Monad: Difference between revisions

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[[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky]] wrote:
[[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky]] wrote:


<blockquote>The Monad of every living being . . . is an individual Dhyan Chohan, distinct from others, a kind of spiritual individuality of its own, during one special Manvantara.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 265.</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>The Monad of every living being . . . is an individual Dhyan Chohan, distinct from others, a kind of spiritual individuality of its own, during one special Manvantara. Its Primary, the Spirit (Atman) is one, of course, with Paramatma (the one Universal Spirit), but the vehicle (Vahan) it is enshrined in, the Buddhi, is part and parcel of that Dhyan-Chohanic Essence.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 265.</ref></blockquote>


The original dual monad, compelled by the [[circle of necessity]], engages in a process of [[evolution]] from which emerges as a triad after assimilating the essence of [[manas]] during the stage of human [[evolution]]:   
The original dual monad, compelled by the [[circle of necessity]], engages in a process of [[evolution]] from which emerges as a triad after assimilating the essence of [[manas]] during the stage of human [[evolution]]:   

Revision as of 15:29, 5 September 2012

Monad (μονάς monas) is a Greek word for "unit". With the Pythagoreans it was a term for Divinity, the source or the One. In Theosophy the word monad refers to the two highest principles, ātman and buddhi, which assimilate the highest attributes of manas during the process of evolution.

General description

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky wrote:

The Monad of every living being . . . is an individual Dhyan Chohan, distinct from others, a kind of spiritual individuality of its own, during one special Manvantara. Its Primary, the Spirit (Atman) is one, of course, with Paramatma (the one Universal Spirit), but the vehicle (Vahan) it is enshrined in, the Buddhi, is part and parcel of that Dhyan-Chohanic Essence.[1]

The original dual monad, compelled by the circle of necessity, engages in a process of evolution from which emerges as a triad after assimilating the essence of manas during the stage of human evolution:

Monad (Gr.). The Unity, the one; but in Occultism it often means the unified triad, Atma-Buddhi-Manas, or the duad, Atma-Buddhi, that immortal part of man which reincarnates in the lower kingdoms, and gradually progresses through them to Man and then to the final goal— Nirvâna.[2]

The dual Monad

Ātman and buddhi, being universal, are not endowed with individual consciousness. Therefore the dual Monad is not conscious:

The sixth and seventh principles apart from the rest constitute the eternal, imperishable, but also unconscious “Monad.”[3]

The triple Monad

When the dual Monad absorbs the highest attributes of the fifth principle or manas, it becomes conscious:

To awaken in it [the Monad] to life the latent consciousness, especially that of personal individuality, requires the monad plus the highest attributes of the fifth [principle].[4]

Notes

  1. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 265.
  2. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 216.
  3. Vicente Hao Chin, Jr. The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 68 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 194.
  4. Vicente Hao Chin, Jr. The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 68 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 194.

Further reading