Monad
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 monad refers to the two highest principles, ātman and buddhi. The 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.[1]
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.”[2]
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].[3]
Notes
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 216.
- ↑ Vicente Hao Chin, Jr. The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 68 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 194.
- ↑ 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
- Monad at Theosopedia