Every section in the chapter on “Dezhin Shegpa”(675) (Tathâgata) in the
Commentaries represents one year of that great Philosopher’s life, in its
dual aspect of public and private teacher, the two being contrasted and
commented upon. It shows the Sage reaching Buddha‐hood through a long
course of study, meditation, and Initiations, as any other Adept would
have to do, not one rung of the ladder up to the arduous “Path of
Perfection” being missed. The Bodhisattva became a Buddha and a Nirvânî
through personal effort and merit, after having had to undergo all the
hardships of every other neophyte—not by virtue of a divine birth, as
thought by some. It was only the reaching of Nirvâna while still living in
the body and on this earth that was due to His having been in previous
births high on the “Path of Dzyan” (knowledge, wisdom). Mental or
intellectual gifts and abstract knowledge follow an Initiate in his new
birth, but he has to acquire phenomenal powers anew, passing through all
the successive stages. He has to acquire Rinchen‐na‐dun (“the seven
precious gifts”)(676) one after the other. During the period of meditation
no worldly phenomena on the physical plane must be allowed to enter into
his mind or cross his thoughts. Zhine‐Ihagthong (Sanskrit: Vipashya,
religious abstract meditation) will develop in him most wonderful
faculties independently of himself. The four degrees of contemplation, or
Sam‐tan (Sanskrit: Dhyâna), once acquired, everything becomes easy. For,
once that man has entirely got rid of the idea of individuality, merging
his Self in the Universal Self, becoming, so to say, the bar of steel to
which the properties inherent in the loadstone (Âdi Buddha, or Anima
Mundi) are imparted, powers hitherto dormant in him are awakened,
mysteries in invisible Nature are unveiled, and becoming a Thonglam‐pa (a
Seer) he becomes a Dhyâni‐Buddha. Every Zung (Dhâranî, a mystic word or
mantra) of the Lokottaradharma (the highest world of causes) will be known
to him.
Thus, after His outward death, twenty years later, Tathâgata in His
immense love and “pitiful mercy” for erring and ignorant humanity, refused
Paranirvâna(677) in order that He might continue to help men.
Says a Commentary:
_Having reached the Path of Deliverance [Thar‐lam] from transmigration,
one cannot perform Tulpa_(_678_)_ any longer, for to become a Paranirvânî
is to close the circle of the Septenary Ku‐Sum._(_679_)_ He has merged his
borrowed Dorjesempa [Vajrasattva] into the Universal and become one with
it._
Vajradhara, also Vajrasattva (Tibetan: Dorjechang and Dorjedzin, or
Dorjosampa), is the regent or President of all the Dhyân Chohans or Dhyâni
Buddhas, the highest, the Supreme Buddha; personal, yet never manifested
objectively; the “Supreme Conqueror,” the “Lord of all Mysteries,” the
“One without Beginning or End”—in short, the Logos of Buddhism. For, as
Vajrasattva, He is simply the Tsovo (Chief) of the Dhyâni Buddhas or Dhyân
Chohans, and the Supreme Intelligence in the Second World; while as
Vajradhara (Dorjechang), He is all that which was enumerated above. “These
two are one, and yet two,” and over them is “Chang, the Supreme
Unmanifested and Universal Wisdom that has no name.” As two in one He
(They) is the Power that subdued and conquered Evil from the beginning,
allowing it to reign only over willing subjects on earth, and having no
power over those who despise and hate it. Esoterically the allegory is
easily understood; exoterically Vajradhara (Vajrasattva) is the God to
whom all the evil spirits swore that they would not impede the propagation
of the Good Law (Buddhism), and before whom all the demons tremble.
Therefore, we say this dual personage has the same _rôle_ assigned to it
in canonical and dogmatic Tibetan Buddhism as have Jehovah and the
Archangel Mikael, the Metatron of the Jewish Kabalists. This is easily
shown. Mikael is “the angel of the face of God,” or he who represents his
Master. “My face shall go with thee” (in English, “presence”), before the
Israelites, says God to Moses (_Exodus_, xxxiii. 14). “The angel of my
presence” (Hebrew: “of my face”) (_Isaiah_, lxiii. 9), etc. The Roman
Catholics identify Christ with Mikael, who is also his ferouer, or “face,”
mystically. This is precisely the position of Vajradhara, or Vajrasattva,
in Northern Buddhism. For the latter, in His Higher Self as Vajradhara
(Dorjechang), is _never_ manifested, except to the seven Dhyân Chohans,
the primeval Builders. Esoterically, it is the Spirit of the “Seven”
collectively, their seventh principle, or Âtman. Exoterically, any amount
of fables may be found in _Kâla Chakra_, the most important work in the
Gyut [or (D)gyu] division of the Kanjur, the division of mystic knowledge
[(D)gyu]. Dorjechang (wisdom) Vajradhara, is said to live in the second
Arûpa World, which connects him with Metatron, in the first world of pure
Spirits, the Briatic world of the Kabalists, who call this angel El‐
Shaddai, the Omnipotent and Mighty One. Metatron is in Greek ἄγγελος
(Messenger), or the Great Teacher. Mikael fights Satan, the Dragon, and
conquers him and his Angels. Vajrasattva, who is one with Vajrapâni, the
Subduer of the Evil Spirits, conquers Râhu, the Great Dragon who is always
trying to devour the sun and moon (eclipses). “War in Heaven” in the
Christian legend is based upon the bad angels having discovered the
secrets (magical wisdom) of the good ones (Enoch), and the mystery of the
“Tree of Life.” Let anyone read simply the exoteric accounts in the Hindu
and Buddhist Pantheons—the latter version being taken from the former—and
he will find both resting on the same primeval, archaic allegory from the
Secret Doctrine. In the exoteric texts (Hindu and Buddhist), the Gods
churn the ocean to extract from it the Water of Life—Amrita—or the Elixir
of Knowledge. In both the Dragon steals some of this, and is exiled from
heaven by Vishnu, or Vajradhara, or the chief God, whatever may be his
name. We find the same in the Book of _Enoch_, and it is poetized in St.
John’s _Revelation_. And now the allegory, with all its fanciful
ornamentations, has become a dogma!
As will be found mentioned later, the Tibetan Lamaseris contain many
secret and semi‐secret volumes, detailing the lives of great Sages. Many
of the statements in them are purposely confused, and in others the reader
becomes bewildered, unless a clue be given him, by the use of one name to
cover many individuals who follow the same line of teaching. Thus there is
a succession of “living Buddhas’” and the name “Buddha” is given to
teacher after teacher. Schlagintweit writes:
To each human Buddha belongs a Dhyâni‐Buddha, and a Dhyâni‐
Bodhisattva, and the unlimited number of the former also involves
an equally unlimited number of the latter.(680)
[But if this be so—and the exoteric and semi‐exoteric use of the name
justify the statement—the reader must depend on his own intuition to
distinguish between the Dhyâni Buddhas and the human Buddhas, and must not
apply to the great BUDDHA of the Fifth Race all that is ascribed to “the
Buddha” in books where, as said, blinds are constantly introduced.
In one of these books some strange and obscure statements are made which
the writer gives, as before, entirely on her own responsibility, since a
few may sense a meaning hidden under words misleading in their surface
meaning.](681) It is stated that at the age of thirty‐three,
Shankarâchârya, tired of his mortal body, “put it off” in the cave he had
entered, and that the Bodhisattva, that served as his lower personality,
was freed
With the burden of a sin upon him which he had not committed.
At the same time it is added:
At whatever age one puts off his outward body by free will, at
that age will he be made to die a violent death against his will
in his next rebirth.
Now, Karma could have no hold on “Mahâ Shankara” (as Shankara is called in
the secret work), as he had, as Avatâra, no Ego of his own, but a
Bodhisattva—a willing sacrificial victim. Neither had the latter any
responsibility for the deed, whether sinful or otherwise. Therefore we do
not see the point, since Karma cannot act unjustly. There is some terrible
mystery involved in all this story, one that no uninitiated intellect can
ever unravel. Still, there it is, suggesting the natural query, “Who,
then, was punished by Karma?” and leaving it to be answered.
A few centuries later Buddha tried one more incarnation, it is said, in *
* *, and again, fifty years subsequent to the death of this Adept, in one
whose name is given as Tiani‐Tsang.(682) No details, no further
information or explanation is given. It is simply stated that the last
Buddha had to work out the remains of his Karma, which none of the Gods
themselves can escape, forced as he was to bury still deeper certain
mysteries half revealed by him—hence misinterpreted. The words used would
stand when translated:(683)
Born fifty‐two years too early as Shramana Gautama, the son of
King Zastang; then retiring fifty‐seven years too soon as Mahâ
Shankara, who got tired of his outward form. This wilful act
aroused and attracted King Karma, who killed the new form of * * *
at thirty‐three,(684) the age of the body that was put off. [At
whatever age one puts off his outward body by free will, at that
age will he be made to die in his next incarnation _against his
will_—Commentary.] He died in his next (body) at thirty‐two and a
little over, and again in his next at eighty—a Mâyâ, and at one
hundred, in reality. The Bodhisattva chose Tiani‐Tsang,(685) then
again the Sugata became Tsong‐Kha‐pa, who became thus Dezhin‐
Shegpa [Tathâgata—“one who follows in the way and manner of his
predecessors”]. The Blessed One could do good to his generation as
* * * but none to posterity, and so as Tiani‐Tsaug he became
incarnated only for the “_remains_” [of his precedent Karma, as we
understand it]. The Seven Ways and the Four Truths were once more
hidden out of sight. The Merciful One confined since then his
attention and fatherly care to the heart of Bodyul, the nursery‐
grounds of the seeds of truth. The blessed “remains” since then
have overshadowed and rested in many a holy body of human
Bodhisattvas.
No further information is given, least of all are there any details or
explanations to be found in the secret volume. All is darkness and mystery
in it, for it is evidently written but for those who are already
instructed. Several flaming red asterisks are placed instead of names, and
the few facts given are abruptly broken off. The key of the riddle is left
to the intuition of the disciple, unless the “direct followers” of Gautama
the Buddha—“those who are to be denied by His Church for the next
cycle”—and of Shankarâchârya, are pleased to add more.
The final section gives a kind of summary of the seventy sections—covering
seventy‐three years of Buddha’s life(686)—from which the last paragraph is
summarized as follows:
Emerging from ——, the most excellent seat of the three secrets
[Sang‐Sum], the Master of incomparable mercy, after having
performed on all the anchorites the rite of ——, and each of these
having been cut off,(687) perceived through [the power of] Hlun‐
Chub(688) what was his next duty. The Most‐Illustrious meditated
and asked himself whether this would help [the future]
generations. What they needed was the sight of Mâyâ in a body of
illusion. Which?... The great conqueror of pains and sorrows arose
and proceeded back to his birthplace. There Sugata was welcomed by
the few, for they did not know Shramana Gautama. “Shâkya [the
Mighty] is in Nirvâna.... He has given the Science to the Shuddhas
[Shûdra],” said they of Damze Yul [the country of Brâhmans:
India].... It was for that, born of pity, that the All‐Glorious
One had to retire to ——, and then appear [karmically] as Mahâ
Shankara; and out of pity as ——, and again as ——, and again as
Tsong‐Kha‐pa.... For, he who chooses in humiliation must go down,
and he who _loves not_ allows Karma to raise him.(689)
This passage is confessedly obscure and written for the few. It is not
lawful to say any more, for the time has not yet come when nations are
prepared to hear the whole truth. The old religions are full of mysteries,
and to demonstrate some of them would surely lead to an explosion of
hatred, followed, perhaps, by bloodshed and worse. It will be sufficient
to know that while Gautama Buddha is merged in Nirvâna ever since his
death, Gautama Shâkyamuni may have had to reincarnate—this dual inner
personality being one of the greatest mysteries of Esoteric psychism.
“The seat of the three secrets” refers to a place inhabited by high
Initiates and their disciples. The “secrets” are the three mystic powers
known as Gopa, Yasodhara, and Uptala Varna, that Csomo de Köros mistook
for Buddha’s three wives, as other Orientalists have mistaken Shakti (Yoga
power) personified by a female deity for His wife; or the Draupadî—also a
spiritual power—for the wife in common of the five brothers Pândava.