Anupadaka

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 applied this term most frequently to refer to the hierarchy of the Dhyāni-Buddhas, that is, those Dhyanis that are not emanated by higher entities, but are "self-born" from the divine essence. Human Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are regarded to represent the lower rung of the same hirarchy. Occassionaly, the second divine world or plane, to which the Dhyani-Buddhas belong, is also denominated anupadaka.

General description

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

Anupâdaka (Sk.). Anupapâdaka, also Aupapâduka; means “parentless”, “self-existing”, born without any parents or progenitors. A term applied to certain self-created gods, and the Dhyâni Buddhas.

They [the Dhyāni-Buddhas] are the “Buddhas of Contemplation,” and are all Anupadaka (parentless), i.e., self-born of divine essence.

However, since the human Buddhas are regarded as manifestations of the "Celestial Buddhas" (Dhyāni-Buddhas) in the world of form and matter, they are also called "anupadakas":

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.”

In Stanza V.4 of Cosmogenesis the anupadaka is mentioned as the second "world" or "plane", the "divine arupa" whose garment is the "chhayaloka" or intellectual world:

The first Divine World is ready, the first (is now), the second (world), then the “Divine Arupa” (the formless universe of thought) reflects itself in Chhayaloka (the shadowy world of primal form, or the intellectual) the first garment of (the) Anupadaka.

It is on this plane that the Dhyāni-Buddhas reside:

This is the second logos of creation, from whom emanate the seven (in the exoteric blind the five) Dhyani Buddhas, called the Anupadaka, “the parentless.” These Buddhas are the primeval monads from the world of incorporeal being, the Arupa world, wherein the Intelligences (on that plane only) have neither shape nor name, in the exoteric system, but have their distinct seven names in esoteric philosophy.

The phrase "second Logos" in Mme. Blavatsky's writings sometimes refers to the unmanifested-manifest one, while in other occasions it refers to the manifested logos. The "second Logos" that emanates the Dhyāni-Buddhas may be the unmanifested-manifest one:

The former [Dhyāni-Buddhas] only are called Anupadaka, parentless, because they radiated directly from that which is neither Father nor Mother but the unmanifested Logos.

In other uses, Space, Mūlaprakṛti, and the circle with the central point, have been referred to as "anupadaka".

According to Annie Besant

Annie Besant's view of the seven planes regarded the two highest as being Logoic planes. She called the second of them "anupadaka":

The two planes beyond the five represent the sphere of divine activity, encircling and enveloping all, out of which pour forth all the divine energies which vivify and sustain the whole system. They are at present entirely beyond our knowledge, and the few hints that have been given regarding them probably convey as much information as our limited capacity is able to grasp. We are taught that they are the planes of divine Consciousness, wherein the LOGOS, or the divine Trinity of Logoi, is manifested, and wherefrom He shines forth as the Creator, the Preserver, the Dissolver, evolving a universe, maintaining it during its life-period, withdrawing it into Himself at its ending. We have been given the names of these two planes: the lower is the Anupadaka, that wherein “no vehicle has yet been formed”; the higher is the Adi, “the first”, the foundation of a universe, its support and the fount of its life.

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.

Additional resources

• Anupadaka in Theosophy World.

Further reading

• Anupadaka at Theosophy World.

• Reigle, David. "Technical Terms in Stanza I" in Blavatsky Archives website. Previously published at Eastern Tradition Research Institute.