Shun ignorance, and likewise shun illusion. Avert thy face from world deceptions; mistrust thy senses, they are false. But within thy body – the shrine of thy sensations – seek in the Impersonal for the “eternal man”; and having sought him out, look inward: thou art Buddha.
“The Voice of The Silence” p. 26, original edition
translated by H. P. Blavatsky from The Book of The Golden Precepts
The “true man, without a position,” Wu-wei-chen-jen, is wrapped in a prickly shell, like the chestnut. He cannot be approached. This is Buddha – the Buddha within you.
Lin Chi, also written Linji, a celebrated 9th century C.E. teacher of Chan Buddhism (the Chinese precursor of Zen), quoted by H. P. Blavatsky in her article “The Doctrine of the Eye & The Doctrine of the Heart”
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Excerpts from the Mahayana Uttara Tantra
(“The Ultimate or Supreme Teaching or Continuum of the Mahayana”)
said to have been taught, transmitted, or dictated to Asanga (Aryasanga, founder of the Yogachara School) by Maitreya (the future Buddha)
Asanga is considered by historians to have lived 1,600 to 1,700 years ago, in the 3rd to 4th centuries C.E. but H. P. Blavatsky states that the real Aryasanga, founder of the real and purely esoteric Yogacharya or Yogachara School (which is one with the Trans-Himalayan Esoteric School of the Masters most closely linked with the modern Theosophical Movement) lived 2,500 to 2,600 years ago and was a direct disciple of Gautama Buddha. It is not known how much of the Uttara Tantra comes from the original Aryasanga but it is known that the Mahatma K.H. quoted approvingly from it in his correspondence with A. P. Sinnett during the early years of the Theosophical Society. It is also known as the Ratnagotravibhaga, literally “Analysis of the Jewelled Lineage.” These excerpts are from the Snow Lion Publications translation, first published in 2000, and described as being “by Arya Maitreya, written down by Arya Asanga.”
Please note: Terms in bold are all essentially synonymous and express the various different ways utilised by the Tathagatagarbha (Buddha Nature) Sutras to refer to our Buddha Nature, which is the very same as the “infinite expanse” of Absolute Space, also termed Adi-Buddhi or the Primordial Wisdom. Thus the true nature or Self of Gautama Buddha is the very same Buddha Nature within all living beings.
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Buddha Nature [is] the Element of Primordial Wisdom [i.e. of Adi-Buddhi or Adi-Buddha in Sanskrit; Adi-Buddhi in the Yogachara teachings means the Absolute, the Ultimate Reality, the Sourceless Source and Essence of all]. This wisdom finally attained is supreme enlightenment.
Being uncreated and spontaneously present, not a realization due to extraneous conditions, wielding knowledge, compassionate love, and ability, Buddhahood has [a] nature without beginning, middle, or end; hence the state of a Buddha is uncreated. Since it possesses the peaceful Dharmakaya [Note: In “The Voice of The Silence,” one who enters fully into Nirvana is described as having put on “the Dharmakaya vesture” but HPB explains that this is not really or literally any type of body but just means that the being has become totally re-merged with Absoluteness; thus the Master K.H. writes of “Adi-Buddhi or Dharmakaya, the mystic, universally diffused essence” and “Dharmakaya (the universally diffused Essence).”] it is described as being “spontaneously present.” Since it must be realized through self-awareness, it is not a realization due to extraneous conditions.
The assembly [i.e. in Sanskrit, the Sangha] of those who have understanding and thus do not fall back has unsurpassable qualities, since their vision of inner Primordial Wisdom, which knows correctly and knows completely, is pure. Realizing beings in their state of peace the Noble Ones know correctly, for the mind is by nature utterly pure and the poisons [i.e. in Sanskrit, the kleshas] were always exhausted. Their understanding, which realizes the knowable as well as its ultimate condition, sees that the state of omniscience is within all beings. Thus the Noble Ones know completely .
Such realization is the vision of wisdom that is self-aware. This wisdom is pure, since it sees the undefiled expanse, free from attachment and obstruction. Their vision of Primordial Wisdom is pure and nears unsurpassable Buddha Wisdom. The Noble Ones who do not fall back are therefore a refuge for all beings.
The perfect Buddhakaya [i.e. literally “Buddha-Body”] is all-embracing, Suchness cannot be differentiated, and all beings have the disposition. Thus they always have Buddha Nature.
The Buddha has said that all beings have Buddha Nature “since Buddha Wisdom is always present within the assembly of beings, since this undefiled nature is free from duality, and since the disposition to Buddhahood has been named after its fruit.”
Essence, cause, fruit, function, endowment, manifestation, phases, all-pervasiveness of Suchness, unchangingness, and inseparability of the qualities should be understood as intended to describe the meaning of the absolute expanse.
Just as a jewel, the sky, and water are pure it is by nature always free from the poisons. From devotion to the Dharma [i.e. the Teaching of Wisdom], from highest wisdom, and from samadhi [i.e. very deep meditative absorption] and compassion its realization arises. Those whose seed is devotion towards the supreme vehicle [i.e. the Mahayana], whose mother is analytical wisdom generating the Buddha qualities, whose abode is the blissful womb of meditative stability, and whose nurse is compassion, are heirs born to succeed the Muni [i.e. Gautama Buddha].
The Dharmakaya is purity, since its nature is pure . . . It is true self [i.e. Atma, Atman], since all conceptual elaboration in terms of self and non-self is totally stilled. . . . understanding and compassionate love [are] the means to enlightenment.
Just as Space, which is by nature free from thought, pervades everything, the undefiled expanse, which is the nature of mind, is all-pervading. Though Space permeates everything, it is never polluted, due to its subtlety. Likewise the Dharmadhatu [i.e. literally “Truth-Element,” “Wisdom-Element”] in all beings does not suffer the slightest pollution. Just as at all times worlds arise and disintegrate in Space, the senses arise and disintegrate in the uncreated expanse. Space is never burnt by fires. Likewise this Dharmadhatu is not burnt by the fires of death, sickness, and aging.
It is not brought into existence by the water of karma, of the poisons, and so on. Hence it is also not consumed by the cruel fires of dying, falling sick, and aging. Having realized Thatness, the nature of the Dharmadhatu, just as it is, those of understanding are released from birth, sickness, aging, and death. Though free from the destitution of birth and so on, they demonstrate these, since by their insight they have given rise to compassion for beings.
Since they have seen Reality as it is [Note: “Thatness,” “Suchness,” “Isness,” and “Reality as it is” are translations of the Sanskrit term “Tathata”], they are beyond being born and so on. Yet, as the embodiment of compassion itself they display birth, illness, old age, and death. After the heirs of the Victorious One [i.e. of Gautama Buddha] have realized this changeless state, those who are blinded by ignorance see them as being born and so forth.
Though they are beyond all worldly matters, these Bodhisattvas do not leave the world. They act for the sake of all worldly beings within the world, unblemished by its defects. As a lotus will grow in the midst of water, not being polluted by the water’s faults, these Noble Ones are born in the world unpolluted by any phenomena. Viewing the accomplishment of their task, their understanding always blazes like fire. And they rest evenly balanced in meditative stability, which is peace.
The Dharmakaya does not change into something else [i.e. the existence of manifestation does not cause the Source of All to change Its nature], since it has inexhaustible properties. It is the refuge of all beings, since it protects them without any limit of time, until the final end. It is always free from duality, since it is foreign to all ideation. It is also an indestructible state, since its nature is uncreated. It is not born, and it does not die. It suffers no harm and does not age since it is permanent and steadfast, the state of peace and immutability. [It is] the Dharmakaya, the Tathagata [i.e. a term often used as a title of Gautama Buddha but also a synonym for our Buddha Nature], the Noble Truth, and the Absolute Nirvana [i.e. Parinirvana] . . . Since the unpolluted expanse has, put briefly, four different types of meaning, it should be known in terms of four synonyms: the Dharmakaya and so forth.
This Tathagatagarbha [i.e. Buddha Nature, also translatable as “Buddha-Womb,” “Buddha-Embryo,” and “Buddha-Matrix”] abides within the shroud of the afflictions, . . . this Buddha Element abides within all sentient beings, obscured by the defilement of the adventitious poisons. Likewise the Sugata [i.e. Gautama Buddha] with his Buddha Eye perceives his own true state even in those who must abide in the hell of direst pain. Endowed with compassion itself, which is unobscured and endures to the final end, he relieves them from their obscurations. . . . the Muni sees the quality of beings, which is sunken in the filth-like mental poisons, and pours his rain of sacred Dharma upon them to purify the muddiness of their afflictions. Seeing within all beings the precious perfect Buddha that has fallen into the great filth of the mental poisons, the Victorious One . . . teaches the Dharma to persuade them to purify it. If an inexhaustible treasure were buried in the ground beneath a poor man’s house, the man would not know of it, and the treasure would not speak and tell him “I am here!” Likewise a precious treasure is contained in each being’s mind. This is its true state, which is free from defilement. Nothing is to be added and nothing to be removed. Nevertheless, since they do not realize this, sentient beings continuously undergo the manifold sufferings of deprivation.
Being possessed of unhindered vision the Buddha sees the substance of the Sugata wrapped in the multitude of the mental poisons, even in animals, and teaches the means to free it. . . . the Victor sees that the Element, wrapped in the tattered garments of the poisons and lying on Samsara’s road, is present even within animals, and teaches the Dharma so that it may be released.
Nothing whatsoever is to be removed. Not the slightest thing is to be added. Truly looking at truth, truth is seen. When seen, this is complete liberation. The Element is empty of the adventitious stains, which are featured [i.e. characterised] by their total separateness. But it is not empty of the matchless properties, which are featured by their total inseparability. The final truth is in every respect devoid of anything compounded.
By realizing the absence of defects and the presence of qualities, and through love, seeing the equality of oneself and all beings, Buddhahood will be quickly attained.
Totally freed from the clouds of unknowing and dispelling its darkness within beings through the light rays of Primordial Wisdom, Buddhahood is similar to the unpolluted sun.
Space is not a cause, and yet the cause for all visible things to be seen . . . Buddhahood . . . is utterly peaceful, pervasive, without thought, and unattached like Space. It is free from hindrance and coarse objects of contact are eliminated. It cannot be seen or grasped. It is virtuous and free from pollution. Being the object of the omniscient Primordial Wisdom, Buddhahood is not an object for the three types of insight. What is the nature of Dharmadhatu? It is without beginning, middle, and end. It is totally indivisible and far away from the two extremes [i.e. eternalism or absolutism and nihilism or annihilationism; these being the two opposite extremes which Buddhists strive to find and maintain a Middle Way between, as per Buddha’s injunctions], rid of the three veils, unpolluted, and not an object of thought. Its realization is the vision of a Yogi who dwells in Meditative Equipoise.
Enlightenment is vast, without middle or end, and thus all-pervasive like Space. Fully seeing that Buddhahood, the treasure of the unpolluted qualities, is present within all sentient beings without the slightest distinction, the wind of the Buddhas’ sublime compassion totally dispels the clouds of afflictions and hindrances to knowledge, which have spun their net about it.
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Excerpts from the Srimaladevi Sutra
(From Chapter 9 “The True Understanding of the Meaning of Emptiness” and
Chapter 13 “The Inherently Pure Mind that is Obscured by Defilements”)
Some historians date the Srimaladevi Sutra, also known as “The Lion’s Roar of Queen Srimala” or “Queen Srimala and Her Lion’s Roar,” to the 3rd century C.E. and describe it as originating with the Mahasanghika School. The Mahasanghikas are recognised as the first introducers of Mahayana Buddhism, which is said to have originated around the 1st century B.C.E. As there is no public trace of the characteristic Mahayana teachings, such as the Bodhisattva Ideal and Bodhisattva Path etc., prior to that time, many disbelieve that Buddha himself ever actually taught such things. Mahayanists state, like Theosophists, that he did but that these teachings were kept secret for a few hundred years. While the Mahasanghikas had many similarities with the historically known Yogacharas, who were contemporaneous with them, their relation to the Masters’ Brotherhood is not known. It is known, however, that they had temples within the sacred sites of the Ellora, Karli, and Ajanta Caves, and an early Mahasanghika history reports: “The Mahāsāṃghika school diligently study the collected sūtras and teach the true meaning, because they are the source and the centre. They wear yellow robes.” These excerpts are from the 2014 book “Buddha Nature Sutras” published by Dr. Tony Page.
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Queen Srimala speaking to Buddha and expressing her understanding of his teaching, after which he is shown as telling her “It is exactly as you have said”:
The wisdom of the Buddha Nature is the World-Honoured One’s [i.e. Buddha’s] wisdom of Shunyata – Emptiness. There are two types of Emptiness Wisdom concerning the Buddha Nature, which are as follows: (1) The Buddha Nature is empty of, separate from, independent from, and different from, all the stores of defilement and every trace of the differentiated. (2) The Buddha Nature is not empty of, not separate from, not independent from, and not different from, the inconceivable Buddha Attributes which are more numerous than the sands of the River Ganges.
Being “born” and “dying” are terms that are used to describe the mundane world. The Buddha Nature is unborn, undying, and does not pass away to become reborn. The Buddha Nature is not something that is conditioned; it is unconditioned. The Buddha Nature is unchanging, permanent, and eternal. Therefore the Buddha Nature is the support, the “ground,” and the foundation, of all conditioned phenomena.
Bhagavan [i.e. “Lord,” a reverential term of address to Buddha or any divine Teacher], if there were no Buddha Nature, there would be neither dislike towards suffering, nor aspiration towards attaining enlightenment.
The Buddha Nature has ultimate existence without beginning or end. It is not born and does not die. Bhagavan, the Buddha Nature is neither an impermanent mundane self, nor a personality, nor a samsaric living being. The Buddha Nature is not reachable by misguided sentient beings who adhere to belief in an eternally existent personality or for those who adhere to wrong views and have thoughts which are confused by mistaken concepts of Emptiness. O Bhagavan, the Buddha Nature is the womb of the Dharmakaya, the womb of the Dharmadhatu, the womb of the Noumenon, the womb of the inherent purity.
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Excerpts from the Mahaparinirvana Sutra
(From Chapter 11 “On The Four Inversions” and Chapter 12 “On The Tathagata-Dhatu”)
Historians date this lengthy and important scripture to the 2nd century C.E. and describe it too as originating with the Mahasanghika School, briefly referred to above. This text seems to be well regarded by the Trans-Himalayan Adepts. The Mahatmas K.H. and M. quoted from it in “The Mahatma Letters” to A. P. Sinnett, and H. P. Blavatsky also refers to it (although not by name) in an explanatory note in “The Voice of the Silence” where she says (p. 79, original 1889 edition) “The △ is the sign of the high chelas, while another kind of triangle is that of high Initiates. It is the symbol “I” discoursed upon by Buddha and used by him as a symbol of the embodied form of Tathagata when released from the three methods of the Prajna.” Such a discourse can be found in Chapter 13 of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra. It should not be confused with the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of Theravada Buddhism. Its name comes from the fact that it is said to provide an account of teachings given by Buddha on his deathbed, just prior to his Mahaparinirvana, i.e. his exit from the body. These excerpts are from the 2014 book “Buddha Nature Sutras” published by Dr. Tony Page.
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The Buddha said to (his disciple) Kashyapa: . . . The people of the world say that there is Self, and within Buddhism, too, we say that there is Self. The people of the word say that there is Self but that there is no Buddha Nature. This is having the idea of Self in what is non-Self. This is an inversion. The Self spoken of in Buddhism is the Buddha Nature. The people of the world say that there is no Self in Buddhism. This is the idea of the non-Self in the Self. “It is definite that there is no Self in the Buddhist teaching. That is why the Tathagata (the Buddha) tells his disciples to practise selflessness.” If such is said, this is an inversion. . . .
The Buddha said: “O good man! “Self” means “Tathagatagarbha.” Every being has this Buddha Nature. The Buddha Nature is the Atman, the Self. Such Self has, from the very beginning, been under cover of innumerable defilements. That is why man cannot see it. O good man! Imagine that there is a poor woman here. She has true gold concealed in her house. But none of the people of her house, whether big or small, know of it. But there is a stranger, who, through expediency, says to the poor woman: “I shall employ you. You must now go and weed the land!” The woman answers: “I cannot do this now. If you let my son see where the gold is hidden, I will soon work for you.” The man says: “I know the way. I shall point it out to your son.” The woman further says: “Nobody of my house, whether big or small, knows of this. How can you?” The man says: “I shall now make it clear.” The woman says further: “I desire to see. Pray let me.” The man digs out the gold that had lain hidden. The woman sees it, is gladdened, and begins to respect that person. O good man! The case is the same with the Buddha Nature which man has. Nobody can see it. This is analogous to the gold which the poor woman possessed and yet could not see. O good man! I now let persons see the Buddha Nature that they possess, which is spread over by defilements. This is analogous to the poor woman who cannot see the gold, even though she possesses it. The Tathagata now reveals to all beings the storehouse of Enlightenment, which is the Buddha Nature, as it is called. If all beings see this, they are gladdened and will take refuge in the Tathagata. The good expedient is the Tathagata, the poor woman is all the innumerable beings, and the cask of true gold is the Buddha Nature. . . .
The case is the same with the Tathagata. In order to save beings, he gives them the teaching of non-Self [i.e. Anatta in Pali, Anatma in Sanskrit; one of the most prominent Buddhist doctrines and generally viewed as meaning that there is not any type of self – higher or lower – within any being]. Having practised the Way thus, beings do away with the state of mind that clings to the lower self and they gain Nirvana. All of this is to do away with people’s wrong concepts, to show them the Way, and cause them to stand above, to show them that they have been adhering merely to self, that what obtains in the world is all false and not true, and to make them practise selflessness and purify themselves. . . .
Even when a person is told of the unholy self, he cannot know the true quality of the real Self. The same is true of my disciples. As they do not befriend a good teacher of the Way, they practise non-Self and do not know where the Self is. They do not know the true nature of selflessness. How, then, could they know the true nature of the Self itself? Thus, O good man, the Tathagata says that all beings possess the Buddha Nature. . . .
The nature of Self is nothing other than the hidden storehouse of the Tathagata. . . . The Buddha Nature of beings rests within the five skandhas (the psychophysical personality aggregates). . . . The true Self of the Buddha Nature is like the diamond, which cannot be crushed. . . .
When non-Self is talked about, common mortals say that there cannot be Self in the Buddhist teaching. One who is wise should know that the non-Self is a temporary existence and is unreal. Knowing thus, one should not have any doubt. When the hidden Buddha Nature is stated as being empty and silent, common mortals will think of cessation and extinction. But one who is wise knows that the Tathagata is eternal and unchanging. If emancipation is stated to be something like emptiness, common mortals say that the person who attains emancipation is one who fades away to nothingness, whilst a person with Wisdom thinks that he is a human-lion and that, although he comes and goes, he is eternal and does not change.
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Excerpts from the Bardo Thodol
(From “Common Preliminary Practice” in “The Tibetan Book of The Dead” or Bardo Thodol, first complete translation, published by Penguin, p. 8-11)
According to historians, the text known popularly as The Tibetan Book of The Dead was written in approximately 800 C.E. by Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rimpoche or Guru Rinpoche, the mysterious Indian founder of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, the original and oldest of the four main branches of Tibetan Buddhism. An extensive exploration of both it and its author, in the light of Theosophy, can be found in our article Padmasambhava & The Tibetan Book of The Dead.
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O, Alas! Alas! Fortunate Child of Buddha Nature,
Do not be oppressed by the forces of ignorance and delusion!
But rise up now with resolve and courage!
Entranced by ignorance, from beginningless time until now,
You have had [more than] enough time to sleep.
So do not slumber any longer, but strive after virtue with body, speech and
mind!
Are you oblivious to the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death?
There is no guarantee that you will survive, even past this very day!
The time has come [for you] to develop perseverance in [your] practice.
For, at this singular opportunity, you could attain the everlasting bliss [of
nirvāṇa].
So now is [certainly] not the time to sit idly,
But, starting with [the reflection on] death, you should bring your practice to
completion!
The moments of our life are not expendable,
And the [possible] circumstances of death are beyond imagination.
If you do not achieve an undaunted confident security now,
What point is there in your being alive, O living creature?
All phenomena are [ultimately] selfless, empty, and free from conceptual
elaboration.
In their dynamic they resemble an illusion, mirage, dream, or reflected image,
A celestial city, an echo, a reflection of the moon in water, a bubble, an optical
illusion, or an intangible emanation.
You should know that all things of cyclic existence and nirvāṇa
Accord [in nature] with these ten similes of illusory phenomena.
All phenomena are naturally uncreated.
They neither abide nor cease, neither come nor go.
They are without objective referent, signless, ineffable, and free from thought.
The time has come for this truth to be realised!
Homage to the spiritual teachers!
Homage to the meditational deities!
Homage to the dakinis!
O, Alas! Alas! How needing of compassion are those living beings, tortured
by their past actions,
[Who are drowning] in this deep chasm, the engulfing ocean of their past
actions!
Such is the nature of fluctuating cyclic existence!
Grant your blessing, so that this ocean of sufferings may run dry! . . .
How needing of compassion are the ignorant and the deluded,
[Bound] in this confining dungeon of egotistical attachment and the subject-
object dichotomy,
Who, like wild game, are trapped in this snare, time after time!
Grant your blessing, so that cyclic existence may be stirred to its depths!
How needing of compassion are those beings who endlessly revolve [in the
cycle of existence],
As if [circling] perpetually [on] the rim of a water-wheel,
In this six-dimensional city of imprisoning past actions!
Grant your blessing, so that the womb entrances to the six classes of existence
may be barred!
We who are fearless and hard-hearted, despite having seen so many sufferings
of birth, old age, sickness and death,
Are wasting our human lives, endowed with freedom and opportunity, on the paths of distraction.
Grant your blessing, so that we may [continuously] remember impermanence
and death!
Since we do not recognise that impermanent [things] are unreliable,
Still, even now, we remain attached, clinging to this cycle of existence.
Wishing for happiness, we pass our human lives in suffering.
Grant your blessing, so that attachment to cyclic existence may be reversed!
Our impermanent environment will be destroyed by fire and water,
The impermanent sentient beings within it will endure the severing of body and mind.
The seasons of the year: summer, winter, autumn and spring, themselves [exemplify] impermanence.
Grant your blessing, so that disillusionment [with conditioned existence] may
arise from the depths [of our hearts]!
Last year, this year, the waxing and waning moons,
The days, nights, and indivisible time moments are all impermanent.
If we reflect carefully, we too are face to face with death.
Grant your blessing, so that we may become resolute in our practice! . . .
Alas! Alas! O Precious Jewel, embodiment of compassion!
Since you, the Conqueror [i.e. Buddha], are endowed with a loving heart,
Grant your blessing, so that we and the six classes of beings
May be liberated, right now, from the sufferings of cyclic existence!
~ * ~
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Other articles closely related to this one include
THE ESSENCE OF BUDDHISM, NAGARJUNA, MADHYAMAKA & PRASANGIKA, THEOSOPHY AND TIBETAN BUDDHIST TANTRA, “THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE” – AN AUTHENTIC BUDDHIST TEXT, KALACHAKRA AND THEOSOPHY, PADMASAMBHAVA AND THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD, and THE DALAI LAMA, THEOSOPHY, & THE GELUGPA TRADITION.
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