ walk from Tchigadze, the residence of the Teshu Lama for
details of whom see “Panchen Rimboche”. It was built in 1445 by the order of
Tson-kha-pa.
Tassissudun (Tib.). Lit., “the holy city of the doctrine”
inhabited, nevertheless, by more Dugpas than Saints. It is the residential
capital in Bhutan of the ecclesiastical Head of the Bhons—the Dharma Râjâ. The
latter, though professedly a Northern Buddhist, is simply a worshipper of the old
demon-gods of the aborigines, the nature-sprites or elementals, worshipped in
the land before the introduction of Buddhism. All strangers are prevented from
penetrating into Eastern or Great Tibet, and the few scholars who venture on
their travels into those forbidden regions, are permitted to penetrate no
further than the border-lands of the land of Bod. They journey about Bhutan,
Sikkhim, and elsewhere on the frontiers of the country, but can learn or know
nothing of true Tibet; hence, nothing of the true Northern Buddhism or Lamaism
of Tsong-kha-pa. And yet, while describing no more than the rites and beliefs
of the Bhons and the travelling Shamans, they assure the world they are giving
it the pure Northern Buddhism, and comment on its great fall from its pristine
purity.
Tat (Eg.). An Egyptian symbol: an upright round
standard tapering toward the summit, with four cross-pieces placed on the top.
It was used as an amulet. The top part is a regular equilateral cross. This, on
its phallic basis, represented the two principles of creation, the male and the
female, and related to nature and cosmos ; but when the tat stood by itself,
crowned with the atf ( or atef ), the triple crown of Horus—two
feathers with the urćus in front—it represented the septenary man ; the
cross, or the two cross-pieces, standing for the lower quaternary, and the atf
for the higher triad. As Dr. Birch well remarks:
“ The four horizontal bars . . . represent the four foundations of all things,
the tat being an emblem of stability”.
Tathâgata (Sk.). “One who is like the coming”; he who
is, like his predecessors (the Buddhas) and successors, the coming future
Buddha or World-Saviour. One of the titles of Gautama Buddha, and the highest
epithet, since the first and the last Buddhas were the direct
immediate avatars of the One Deity.
Tathâgatagupta (Sk.). Secret or concealed Tathâgata, or the
“guardian” protecting Buddhas: used of the Nirmânakayas.
Tattwa (Sk.). Eternally existing “ That ”; also, the
different principles in Nature, in their occult meaning. Tattwa Samâsa
is a work of Sânkhya philosophy attributed to Kapila himself.
Also
the abstract principles of existence or categories, physical and metaphysical.
The subtle elements—five exoterically, seven in esoteric philosophy——which are
correlative to the five and the seven senses on the physical plane ; the last
two senses are as yet latent in man, but will be developed in the two last
root-races.
Tau (Heb.). That which has now become the square
Hebrew letter tau, but was ages before the invention of the Jewish
alphabet, the Egyptian handled cross, the crux ansata of the Latins, and
identical with the Egyptian ankh. This mark belonged exclusively, and
still belongs, to the Adepts of every country. As Kenneth R. F. Mackenzie
shows, “It was a symbol of salvation and consecration, and as such has been
adopted as a Masonic symbol in the Royal Arch Degree ”. It is also called the
astronomical cross, and was used by the ancient Mexicans—as its presence on one
of the palaces at Palenque shows—as well as by the Hindus, who placed the tau
as a mark on the brows of their Chelas.
Taurus
(Lat.). A most mysterious
constellation of the Zodiac, one connected with all the “First-born” solar
gods. Taurus is under the asterisk A, which is its figure in the Hebrew
alphabet, that of Aleph; and therefore that constellation is called the
“ One ”, the “ First ”, after the said letter. Hence, the “ First-born”
to all of whom it was made sacred. The Bull is the symbol of force and procreative
power—the Logos ; hence, also, the horns on the head of Isis, the female aspect
of Osiris and Horus. Ancient mystics saw the ansated cross, in the horns of
Taurus (the upper portion of the Hebrew Aleph) pushing away the Dragon,
and Christians connected the sign and constellation with Christ. St. Augustine
calls it “the great City of God ”, and the Egyptians called it the “interpreter
of the divine voice ”, the Apis-Pacis of Hermonthis.
(See “ Zodiac ”.)
Taygete (Gr.). One of the seven daughters of Atlas
third, who became later one of the Pleiades. These seven daughters are said to
typify the seven sub-races of the fourth root-race, that of the Atlanteans.
[
Sanskrit words commencing with the letters Tch are, owing to
faulty transliteration, misplaced, and should come under C.]
Tchaitya
(Sk.). Any locality made
sacred through some event in the life of Buddha ; a term signifying the same in
relation to gods, and any kind of place or object of worship.
Tchakchur (Sk.). The first Vidjnâna (q.v.).
Lit., “the eye”, meaning the faculty of sight, or rather, an occult perception
of spiritual and subjective realities (Chakshur).
Tchakra, or Chakra (Sk.). A spell. The disk of Vishnu,
which served as a weapon; the wheel of the Zodiac, also the wheel of time, etc.
With Vishnu, it was a symbol of divine authority. One of the sixty-five figures
of the Sripâda, or the mystic foot-print of Buddha which contains that
number of symbolical figures. The Tchakra is used in mesmeric phenomena and
other abnormal practices.
Tchandâlas, or Chhandâlas (Sk.). Outcasts, or
people without caste, a name now given to all the lower classes of the Hindus;
but in antiquity it was applied to a certain class of men, who, having
forfeited their right to any of the four castes-—Brâhmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas
and Sűdras—were expelled from cities and sought refuge in the forests. Then
they became “bricklayers ”, until finally expelled they left the country, some
4,000 years before our era. Some see in them the ancestors of the earlier Jews,
whose tribes began with A-brahm or “ No Brahm ”. To this day it is the class
most despised by the Brahmins in India.
Tchandragupta, or Chandragupta (Sk.). The son of
Nanda, the first Buddhist King of the Morya Dynasty, the grandfather of King
Asoka, “the beloved of the gods” (Piyadasi).
Tchatur
Mahârâja (Sk.). The “four
kings ”, Devas, who guard the four quarters of the universe, and are connected
with Karma.
Tcherno-Bog (Slavon.). Lit., “black god”; the chief deity
of the ancient Slavonian nations.
Tchertchen. An oasis in Central Asia, situated about 4,000 feet
above the river Tchertchen Darya ; the very hot-bed and centre of ancient
civilization, surrounded on all sides by numberless ruins, above and below ground,
of cities, towns, and burial-places of every description. As the late Colonel
Prjevalski reported, the oasis is inhabited by some 3,000 people “representing
the relics of about a hundred nations and races now extinct, the very names of
which are at present unknown to ethnologists”.
Tchhanda
Riddhi Pâda (Sk.). “The step
of desire”, a term used in Râja Yoga. It is the final renunciation of all
desire as a sine quânon condition of phenomenal powers, and entrance on
the direct path of Nirvâna.
Tchikitsa
Vidyâ Shâstra (Sk.). A
treatise on occult medicine, which contains a number of
“ magic ” prescriptions. It is one of the Pancha Vidyâ Shâstras or
Scriptures.
Tchîna (Sk) The name of China in Buddhist works, the
land being so called since the Tsin dynasty, which was established in the year
349 before our era.
Tchitta
Riddhi Pâda (Sk) “ The step of
memory.” The third condition of the mystic series which leads to the
acquirement of adept-ship ; i.e., the renunciation of physical memory, and of
all thoughts connected with worldly or personal events in one’s life—benefits,
personal pleasures or associations. physical memory has to be sacrificed, and
recalled by will power only when absolutely needed. The Riddhi Pâda,
lit., the four “ Steps to Riddhi ”, are the four modes of controlling and
finally of annihilating desire, memory, and finally meditation itself— so far
as these are connected with any effort of the physical brain— meditation then
becomes absolutely spiritual.
Tchitta
Smriti Upasthâna (Sk.). One of the four aims of Smriti Upasthâna,
i.e., the keeping ever in mind the transitory character of man’s life, and the
incessant revolution of the wheel of existence.
Tebah
(Heb.). Nature; which
mystically and esoterically is the same as its personified Elohim, the
numerical value of both words— Tebah and Elohim (or Aleim) being the same,
namely 86.
Tefnant (Eg.). One of the three deities who inhabit
“the land of the rebirth of gods” and good men, i.e., Aamroo (Devâchân)
The three deities are Scheo, Tefnant, and Seb.
Telugu. One of the Dravidian languages spoken in Southern
India.
Temura
(Heb.). Lit., “Change ”. The
title of one division of the practical Kabalah, treating of the analogies
between words, the relationship of which is indicated by certain changes in
position of the letters, or changes by substituting one letter for another.
Ten
Pythagorean Virtues. Virtues of
Initiation, &c., necessary before admission. (See “ Pythagoras ”.) They are
identical with those prescribed by Manu, and the Buddhist Pâramitâs of
Perfection.
Teraphim (Heb.). The same as Seraphim, or the Kabeiri
Gods; serpent-images. The first Teraphim, according to legend, were received by
Dardanus as a dowry, and brought by him to Samothrace and Troy. The
idol-oracles of the ancient Jews. Rebecca stole them from her father Laban.
Teratology. A Greek name coined by Geoffroi St. Hilaire to
denote the pre-natal formation of monsters, both human and animal.
Tetragrammaton. The four-lettered name of God, its Greek title: the
four letters are in Hebrew “ yod, hé vau, hé ” ,or in English capitals, IHVH.
The true ancient pronunciation is now unknown; the sincere Hebrew considered
this name too sacred for speech, and in reading the sacred writings he
substituted the title “ Adonai ”, meaning Lord. In the Kabbalah, I
is associated with Chokmah, H with Binah, V with Tiphereth, and H
final with Malkuth. Christians in general call IHVH Jehovah, and many modern
Biblical scholars write it Yahveh. In the Secret Doctrine, the name
Jehovah is assigned to Sephira Binah alone, but this attribution is not
recognised by the Rosicrucian school of Kabbalists, nor by Mathers in his
translation of Knorr Von Rbsenroth’s Kabbalah Denudata: certain
Kabbalistic authorities have referred Binah alone to IHVH, but only in
reference to the Jehovah of the exoteric Judaism. The IHVH of the Kabbalah
has but a faint resemblance to the God of the Old Testament. [w.w.w.]
The
Kabbalah of Knorr von Rosenroth is no authority to the Eastern
Kabbalists; because it is well known that in writing his Kabbalah Denudata
he followed the modern rather than the ancient (Chaldean) MSS.; and it is
equally well known that those MSS. and writings of the Zohar that are
classified as “ancient”, mention, and some even use, the Hebrew vowel or
Massoretic points. This alone would make these would-be Zoharic books spurious,
as there are no direct traces of the Massorah scheme before the tenth century
of our era, nor any remote trace of it before the seventh. (See “ Tetraktys ”.)
Tetraktys (Gr.) or the Tetrad. The sacred “Four”
by which the Pythagoreans swore, this being their most binding oath. It has a
very mystic and varied signification, being the same as the Tetragrammaton. First
of all it is Unity, or the “ One” under four different aspects; then it is the
fundamental number Four, the Tetrad containing the Decad, or Ten, the number of
perfection; finally it signifies the primeval Triad (or Triangle) merged in the
divine Monad. Kircher, the learned Kabbalist. Jesuit, in his Śdipus -Ćgvpticus
(II p. 267), gives the Ineffable Name IHVH—one of the Kabbalistic formulć
of the 72 names—arranged in the shape of the Pythagorean Tetrad. Mr. I. Myer
gives it in this wise:
.
I
y = 10
. .
2 The
Ineffable hy
= 15
. . .
3 Name
thus w hy
= 21
. .
. .
4
hw hy =
26
1O
72
He
also shows that “the sacred Tetrad of the Pythagoreans appears to have been
known to the ancient Chinese”. As explained in Isis Unveiled (I, xvi.):
The mystic Decad, the resultant of the Tetraktys, or the 1+2+3+4=10, is a way of
expressing this idea. The One is the impersonal principle ‘God’; the Two,
matter; the Three, combining Monad and Duad and partaking of the nature of
both, is the phenomenal world; the Tetrad, or form of perfection, expresses the
emptiness of all; and the Decad, or sum of all, involves the entire Kosmos.
Thalassa (Gr.). The sea. (See “Thallath”.)
Thales (Gr.). The Greek philosopher of Miletus (circa
600 years B.c.) who taught that the whole universe was produced from water,
while Heraclitus of Ephesus maintained that it was produced by fire, and
Anaximenes by air. Thales, whose real name is unknown, took his name from
Thallath, in accordance with the philosophy he taught.
Thallath (Chald.). The same as Thalassa. The goddess
personifying the sea, identical with Tiamat and connected with Tamti and
Belita. The goddess who gave birth to every variety of primordial monster in
Berosus’ account of cosmogony.
Tharana (Sk.). “Mesmerism”, or rather self.induced
trance or self-hypnotisation ; an action in India, which is of magical
character and a kind of exorcism. Lit., “to brush or sweep away” (evil
influences, thârnhan meaning a broom, and thârnhan, a duster); driving
away the bad bhűts (bad aura and bad spirits) through the mesmeriser’s
beneficent will.
Thaumaturgy. Wonder or “miracle-working”; the power of working
wonders with the help of gods. From the Greek words thauma, “wonder”,
and theurgia, “divine work”.
Theanthropism. A state of being both god and man; a divine Avatar
(q.v.).
Theiohel (Heb.). The man-producing habitable globe, our
earth in the Zohar.
Theli
(Chald.). The great Dragon
said to environ the universe symbolically. In Hebrew letters it is
TLI= 400+30+10 = 440 when “its crest [ letter] is repressed”, said the Rabbis,
40 remains, or the equivalent of Mem; M=Water, the waters above the firmament.
Evidently the same idea as symbolised by Shesha—the Serpent of Vishnu.
Theocrasy. Lit., “mixing of gods”. The worship of various gods,
as that of Jehovah and the gods of the Gentiles in the case of the idolatrous
Jews.
Theodicy. “Divine right”, i.e , the privilege of an
all-merciful and just God to afflict the innocent, and damn those predestined,
and still remain a loving and just Deity theologically—a mystery.
Theodidaktos
(Gr.). Lit., “God-taught”.
Used of Ammonius Saccas, the founder of the Neo-Platonic Eclectic School of the
Philalethć in the fourth century at Alexandria.
Theogony. The genesis of the gods; that branch of all
non-Christian theologies which teaches the genealogy of the various deities. An
ancient Greek name for that which was translated later as the “genealogy of the
generation of Adam and the Patriarchs ”—the latter being all “gods and planets
and zodiacal signs ”.
Theomachy. Fighting with, or against the gods, such, as the
“War of the Titans”, the “ War in Heaven” and the Battle of the Archangels
(gods) against their brothers the Arch-fiends (ex-gods, Asuras, etc.).
Theomancy. Divination through oracles, from theos, a
god, and manteia, divination.
Theopathy. Suffering for one’s god. Religious fanaticism.
Theophilanthropism
(Gr.). Love to God and man, or
rather, in the philosophical sense, love of God through love of Humanity.
Certain persons who during the first revolution in France sought to replace Christianity
by pure philanthropy and reason, called themselves theophilanthropists.
Theophilosophy. Theism and philosophy combined.
Theopneusty. Revelation; something given or inspired by a god or
divine being. Divine inspiration.
Theopśa (Gr.). A magic art of endowing inanimate
figures, statues, and other objects, with life, speech, or locomotion.
Theosophia (Gr.). Wisdom-religion, or “Divine Wisdom”.
The substratum and basis of all the world-religions and philosophies, taught
and practised by a few elect ever since man became a thinking being. In its
practical bearing, Theosophy is
purely divine ethics; the definitions in dictionaries are pure nonsense, based
on religious prejudice and ignorance of the true spirit of the early
Rosicrucians and medićval philosophers who called themselves Theosophists.
Theosophical
Society, or “Universal Brotherhood”.
Founded in 1875 at New York, by Colonel H. S. Olcott and H. P. Blavatsky, helped
by W. Q. Judge and several others. Its avowed object was at first the
scientific investigation of psychic or so-called “spiritualistic” phenomena,
after which its three chief objects were declared, namely (1) Brotherhood of
man, without distinction of race, colour, religion, or social position; (2) the
serious study of the ancient world-religions for purposes of comparison and the
selection therefrom of universal ethics; (3) the study and development of the
latent divine powers in man. At the present moment it has over 250 Branches
scattered all over the world, most of which are in India, where also its chief
Headquarters are established. It is composed of several large Sections—the
Indian, the American, the Australian, and the European Sections.
Theosophists. A name by which many mystics at various periods of
history have called themselves. The Neo-Platonists of Alexandria were
Theosophists; the Alchemists and Kabbalists during the medićval ages were
likewise so called, also the Martinists, the Quietists, and other kinds of
mystics, whether acting independently or incorporated in a brotherhood or
society. All real lovers of divine Wisdom and Truth had, and have, a right to
the name, rather than those who, appropriating the qualification, live lives or
perform actions opposed to the principles of Theosophy. As
described by Brother Kenneth R. Mackenzie, the Theosophists of the past
centuries—“ entirely speculative, and founding no schools, have still exercised
a silent influence upon philosophy; and, no doubt, when the time arrives, many
ideas thus silently propounded may yet give new directions to human thought.
One of the ways in which these doctrines have obtained not only authority, but
power, has been among certain enthusiasts in the higher degrees of Masonry.
This power has, however, to a great degree died with the founders, and modern
Freemasonry contains few traces of theosophic influence. However accurate and
beautiful some of the ideas of Swedenborg, Pernetty, Paschalis, Saint Martin,
Marconis, Ragon, and Chastanier may have been, they have but little direct
influence on society.” This is true of the Theosophists of the last three
centuries, but not of the later ones. For the Theosophists of the current
century have already visibly impressed themselves on modern literature, and
introduced the desire and craving for some philosophy in place of the blind
dogmatic faith of yore, among the most intelligent portions of human-kind. Such
is the difference between past and modern THEOSOPHY.
Therapeutć (Gr.) or Therapeutes. A school of
Esotericists, which was an inner group within Alexandrian Judaism and not, as
generally believed, a “sect”. They were “healers” in the sense that some
“Christian” and “ Mental” Scientists, members of the T.S., are healers, while
they are at the same time good Theosophists and students of the esoteric
sciences. Philo Judćus calls them “servants of god”. As justly shown in A
Dictionary of . . . Literature, Sects, and Doctrines (Vol. IV., art.
“Philo Judmus ”) in mentioning the Therapeutes—“ There appears no reason to
think of a special “sect”, but rather of an esoteric circle of illuminati,
of ‘wise men’ . . . They were contemplative Hellenistic Jews.”
Thermutis (Eg.). The asp-crown of the goddess Isis; also
the name of the legendary daughter of Pharaoh who is alleged to have saved
Moses from the Nile.
Thero (Pali). A priest of Buddha. Therunnanse,
also.
Theurgia, or Theurgy(Gr.). A communication with, and
means of bringing down to earth, planetary spirits and angels—the “gods of
Light”. Knowledge of the inner meaning of their hierarchies, and purity of life
alone can lead to the acquisition of the powers necessary for communion with
them. To; arrive at such an exalted goal the aspirant must be absolutely worthy
and unselfish.
Theurgist. The first school of practical theurgy (from qeod,
god, and ergon work,) in the Christian period, was founded by Iamblichus
among certain Alexandrian Platonists. The priests, however, who were attached
to the temples of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia and Greece, and whose business it
was to evoke the gods during the celebration of the Mysteries, were known by
this name, or its equivalent in other tongues, from the earliest archaic
period. Spirits (but not those of the dead, the evocation of which was called Necromancy)
were made visible to the eyes of mortals. Thus a theurgist had to be a
hierophant and an expert in the esoteric learning of the Sanctuaries of all
great countries. The Neo-platonists of the school of Iamblichus were called
theurgists, for they performed the so-called “ceremonial magic”, and evoked the
simulacra or the images of the ancient heroes, “gods”, and daimonia (daimovia,
divine, spiritual entities). In the rare cases when the presence of a tangible
and visible “ spirit ” was required, the theurgist had to furnish the
weird apparition with a portion of his own flesh and blood—he had to perform
the thepśa or the “creation of gods”, by a mysterious process well known
to the old, and perhaps some of the modern, Tântrikas and initiated
Brahmans of India. Such is what is said in the Book of Evocations of the
pagodas. It shows the perfect identity of rites and ceremonial between the
oldest Brahmanic theurgy and that of the Alexandrian Platonists.
The
following is from Isis Unveiled: “The Brahman Grihasta (the evocator)
must be in a state of complete purity before he ventures to call forth the
Pitris. After having prepared a lamp, some sandal-incense, etc., and having
traced the magic circles taught him by the superior Guru, in order to keep away
bad spirits, he ceases to breathe, and calls the fire (Kundalini) to his
help to disperse his body.” He pronounces a certain number of times the sacred
word, and “ his soul (astral body) escapes from its prison, his body
disappears, and the soul (image) of the evoked spirit descends into the double
body and animates it”. Then “his (the theurgist’s) soul (astral) re-enters its
body, whose subtile particles have again been aggregating (to the objective
sense), after having formed from themselves an aerial body for the deva (god or
spirit) he evoked And then, the operator propounds to the latter questions “on
the mysteries of Being and the transformation of the imperishable ”. The
popular prevailing idea is that the theurgists, as well as the magicians,
worked wonders, such as evoking the souls or shadows of the heroes and gods,
and other thaumaturgic works, by super natural powers. But this never
was the fact. They did it simply by the liberation of their own astral body,
which, taking the form of a god or hero, served as a medium or vehicle
through which the special current preserving the ideas and knowledge of that
hero or god could be reached and manifested. (See “Iamblichus”.)
Thirty-two
Ways of Wisdom (Kab.). The Zohar
says that Chochmah or Hokhmah (wisdom) generates all things “by means of
(these) thirty- two paths”. (Zohar iii., 290a The full account of them
is found in the Sepher Yezirah, wherein letters and numbers constitute
as entities the Thirty-two Paths of Wisdom, by which the Elohim built the whole
Universe. For, as said elsewhere, the brain “hath an outlet from Zeir Anpin,
and therefore it is spread and goes out to thirty-two ways”. Zeir Anpin, the
“Short Face” or the “Lesser Countenance”, is the Heavenly Adam, Adam Kadmon, or
Man. Man in the Zohar is looked upon as the twenty-two letters of the
Hebrew alphabet to which the decad is added and hence the thirty-two symbols of
his faculties or paths.
Thohu-Bohu
(Heb.). From Tohoo—“the
Deep” and Bohu “primeval Space”—or the Deep of Primeval Space, loosely
rendered as “Chaos” “Confusion” and so on. Also spelt and pronounced “tohu-bohu
”.
Thomei (Eg.). The Goddess of Justice, with eyes
bandaged and holding a cross. The same as the Greek Themis.
Thor (Scand.). From Thonar to “thunder”. The
son of Odin and Freya, and the chief of all Elemental Spirits. The god of
thunder, Jupiter Tonans. The word Thursday is named after Thor. Among
the Romans Thursday was the day of Jupiter, Jovis dies, Jeudi in French—
the fifth day of the week, sacred also to the planet Jupiter.
Thorah
(Heb.). “Law”, written down
from the transposition of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Of the “hidden
Thorah” it is said that before At-tee-k-ah (the “Ancient of all the Ancients ”)
had arranged Itself into limbs (or members) preparing Itself to manifest, It
willed to create a Thorah; the latter upon being produced addressed It in these
words: “ It, that wishes to arrange and to appoint other things, should first
of all, arrange Itself in Its proper Forms”. In other words, Thorah, the Law,
snubbed its Creator from the moment of its birth, according to the above, which
is an interpolation of some later Talmudist. As it grew and developed, the
mystic Law of the primitive Kabbalist was transformed and made by the Rabbins
to supersede in its dead letter every metaphysical conception; and thus the
Rabbinical and Talmudistic Law makes Ain Soph and every divine Principle subservient
to itself, and turns its back upon the true esoteric interpretations.
Thor’s
Hammer. A weapon which had the form
of the Svastika; called by European Mystics and Masons the “ Hermetic Cross”,
and also “Jaina Cross ”, croix cramponnée ; the most archaic, as the
most sacred and universally respected symbol. (See “ Svastika”.)
Thoth
(Eg.). The most mysterious and
the least understood of gods, whose personal character is entirely distinct
from all other ancient deities. While the permutations of Osiris, Isis, Horus,
and the rest, are so numberless that their individuality is all but lost, Thoth
remains changeless from the first to the last Dynasty. He is the god of wisdom
and of authority over all other gods. He is the recorder and the judge. His ibis-head,
the pen and tablet of the celestial scribe, who records the thoughts, words and
deeds of men and weighs them in the balance, liken him to the type of the
esoteric Lipikas. His name is one of the first that appears on the oldest
monuments. He is the lunar god of the first dynasties, the master of
Cynocephalus—the dog-headed ape who stood in Egypt as a living symbol and
remembrance of the Third Root-Race. (Secret Doctrine, II. pp. 184 and
185). He is the “Lord of Hermopolis” Janus, Hermes and Mercury combined. He is
crowned with an atef and the lunar disk, and bears the “Eye of Horus ”,
the third eye, in his hand. He is the Greek Hermes, the god of learning, and
Hermes Trismegistus, the “ Thrice-great Hermes ”, the patron of physical
sciences and the patron and very soul of the occult esoteric knowledge. As Mr.
J. Bonwick, F.R.G.S., beautifully expresses it : “ Thoth has a powerful effect
on the imagination . . . in this intricate yet beautiful phantasmagoria of
thought and moral sentiment of that shadowy past. It is in vain we ask
ourselves however man, in the infancy of this world of humanity, in the
rudeness of supposed incipient civilization, could have dreamed of such a
heavenly being as Thoth. The lines are so delicately drawn, so intimately and tastefully
interwoven, that we seem to regard a picture designed by the genius of a
Milton, and executed with the skill of a Raphael.” Verily, there was some truth
in that old saying, “ The wisdom of the Egyptians ”.When it is shown that the
wife of Cephren, builder of the second Pyramid, was a priestess of Thoth, one
sees that the ideas comprehended in him were fixed 6,000 years ago ”. According
to Plato, “Thoth-Hermes was the discoverer and inventor of numbers, geometry,
astronomy and letters”. Proclus, the disciple of Plotinus, speaking of this
mysterious deity, says: “He presides over every species of condition, leading
us to an intelligible essence from this mortal abode, governing the different
herds of souls”.
In
other words Thoth, as the Registrar and Recorder of Osiris in Amenti, the
Judgment Hall of the Dead was a psychopompic deity; while Iamblichus hints that
“ the cross with a handle (the thau or tau) which Tot holds in
his hand, was none other than the monogram of his name”. Besides the Tau, as the
prototype of Mercury, Thoth carries the serpent-rod, emblem of Wisdom, the rod
that became the Caduceus. Says Mr. Bonwick, “ Hermes was the serpent itself in
a mystical sense. He glides like that creature, noiselessly, without apparent
exertion, along the course of ages. He is . . . a representative of the
spangled heavens. But he is the foe of the bad serpent, for the ibis devoured
the snakes of Egypt.”
Thothori
Nyan Tsan (Tib.) A King of
Tibet in the fourth century. It is narrated that during his reign he was
visited by five mysterious strangers, who revealed to him how he might use for
his country’s welfare four precious things which had fallen down from
heaven, in 331 A.D., in a golden casket and “the use of which no one knew”.
These were (1) hands folded as the Buddhist ascetics fold them; (2) a
be-jewelled Shorten (a Stupa built over a receptacle for relics); (3) a
gem inscribed with the “ Aum mani padme hum” ; and ( the Zamotog, a
religious work on ethics, a part of the Kanjur. A voice from heaven then told
the King that after a certain number of generations everyone would learn how
precious these four things were. The number of generations stated carried the
world to the seventh century, when Buddhism became the accepted religion of
Tibet. Making an allowance for legendary licence, the four things fallen from
heaven, the voice, and the five mysterious strangers, may be easily seen to
have been historical facts. They were without any doubt five Arhats or Bhikshus
from India, on their proselytising tour. Many were the Indian. sages who,
persecuted in India for their new faith, betook themselves to Tibet and China.
Thrćtaona (Mazd.) The Persian Michael, who contended
with Zohak or Azhi-Dahaka, the destroying serpent. In the Avesta Azhi-Dahaka
is a three-headed monster, one of whose heads is human, and the two others
Ophidian. Dahaka, who is shown in the Zoroastrian Scriptures as coming from
Babylonia, stands as the allegorical symbol of the Assyrian dynasty of King
Dahaka (Az-Dahaka) which ruled Asia with an iron hand, and whose banners bore
the purple sign of the dragon, Purpureum signum draconis.
Metaphysically, however, the human head denotes the physical man, and the two
serpent heads the dual manasic principles—the dragon and serpent both standing as
symbols of wisdom and occult powers.
Thread
Soul. The same as Sutrâtmâ (q.v.).
Three
Degrees (of Initiation). Every nation
had its exoteric and esoteric religion, the one for the masses, the other for the
learned and elect. For example, the Hindus had three degrees with several sub-
degrees. The Egyptians had also three preliminary degrees, personified under
the “three guardians of the fire ” in the Mysteries. The Chinese had their most
ancient Triad Society: and the Tibetans have to this day their “triple
step ” ; which was symbolized in the Vedas by the three strides of
Vishnu. Everywhere antiquity shows an unbounded reverence for the Triad and
Triangle—the first geometrical figure. The old Babylonians had their three
stages of initiation into the priesthood (which was then esoteric knowledge);
the Jews, the Kabbalists and mystics borrowed them from the Chaldees, and the
Christian Church from the Jews. “ There are Two”, says Rabbi Simon ben Jochai,
“in conjunction with One; hence they are Three, and if they are Three, then
they are One.”
Three
Faces. The Triműrti of the
Indian Pantheon; the three persons of the one godhead. Says the Book of
Precepts: “There are two Faces, one in Tushita (Devâchân) and one in
Myalba (earth); and the Highest Holy unites them and finally absorbs both.”
Three
Fires (Occult). The name given to
Atmâ-Buddhi-Manas, which when united become one.
Thsang
Thisrong tsan (Tib.). A king
who flourished between the years 728 and 787, and who invited from Bengal
Pandit Rakshit, called for his great learning Bodhisattva, to come and settle
in Tibet, in order to teach Buddhist philosophy to his priests.
Thűmi
Sambhota (Sk.). An Indian mystic
and man of erudition, the inventor of the Tibetan alphabet.
Thummim (Heb.). “Perfections.” An ornament on the
breastplates of the ancient High Priests of Judaism. Modern Rabbins and
Hebraists may well pretend they do not know the joint purposes of the Thummim
and the Urim; but the Kabbalists do and likewise the Occultists. They
were the instruments of magic divination and oracular communication—
theurgic and astrological. This is shown in the following well-known facts —(1)
upon each of the twelve precious stones was engraved the name of one of the
twelve sons of Jacob, each of these “sons” personating one of the signs of the
zodiac; (2) both were oracular images, like the teraphim, and uttered
oracles by a voice, and both were agents for hypnotisation and throwing the
priests who wore them into an ecstatic condition. The Urim and Thummim
were not original with the Hebrews, but had been borrowed, like most of
their other religious rites, from the Egyptians, with whom the mystic scarabćus
worn on the breast by the Hierophants, had the same functions. They were thus
purely heathen and magical modes of divination ; and when the Jewish
“Lord God” was called upon to manifest his presence and speak out his will
through the Urim by preliminary incantations, the modus operandi
was the same as that used by all the Gentile priests the world over.
Thumos
(Gr.). The astral, animal
soul; the Kâmas-Manas; Thumos means passion, desire and confusion and is
so used by Homer. The word is probably derived from the Sanskit Tamas,
which has the same meaning.
Tia-Huanaco
(Peruv.). Most magnificent
ruins of a pre-historic city in Peru.
Tiamat (Chald.). A female dragon personifying the
ocean; the “great mother” or the living principle of chaos. Tiamat wanted to
swallow Bel, but Bel sent a wind which entered her open mouth and killed
Tiamat.
Tiaou
(Eg.). A kind of Devachanic post
mortem state.
Tien-Hoang (Chin.). The twelve hierarchies of Dhyânis.
Tien-Sin (Chin.). Lit., “the heaven of mind”, or
abstract, subjective, ideal heaven. A metaphysical term applied to the
Absolute.
Tikkun (Chald.). Manifested Man or Adam Kadmon, the
first ray from the manifested Logos.
Tiphereth (Heb.). Beauty; the sixth of the ten Sephiroth, a
masculine active potency, corresponding to the Vau, V, of the
Tetragrammaton IHVH; also called Melekh or King; and the Son. It is the central
Sephira of the six which compose Zauir Anpin, the Microprosopus, or Lesser
Countenance. It is translated “ Beauty” and “Mildness”.
Tîrthakas, or Tîrthika and Tîrthyas (Sk.). “Heretical
teachers.” An epithet applied by the Buddhist ascetics to the Brahmans and
certain Yogis of India.
Tirthankâra (Sk.). Jaina saints and chiefs, of which there
are twenty-four. It is claimed that one of them was the spiritual Guru of
Gautama Buddha. Tirthankâra is a synonym of Jaina.
Tiryakarota
(Sk.). From tiryak
“crooked ”, and srotas (digestive) “canal”. The name of the “creation”
by Brahmâ of men or beings, whose stomachs were, on account of their erect position
as bipeds, in a horizontal position. This is a Purânic invention, absent in
Occultism.
Tishya (Sk.). The same as Kaliyuga, the Fourth Age.
Titans
(Gr.). Giants of divine origin
in Greek mythology who made war against the gods. Prometheus was one of them.
Titikshâ (Sk.). Lit., “long-suffering, patience”.
Titikshâ, daughter of Daksha and wife of Dharma (divine law) is its
personification.
To
On (Gr.). The “Being”, the
“Ineffable All” of Plato. He“ whom no person has seen except the Son”.
Tobo (Gnost.). In the Codex Nazarćus, a
mysterious being which bears the soul of Adam from Orcus to the place of life,
and thence is called “the liberator of the soul of Adam ”.
Todas. A mysterious people of India found in the unexplored
fastnesses of Nilgiri (Blue) Hills in the Madras Presidency, whose origin,
language and religion are to this day unknown. They are entirely distinct,
ethnically, philologically, and in every other way, from the Badagas and
the Mulakurumbas, two other races found on the same hills.
Toom (Eg.). A god issued from Osiris in his
character of the Great Deep Noot. He is the Protean god who generates
other gods, “ assuming the form he likes ”. He is Fohat. (Secret Doctrine,
I., 673.)
Tope. An artificial mound covering relics of Buddha or
some other great Arhat. The Topes are also called Dâgobas.
Tophet
(Heb.). A place in the valley
of Gehenna, near Jerusalem, where a constant fire was kept burning, in which
children were immolated to Baal. The locality is thus the prototype of the
Christian Hell, the fiery Gehenna of endless woe.
Toralva, Dr. Eugene. A physician who lived in the
fourteenth century, and who received as a gift from Friar Pietro, a great
magician and a Dominican monk, a demon named Zequiel to be his faithful
servant. (See Isis Unveiled, II., 60.)
Toyâmbudhi (Sk.). A country in the northern part of which
lay the “White Island ”—Shveta Dwîpa of the seven Purânic islands or
continents.
Trailokya, or Trilokya (Sk.). Lit., the “three regions”
or worlds ; the complementary triad to the Brahmanical quaternary of worlds
named Bhuvanatraya.A Buddhist profane layman will mention only three
divisions of every world, while a non-initiated Brahman will maintain that
there are four. The four divisions of the latter are purely physical and
sensuous, the Trailokya of the Buddhist are purely spiritual and
ethical. The Brahmanical division may be found fully described under the
heading of Vyahritis, the difference being for the present sufficiently shown
in the following parallel:
Brahmanical
Division of the Worlds. Buddhist Division of the
Regions.
1.Bhur,
earth.
1. World of desire, Kâmadhâtu or
Kâmalôka.
2.Bhuvah,
heaven,
firmament.
2. World of form, Rűpadhâtu.
3.
Swar atmosphere the
sky.
4. Mahar, eternal luminous essence. } 3. The formless
world Arűpadhâtu.
All
these are the worlds of post mortem states. For instance, Kâmalôka or
Kâmadhâtu, the region of Mâra, is that which medićval and modern Kabalists call
the world of astral light, and the “world of shells Kâmalôka has, like every
other region, its seven divisions, the lowest of which begins on earth or
invisibly in its atmosphere; the six others ascend gradually, the highest being
the abode of those who have died owing to accident, or suicide in a fit of
temporary insanity, or were otherwise victims of external forces. It is a place
where all those who have died before the end of the term allotted to them, and
whose higher principles do not, therefore, go at once into Devachanic
state—sleep a dreamless sweet sleep of oblivion, at the termination of which
they are either reborn immediately, or pass gradually into the Devachanic
state. Rűpadhâtu is the celestial world of form, or what we call
Devâchân. With the uninitiated Brahmans, Chinese and other Buddhists, the
Rűpadhâtu is divided into eighteen Brahmâ or Devalokas; the life
of a soul therein lasts from half a Yuga up to 16,000 Yugas or Kalpas, and the
height of the “Shades” is from half a Yojana up to 16,000 Yojanas (a Yojana
measuring from five and a half to ten miles !), and such-like theological
twaddle evolved from priestly brains. But the Esoteric Philosophy teaches that
though for the Egos for the time being, everything or everyone preserves its
form (as in a dream), yet as Rűpadhâtu is a purely mental region, and a
state, the Egos themselves have no form outside their own consciousness.
Esotericism divides this “ region” into seven Dhyânas, “regions”, or states of
contemplation, which are not localities but mental representations of these.
Arűpadhâtu: this “region” is again divided into seven Dhyânas, still more
abstract and formless, for this “World” is without any form or desire whatever.
It is the highest region of the post mortem Trailokya; and as it is the
abode of those who are almost ready for Nirvâna and is, in fact, the very
threshold of the Nirvânic state, it stands to reason that in Arűpadhâtu (or
Arűpavachara) there can be neither form nor sensation, nor any feeling
connected with our three dimensional Universe.
Trees
of Life. From the highest antiquity
trees were connected with the gods and mystical forces in nature. Every nation had
its sacred tree, with its peculiar characteristics and attributes based on
natural, and also occasionally on occult properties, as expounded in the
esoteric teachings. Thus the peepul or Âshvattha of India, the abode of
Pitris (elementals in fact) of a lower order, became the Bo-tree or ficus
religiosa of the Buddhists the world over, since Gautama Buddha reached
the highest knowledge and Nirvâna under such a tree. The ash tree, Yggdrasil, is
the world-tree of the Norsemen or Scandinavians. The banyan tree is the symbol
of spirit and matter, descending to the earth, striking root, and then
re-ascending heavenward again. The triple-leaved palâsa is a symbol of the
triple essence in the Universe—Spirit, Soul, Matter. The dark cypress was the
world-tree of Mexico, and is now with the Christians and Mahomedans the emblem
of death, of peace and rest. The fir was held sacred in Egypt, and its cone was
carried in religious processions, though now it has almost disappeared from the
land of the mummies; so also was the sycamore, the tamarisk, the palm and the
vine. The sycamore was the Tree of Life in Egypt, and also in Assyria.
It was sacred to Hathor at Heliopolis; and is now sacred in the same place to
the Virgin Mary. Its juice was precious by virtue of its occult powers, as the
Soma is with Brahmans, and Haoma with the Parsis. “ The fruit and sap of the
Tree of Life bestow immortality.” A large volume might be written upon these
sacred trees of antiquity, the reverence for some of which has survived to this
day, without exhausting the subject.
Trefoil. Like the Irish shamrock, it has a symbolic meaning,
“the three-in-one mystery” as an author calls it. It crowned the head of
Osiris, and the wreath fell off when Typhon killed the radiant god. Some see in
it a phallic significance, but we deny this idea in Occultism. It was the plant
of Spirit, Soul, and Life.
Tretâ
Yuga (Sk.). The second age of
the world, a period of 1,296,000 years.
Triad, or the Three. The ten Sephiroth are
contemplated as a group of three triads: Kether, Chochmah and Binah form the
supernal triad; Chesed, Geburah and Tiphereth, the second; and Netzach, Hod and
Yesod, the inferior triad. The tenth Sephira, Malkuth, is beyond the three
triads.
The
above is orthodox Western Kabalah. Eastern Occultists recognise but one
triad——the upper one (corresponding to Atmâ-Buddhi and the “ Envelope” which
reflects their light, the three in one)—and count seven lower Sephiroth,
everyone of which stands for a “ principle”, beginning with the Higher Manas
and ending with the Physical Body— of which Malkuth is the representative in
the Microcosm and the Earth in the Macrocosm.
Tri-bhuvana, or Tri-loka (Sk.). The three
worlds—Swarga, Bhűmi, Pâtâla, or Heaven, Earth, and Hell in popular
beliefs; esoterically, these are the Spiritual and Psychic (or Astral) regions,
and the
Terrestrial sphere.
Tridandî (Sk.). The name generally given to a class or
sect of Sanyâsis who constantly keep in the hand a kind of club (danda)
branching off into three rods at the top. The word is variously etymologized,
and some give the name to the triple Brahmanical thread.
Tri-dasha
(Sk.). Three times ten or
“thirty”. This is in round numbers the sum of the Indian Pantheon—the
thirty-three crores of deities—the twelve Âdityas, the eight Vasus, the
eleven Rudras and the two Ashvins, or thirty-three kotis, or 330
millions of gods.
Trigunas
(Sk.). The three divisions of
the inherent qualities of differentiated matter—i.e., of pure quiescence (satva),
of activity and desire (rajas), of stagnation and decay (tamas)
They correspond with Vishnu, Brahmâ, and Shiva. (See “ Triműrti ”.)
Trijnâna, (Sk.). Lit., “triple knowledge”. This consists
of three degrees (1) belief on faith ; (2) belief on theoretical knowledge ;
and (3) belief through personal and practical knowledge.
Trikâya (Sk) Lit., three bodies, or forms. This is a most
abstruse teaching which, however, once understood, explains the mystery of
every triad or trinity, and is a true key to every three-fold metaphysical
symbol. In its most simple and comprehensive form it is found in the human
Entity in its triple division into spirit, soul, and body, and in the universe,
regarded pantheistically, as a unity composed of a Deific, purely spiritual
Principle, Supernal Beings—its direct rays — and Humanity. The origin of this
is found in the teachings of the pre historic Wisdom Religion, or Esoteric
Philosophy. The grand Pantheistic ideal, of the unknown and unknowable Essence
being transformed first into subjective, and then into objective matter, is at
the root of all these triads and triplets. Thus we find in philosophical
Northern Buddhism (1) Âdi-Buddha (or Primordial Universal Wisdom) ; ( 2) the
Dhyâni-Buddhas (or Bodhisattvas); (3) the Mânushi (Human) Buddhas. In European
conceptions we find the same: God, Angels and Humanity symbolized theologically
by the God-Man. The Brahmanical Triműrti and also the three-fold body of
Shiva, in Shaivism, have both been conceived on the same basis, if not
altogether running on the lines of Esoteric teachings. Hence, no wonder if one
finds this conception of the triple body—or the vestures of Nirmânakâya,
Sambhogakâya and Dharmakâya, the grandest of the doctrines of Esoteric Philosophy—
accepted in a more or less disfigured form by every religious sect, and
explained quite incorrectly by the Orientalists. Thus, in its general
application, the three-fold body symbolizes Buddha’s statue, his teachings and
his stűpas ; in the priestly conceptions it applies to the Buddhist profession
of faith called the Triratna, which is the formula of taking “refuge in
Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha”. Popular fancy makes Buddha ubiquitous, placing him
thereby on a par with an anthropomorphic god, and lowering him to the level of
a tribal deity; and, as a result, it falls into flat contradictions, as in
Tibet and China. Thus the exoteric doctrine seems to teach that while in his
Nirmâ kâya body (which passed through 100,000 kotis of transformations
on earth), he, Buddha, is at the same time a Lochana (a heavenly
Dhyâni-Bodhisattva), in his Sambhogakâya “robe of absolute completeness”, and
in Dhyâna, or a state which must cut him off from the world and all its
connections; and finally and lastly he is, besides being a Nirmânakâya and a
Sambhogakâya, also a Dharmakâya “of absolute purity”, a Vairotchana or
Dhyâni-Buddha in full Nirvâna! (See Eitel’s Sanskrit-Chinese Dictionary.)
This is the jumble of contradictions, impossible to reconcile, which is given
out by missionaries and certain Orientalists as the philosophical dogmas of
Northern Buddhism. If not an intentional confusion of a philosophy dreaded by
the upholders of a religion based on inextricable contradictions and guarded
“mysteries”, then it is the product of ignorance. As the Trailokya, the
Trikâya, and the Triratna are the three aspects of the same conceptions, and
have to be, so to say, blended in one, the subject is further explained under
each of these terms. (See also in this relation the term “ Trisharana”.)
Tri-kűta (Sk.). Lit., “three peaks”. The mountain on which
Lanka (modern Ceylon) and its city were built. It is said, allegorically, to be
a mountain range running south from Meru. And so no doubt it was before Lankâ was
submerged, leaving now but the highest summits of that range out of the waters.
Submarine topography and geological formation must have considerably changed
since the Miocene period. There is a legend to the effect that Vâyu, the god of
the wind, broke the summit off Meru and cast it into the sea, where it
forthwith became Lankâ.
Trilcohana (Sk.). Lit., “three-eyed ”, an epithet of
Shiva. It is narrated that while the god was engaged one day on a Himalayan
summit in rigid austerities, his wife placed her hand lovingly on his third
eye, which burst from Shiva’s forehead with a great flame. This is the eye
which reduced Kâma, the god of love (as Mârâ, the tempter), to ashes, for
trying to inspire him during his devotional meditation with thoughts of his wife.
Triműrti (Sk). Lit., “three faces”, or “triple form”—the
Trinity. In the modern Pantheon these three persons are Brahmâ, the creator,
Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer. But this is an after thought,
as in the Vedas neither Brahmâ nor Shiva is known, and the Vedic trinity
consists of Agni, Vâyu and Sűrya; or as the Nirukta explains it, the
terrestrial fire, the atmospheric (or aërial) and the heavenly fire, since Agni
is the god of fire, Vâyu of the air, and Sűrya is the sun. As the Padma
Purâna has it: “In the beginning, the great Vishnu, desirous of creating
the whole world, became threefold: creator, preserver, destroyer. In order to
produce this world, the Supreme Spirit emanated from the right side of his
body, himself, as Brahmâ then, in order to preserve the universe, he produced
from the left side of his body Vishnu; and in order to destroy the world he
produced from the middle of his body the eternal Shiva. Some worship Brahmâ,
some Vishnu, others Shiva; but Vishnu, one yet threefold, creates, preserves,
and destroys, therefore let the pious make no difference between the three.”
The fact is, that all the three “persons” of the Triműrti are simply the three
qualificative gunas or attributes of the universe of differentiated
Spirit-Matter, self-formative, self-preserving and self-destroying, for
purposes of regeneration and perfectibility. This is the correct meaning; and
it is shown in Brahmâ being made the personified embodiment of Rajoguna,
the attribute or quality of activity, of desire for procreation, that desire
owing to which the universe and everything in it is called into being. Vishnu
is the embodied Sattvaguna, that property of preservation arising from
quietude and restful enjoyment, which characterizes the intermediate period
between the full growth and the beginning of decay; while Shiva, being embodied
Tamoguna—which is the attribute of stagnancy and final decay—becomes of
course the destroyer. This is as highly philosophical under its mask of
anthropomorphism, as it is unphilosophical and absurd to hold to and enforce on
the world the dead letter of the original conception.
Trinity. Everyone knows the Christian dogma of the “three in
one” and “one in three ”; therefore it is useless to repeat that which may he
found in every catechism. Athanasius, the Church Father who defined the Trinity
as a dogma, had little necessity of drawing upon inspiration or his own brain
power; he had but to turn to one of the innumerable trinities of the heathen
creeds, or to the Egyptian priests, in whose country he had lived all his life.
He modified slightly only one of the three “ persons ”. All the triads of the
Gentiles were composed of the Father, Mother, and the Son. By making it
“Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ”, he changed the dogma only outwardly, as the
Holy Ghost had always been feminine, and Jesus is made to address the Holy
Ghost as his “mother” in every Gnostic Gospel.
Tripada (Sk.). “Three-footed ”, fever, personified as
having three feet or stages of development—cold, heat and sweat.
Tripitaka
(Sk.). Lit., “the three
baskets”; the name of the Buddhist canon. It is composed of three divisions :
(1) the doctrine; (2) the rules and laws for the priesthood and ascetics; (3)
the philosophical dissertations and metaphysics: to wit, the Abhidharma,
defined by Buddhaghosa as that law (dharma) which goes beyond (abhi)
the law. The Abhidharma contains the most profoundly metaphysical and
philosophical teachings, and is the store-house whence the Mahâyâna and Hînayâna
Schools got their fundamental doctrines. There is a fourth division—the Samyakta
Pitaka. But as it is a later addition by the Chinese Buddhists, it is not
accepted by the Southern Church of Siam and Ceylon.
Triratna, or Ratnatraya (Sk) The Three Jewels,
the technical term for the well-known formula “Buddha, Dharma and Sangha” (or
Samgha), the two latter terms meaning, in modern interpretation, “religious
law” (Dharma), and the “priesthood” (Sangha). Esoteric Philosophy, however,
would regard this as a very loose rendering. The words “Buddha, Dharma and
Sangha”, ought to be pronounced as in the days of Gautama, the Lord Buddha,
namely “Bodhi, Dharma and Sangha and interpreted to mean “Wisdom, its laws and
priests ”, the latter in the sense of “ spiritual exponents ”, or adepts.
Buddha, however, being regarded as personified “ Bodhi” on earth, a true avatar
of Âdi-Buddha, Dharma gradually came to be regarded as his own particular law,
and Sangha as his own special priesthood. Nevertheless, it is the profane of
the later (now modern) teachings who have shown a greater degree of natural
intuition than the actual interpreters of Dharma, the Buddhist priests. The
people see the Triratna in the three statues of Amitâbha, Avalokiteshvara and
Maitreya Buddha; i.e., in Boundless Light” or Universal Wisdom, an impersonal
principle which is the correct meaning of Âdi-Buddha; in the “Supreme Lord” of
the Bodhisattvas, or Avalokiteshvara; and in Maitreya Buddha, the symbol of the
terrestrial and human Buddha, the “Mânushi Buddha ”. Thus, even though the
uninitiated do call these three statues “the Buddhas of the Past, the Present
and the Future ”, still every follower of true philosophical
Buddhism—called “atheistical” by Mr. Eitel— would explain the term Triratna correctly.
The philosopher of the Yogachârya School would say—as well he could—“Dharma is
not a person but an unconditioned and underived entity, combining in itself the
spiritual and material principles of the universe, whilst from Dharma
proceeded, by emanation, Buddha [ Bodhi rather], as the creative energy which
produced, in conjunction with Dharma, the third factor in the trinity, viz.,
‘Samgha’, which is the comprehensive sum total of all real life.” Samgha, then,
is not and cannot be that which it is now understood to be, namely, the actual
“ priesthood”; for the latter is not the sum total of all real life, but
only of religious life. The real primitive significance of the word Samgha or
“Sangha” applies to the Arhats or Bhikshus, or the “initiates”, alone, that is
to say to the real exponents of Dharma—the divine law and wisdom, coming to
them as a reflex light from the one “boundless light ”. Such is its philosophical
meaning. And yet, far from satisfying the scholars of the Western races, this
seems only to irritate them; for E. J. Eitel, of Hongkong, remarks, as to the
above : “ Thus the dogma of a Triratna, originating from three primitive
articles of faith, and at one time culminating in the conception of three
persons, a trinity in unity, has degenerated into a metaphysical
theory of the evolution of three abstract principles ”! And if one of the
ablest European scholars will sacrifice every philosophical ideal to gross
anthropomorphism, then what can Buddhism with its subtle metaphysics expect at
the hands of ignorant missionaries?
Trisharana (Sk.). The same as” Triratna ”and accepted by both the Northern and Southern Churches of Buddhism. After the death of the Buddha it was adopted by the councils as a mere kind of formula fidei, enjoining “to take refuge in Buddha ”, “to take refuge in Dharma ”, and “to take refuge in Sangha ”, or his Church, in the sense in which it is now interpreted; but it is not in this sense that the “Light of Asia” would have taught the formula. Of Trikâya, Mr. E. J. Eitel, of Hongkong, tells us in his Handbook of Chinese Buddhism that this “trichotomism was taught with regard to the nature of all Buddhas. Bodhi being the characteristic of a Buddha” —a distinction was made between “essential Bodhi” as the attribute of the Dharmakâya, i.e., “essential body”; “reflected Bodhi” as the attribute of Sambhogakâya; and “practical Bodhi” as the attribute of Nirmânakâya. Buddha combining in himself these three conditions of existence, was said to be living at the same time in three different spheres. Now, this shows how greatly misunderstood is the purely pantheistical and philosophical teaching. Without stopping to enquire how even a Dharmakâya vesture can have any “attribute” in Nirvâna, which state is shown, in philosophical Brahmanism as much as in Buddhism, to be absolutely devoid of any attribute as conceived by human finite thought—it will be sufficient to point to the following —(1) the Nirmânakâya vesture is preferred by the “Buddhas of Compassion” to that of the Dharmakâya state, precisely because the latter precludes him who attains it from any communication or relation with the finite, i.e., with humanity; (2) it is not Buddha (Gautama, the mortal man, or any other personal Buddha) who lives ubiquitously in “three different spheres, at the same time ”, but Bodhi, the universal and abstract principle of divine wisdom, symbolised in philosophy by Âdi-Buddha. It is