Anupādaka

Anupādaka is a word used in the Theosophical literature derived from the Sanskrit anupapādaka, "parentless" or "having no material parent", or upapāduka, "self-produced". H. P. Blavatsky wrote:

The term Anupadaka, “parentless,” or without progenitors, is a mystical designation having several meanings in the philosophy. By this name celestial beings, the Dhyan-Chohans or Dhyani-Buddhas, are generally meant. But as these correspond mystically to the human Buddhas and Bodhisattwas, known as the “Mânushi (or human) Buddhas,” the latter are also designated “Anupadaka,” once that their whole personality is merged in their compound sixth and seventh principles—or Atma-Buddhi, and that they have become the “diamond-souled” (Vajra-sattvas),* the full Mahatmas. The “Concealed Lord” (Sangbai Dag-po), “the one merged with the absolute,” can have no parents since he is Self-existent, and one with the Universal Spirit (Svayambhu), the Svâbhâvat in the highest aspect. The mystery in the hierarchy of the Anupadaka is great, its apex being the universal Spirit-Soul, and the lower rung the Mânushi-Buddha; and even every Soul-endowed man is an Anupadaka in a latent state. Hence, when speaking of the Universe in its formless, eternal, or absolute condition, before it was fashioned by the “Builders”—the expression, “the Universe was Anupadaka.”

General description

Mme. Blavatsky applied this term most frequently to the hierarchy of the Dhyāni-Buddhas:

“The one merged with the absolute,” can have no parents since he is Self-existent, and one with the Universal Spirit (Svayambhu), the Svâbhâvat in the highest aspect. The mystery in the hierarchy of the Anupadaka is great, its apex being the universal Spirit-Soul, and the lower rung the Mânushi-Buddha; and even every Soul-endowed man is an Anupadaka in a latent state.

Thus there is only a functional difference between the Dhyani[-Buddha]s and the Planetary. The one are entirely divine, the other sidereal. The former only are called Anupadaka, parentless, because they radiated directly from that which is neither Father nor Mother but the unmanifested Logos. They are, in fact, the spiritual aspect of the seven Logoi.

Misspelling of the original term

According to David Reigle's research, the term anupādaka used by Mme. Blavatsky appears in Emil Schlagintweit's Buddhism in Tibet published in 1863. This was miscopied by her from the anupapādaka present in Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, which was taken from Brian H. Hodgson, the first Westerner to gain access to Sanskrit Buddhist texts, during his residency in Nepal. In its turn, anupapādaka seems to be a misspelling from the original aupapāduka or upapāduka.

Further reading

• Anupādaka at Theosopedia

• Technical Terms in Stanza I by David Reigle at Eastern Tradition Research Institute