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'''Brothers of the Shadow''' is a term given by the [[Occultism|Occultists]] to the [[Dugpas]] (also referred to as "Dark Brothers" or "Black Adepts"), that is, to Sorcerers and all practitioners of [[black magic]].<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 64.</ref> In [[ML18|one of his letters]], [[Mahatma]] [[K. H.]] talked about them as being "our greatest, most cruel, and — why not confess — our most potential [powerful] Enemies".<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 18 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 61.</ref>


The Brothers of the Shadow can be embodied or disembodied.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'' vol. XII (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1980), 601.</ref> In the case of disembodied wicked human beings, they are also called [[elementaries]]. [[H. P. Blavatsky]] wrote:


<blockquote>The Brothers of the Shadow, devoid of physical bodies save in rare cases, bad souls living long in that realm and working according to their nature for no other end than evil until they are finally annihilated—they are the lost souls of [[Kâma Loka]] as distinguished from the “[[Kāmaloka#Shells|animated corpses]]” devoid of souls which live and move among men. These Black entities are the [[Dugpas]], the Black Magicians.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'' vol. IX (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1974), 400-Q.</ref></blockquote>


== Dugpas ==
== Additional resources ==
 
===Articles===
[[H. P. Blavatsky]] and the [[Mahatmas]] used many times the word ''dugpa'' (Tib. ’brug pa) as a synonym of a black magician:
* [https://theosophy.world/encyclopedia/brothers-shadow Brothers Of The Shadow] at Theosophy World
 
* Gottfried de Purucker. "Brother(s) of the Shadow" in ''Occult Glossary''. Available at [http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/ocglos/og-bc.htm Theosophical University Press].
<blockquote>Dugpas (Tib.). Lit., “Red Caps,” a sect in Tibet. Before the advent of Tsong-ka-pa in the fourteenth century, the Tibetans, whose Buddhism had deteriorated and been dreadfully adulterated with the tenets of the old Bhon religion,—were all Dugpas. From that century, however, and after the rigid laws imposed upon the Gelukpas (yellow caps) and the general reform and purification of Buddhism (or Lamaism), the Dugpas have given themselves over more than ever to sorcery, immorality, and drunkenness. Since then the word Dugpas has become a synonym of “sorcerer”, “adept of black magic” and everything vile. There are few, if any, Dugpas in Eastern Tibet, but they congregate in Bhutan, Sikkim, and the borderlands generally.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 105-106.</ref></blockquote>
 
As we can see, the word "dugpa" is used here in a generic sense to all "red-cap" or "red-hat" sects of [[Tibetan Buddhism]], that is, the ''Nyigmapas'', ''Kagyupas'', ''Sakyapas'', and the pre-Buddhist natives ''Bhons''. These are the non-reformed sects that did not follow Tsongkhapa’s new order, the ''Gelugpas''. In fact, as David Reigle showed, this general meaning for the word "dugpa" was prevalent at the time of Blavatsky's writings.<ref>[http://www.katinkahesselink.net/his/dugpas-drugpas-blavatsky.pdf# Who Are the Dugpas in Theosophical Writings? by David Reigle]</ref> This mistake was corrected by L. Austine Waddell’s 1895 book, ''The Buddhism of Tibet, or Lamaism'' where he states that the Dug-pa are a sub-sect of one of the red-cap sects, the Kagyupas.
 
However, even [[H. P. Blavatsky|Mme. Blavatsky]] when talking about the “Brothers of the Shadow” admitted that the word "dugpa" was not applied top all those who belonged to that particular sect:
 
<blockquote>In Sikkim and Tibet they are called Dug-pas (red-caps), in contra-distinction to the Geluk-pas (yellow-caps), to which latter most of the adepts belong. And here we must beg the reader not to misunderstand us. For though the whole of Bhûtan and Sikkim belongs to the old religion of the Bhons, now known generally as the Dug-pas, we do not mean to have it understood that the whole of the population is possessed, en masse, or that they are all sorcerers. Among them are found as good men as anywhere else, and we speak above only of the élite of their Lamaseries, of a nucleus of priests, "devil-dancers," and fetish worshippers, whose dreadful and mysterious rites are utterly unknown to the greater part of the population.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'' vol. VI (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1989), 197-198.</ref></blockquote>


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
<references/>
<references/>




==Further reading==
*[http://www.theosophy.ph/encyclo/index.php?title=Triad# Triad] at Theosopedia
*[http://www.katinkahesselink.net/his/dugpas-drugpas-blavatsky.pdf# Who Are the Dugpas in Theosophical Writings? by David Reigle] at Katinkahesselink.net
[[Category:Sanskrit terms]]
[[Category:Theosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Theosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Hindu terms]]
[[es:Hermanos de la Sombra]]

Latest revision as of 21:56, 1 October 2024

Brothers of the Shadow is a term given by the Occultists to the Dugpas (also referred to as "Dark Brothers" or "Black Adepts"), that is, to Sorcerers and all practitioners of black magic.[1] In one of his letters, Mahatma K. H. talked about them as being "our greatest, most cruel, and — why not confess — our most potential [powerful] Enemies".[2]

The Brothers of the Shadow can be embodied or disembodied.[3] In the case of disembodied wicked human beings, they are also called elementaries. H. P. Blavatsky wrote:

The Brothers of the Shadow, devoid of physical bodies save in rare cases, bad souls living long in that realm and working according to their nature for no other end than evil until they are finally annihilated—they are the lost souls of Kâma Loka as distinguished from the “animated corpses” devoid of souls which live and move among men. These Black entities are the Dugpas, the Black Magicians.[4]

Additional resources

Articles

Notes

  1. ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 64.
  2. ↑ Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 18 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 61.
  3. ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. XII (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1980), 601.
  4. ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. IX (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1974), 400-Q.
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