Buddha: Difference between revisions
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== Dhyāni-Buddhas == | == Dhyāni-Buddhas == | ||
Known as the "Celestial Buddhas", they are | Known as the "Celestial Buddhas", they are the spiritual counterpart of the incarnated (or ''manushi'') Buddhas. [[H. P. Blavatsky|Mme. Blavatsky]] wrote: | ||
<blockquote>... The eternal prototypes of the Buddhas who appear on this earth . . . “the glorious counterparts in the mystic world, free from the debasing conditions of this material life“ of every earthly mortal Buddha—the liberated Manushi-Buddhas appointed to govern the Earth in this Round. They are the “Buddhas of Contemplation,” and are all Anupadaka (parentless), i.e., self-born of divine essence.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 108-109.</ref></blockquote> | |||
== Manūṣi-Buddhas == | == Manūṣi-Buddhas == | ||
Revision as of 16:49, 30 May 2012
Buddha (devanāgarī: बुद्ध) is a Sanskrit word that means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one." H. P. Blavatsky defined it as follows:
Buddha (Sk.). Lit., “The Enlightened”. The highest degree of knowledge. To become a Buddha one has to break through the bondage of sense and personality; to acquire a complete perception of the REAL SELF and learn not to separate it from all otherselves; to learn by experience the utter unreality of all phenomena of the visible Kosmos foremost of all; to reach a complete detachment from all that is evanescent and finite, and live while yet on Earth in the immortal and the everlasting alone, in a supreme state of holiness.[1]
In the Theosophical view a Buddha appears regularly with each Root-Race:
Esoteric philosophy teaches us that every Root-race has its chief Buddha or Reformer, who appears also in the seven sub-races as a Bodhisattva (q.v.). Gautama Sakyamuni was the fourth, and also the fifth Buddha: the fifth, because we are the fifth root-race; the fourth, as the chief Buddha in this fourth Round.[2]
The current Buddha, Siddhârta Gautama, is said to be the fourth Buddha to appear on Earth in this Round, corresponding to the fifth Root-Race (the beginning of first Root-Race having a Planetary Spirit incarnated instead of a Buddha).
Dhyāni-Buddhas
Known as the "Celestial Buddhas", they are the spiritual counterpart of the incarnated (or manushi) Buddhas. Mme. Blavatsky wrote:
... The eternal prototypes of the Buddhas who appear on this earth . . . “the glorious counterparts in the mystic world, free from the debasing conditions of this material life“ of every earthly mortal Buddha—the liberated Manushi-Buddhas appointed to govern the Earth in this Round. They are the “Buddhas of Contemplation,” and are all Anupadaka (parentless), i.e., self-born of divine essence.[3]
Manūṣi-Buddhas
Known as "Terrestrial Buddhas", they are "Human Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, or incarnated Dhyan Chohans".[4] According to Mme. Blavatsky Each of Manushi-Buddha "has his particular divine prototype. So, for instance, Amitâbha is the Dhyani-Buddha of Gautama Sakyamuni".[5]
Notes
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 64-65.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 56.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 108-109.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 206.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 108.