(See Weber, Max Muller, etc.) We labour under the impression that Colebrooke, "the highest authority" in such matters, had long ago settled the question by showing, that "the Hindus were in this instance the teachers, not the learners." [[Vol.
1, Page]] 48 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
( a ) Here we have before us the subject of centuries of scholastic disputations.
The two terms "Alaya" and "Paramartha" have been the causes of dividing schools and splitting the truth into more different aspects than any other mystic terms.
Alaya is literally the "Soul of the World" or Anima Mundi, the "Over-Soul" of Emerson, and according to esoteric teaching it changes periodically its nature.
Alaya, though eternal and changeless in its inner essence on the planes which are unreachable by either men or Cosmic Gods (Dhyani Buddhas), alters during the active life-period with respect to the lower planes, ours included.
During that time not only the Dhyani-Buddhas are one with Alaya in Soul and Essence, but even the man strong in the Yoga (mystic meditation) "is able to merge his soul with it" (Aryasanga, the Bumapa school).
This is not Nirvana, but a condition next to it.
Hence the disagreement.
Thus, while the Yogacharyas (of the Mahayana school) say that Alaya is the personification of the Voidness, and yet Alaya ( Nyingpo and Tsang in Tibetan) is the basis of every visible and invisible thing, and that, though it is eternal and immutable in its essence, it reflects itself in every object of the Universe "like the moon in clear tranquil water"; other schools dispute the statement.
The same for Paramartha: the Yogacharyas interpret the term as that which is also dependent upon other things ( paratantra ); and the Madhyamikas say that Paramartha is limited to Paranishpanna or absolute perfection; i.e.
, in the exposition of these "two truths" (out of four), the former believe and maintain that (on this plane, at any rate) there exists only Samvritisatya or relative truth; and the latter teach the existence of Paramarthasatya, the "absolute truth."* "No Arhat, oh mendicants, can reach absolute knowledge before he becomes one with Paranirvana.
Parikalpita and Paratantra are his two great enemies" (Aphorisms of the Bodhisattvas).
Parikalpita (in Tibetan Kun-ttag ) is error, made by those unable to realize the emptiness and illusionary nature of all; who believe something to exist which does not -- e.g.
, the Non-Ego.
And [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- *"Paramartha" is self-consciousness in Sanskrit, Svasamvedana, or the "self-analysing reflection" -- from two words, parama (above everything) and artha (comprehension), Satya meaning absolute true being, or Esse.
In Tibetan Paramarthasatya is Dondampaidenpa.
The opposite of this absolute reality, or actuality, is Samvritisatya -- the relative truth only -- "Samvriti" meaning "false conception" and being the origin of illusion, Maya; in Tibetan Kundzabchi-denpa, "illusion-creating appearance." [[Vol.
1, Page]] 49 ALAYA, THE UNIVERSAL SOUL.
Paratantra is that, whatever it is, which exists only through a dependent or causal connexion, and which has to disappear as soon as the cause from which it proceeds is removed -- e.g ., the light of a wick.
Destroy or extinguish it, and light disappears.
Esoteric philosophy teaches that everything lives and is conscious, but not that all life and consciousness are similar to those of human or even animal beings.
Life we look upon as "the one form of existence," manifesting in what is called matter; or, as in man, what, incorrectly separating them, we name Spirit, Soul and Matter.
Matter is the vehicle for the manifestation of soul on this plane of existence, and soul is the vehicle on a higher plane for the manifestation of spirit, and these three are a trinity synthesized by Life, which pervades them all.
The idea of universal life is one of those ancient conceptions which are returning to the human mind in this century, as a consequence of its liberation from anthropomorphic theology.
Science, it is true, contents itself with tracing or postulating the signs of universal life, and has not yet been bold enough even to whisper "Anima Mundi!" The idea of "crystalline life," now familiar to science, would have been scouted half a century ago.
Botanists are now searching for the nerves of plants; not that they suppose that plants can feel or think as animals do, but because they believe that some structure, bearing the same relation functionally to plant life that nerves bear to animal life, is necessary to explain vegetable growth and nutrition.
It hardly seems possible that science can disguise from itself much longer, by the mere use of terms such as "force" and "energy," the fact that things that have life are living things, whether they be atoms or planets.
But what is the belief of the inner esoteric Schools?
the reader may ask.
What are the doctrines taught on this subject by the Esoteric "Buddhists"?
With them "Alaya" has a double and even a triple meaning.
In the Yogacharya system of the contemplative Mahayana school, Alaya is both the Universal Soul (Anima Mundi) and the Self of a progressed adept.
"He who is strong in the Yoga can introduce at will his Alaya by means of meditation into the true Nature of Existence." The "Alaya has an absolute eternal existence," says Aryasanga -- the rival of Nagarjuna.* In one sense it is Pradhana; which [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Aryasanga was a pre-Christian Adept and founder of a Buddhist esoteric school, though Csoma di Koros places him, for some reasons of his own, in the seventh century [[Footnote continued on next page]] [[Vol.
1, Page]] 50 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.
The passage states 'Esoteric philosophy teaches that everything lives and is conscious' and that 'things that have life are living things, whether they be atoms or planets,' attributing life and consciousness to all natural objects.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
Alaya's inner essence is described as 'unreachable by either men or Cosmic Gods,' placing the ultimate reality beyond all positive conceptual categories.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The trinity of Spirit/Soul/Matter with each level serving as vehicle for the next on a higher plane implies a structural reflection across scales of existence.
A state of awareness transcending ordinary human consciousness, often involving unity with the universe or higher dimensions.
Alaya as the 'Soul of the World' or Anima Mundi represents a state of universal consciousness that the adept can access and merge with, transcending ordinary individual consciousness.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The true essence of Alaya is described as existing on 'planes which are unreachable by either men or Cosmic Gods,' indicating radical concealment of the ultimate.
The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.
Alaya 'reflects itself in every object of the Universe like the moon in clear tranquil water' and 'Life pervades them all' — the divine is present within and pervading all of creation.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The passage explicitly describes a cascading structure where 'Matter is the vehicle for the manifestation of soul on this plane of existence, and soul is the vehicle on a higher plane for the manifestation of spirit, and these three are a trinity synthesized by Life, which pervades them all.'
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage references 'absolute knowledge' attainable by the Arhat and the adept's direct meditative merging with Alaya as a form of salvific experiential knowledge.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage repeatedly references 'esoteric teaching,' 'esoteric philosophy,' and 'inner esoteric Schools' as holders of concealed truths distinct from exoteric Buddhist schools.
A non-physical dimension of reality, interpenetrating the physical world, populated by forces, beings, and forms ordinarily imperceptible to physical senses and instruments, that can affect embodied life without being seen — Dion Fortune's 'mind-side of nature,' the astral plane of Western esotericism broadly construed. Distinct from astral_light (a specific transmitting medium or fluid operating within this realm, not the realm itself), pleroma (the divine fullness at the summit of a cosmic hierarchy, not a parallel plane coextensive with ordinary life), and animism (particular indwelling spirits bound to specific natural objects, not the general unseen dimension itself).
The passage references 'planes which are unreachable by either men or Cosmic Gods' and 'lower planes, ours included,' implying a multi-planar reality with non-physical dimensions.
The doctrine that the cosmos unfolds as a structured descent of spirit into matter — a directional process traced stage by stage from an unconditioned principle down through successive planes to full materialization — complemented by its own eventual return ('evolution'). Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (the static structure of the resulting levels of the cascade) and cosmogony (a single originating event rather than an ongoing staged process) in naming the directional cosmic PROCESS of descent itself, paired with its own complementary ascent.
The passage describes a structured descent: 'Matter is the vehicle for the manifestation of soul on this plane of existence, and soul is the vehicle on a higher plane for the manifestation of spirit' — a directional process from unconditioned spirit down through successive planes to matter.
Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.
Yoga (mystic meditation) is presented as the primary practice through which the adept merges with Alaya: 'the man strong in the Yoga is able to merge his soul with it' and 'introduce at will his Alaya by means of meditation into the true Nature of Existence.'
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
The adept's ability to 'merge his soul' with the Universal Soul (Alaya) implies the individual soul is a microcosmic reflection of the macrocosmic Universal Soul.
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The passage's central soteriological claim is that 'the man strong in the Yoga is able to merge his soul with it [Alaya],' and that the Dhyani-Buddhas 'are one with Alaya in Soul and Essence' — the merging of individual with universal consciousness is the passage's core theme.
Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
The passage presents Alaya as simultaneously 'the personification of the Voidness' and 'the basis of every visible and invisible thing' — an apparent contradiction held as teaching.
The doctrine that reality has two registers — an Absolute truth as the divine or ultimate mind knows it, and a Relative truth as finite human reason perceives and must act on — with both held as legitimate on their own plane rather than the second being simply an error to correct. Distinct from apophatic_theology (a claim about how the divine may be described, by negation) and unity_of_being (a claim that being is ultimately one) in being a claim about two coexisting registers of truth-claim itself.
The passage's central doctrinal dispute is between the Yogacharyas who maintain 'only Samvritisatya or relative truth' exists on this plane and the Madhyamikas who 'teach the existence of Paramarthasatya, the absolute truth' — the two-truths doctrine is the passage's primary subject.
The Hermetic doctrine of a measured swing or pendulum motion between poles — action and reaction, flow and outflow, rise and fall — operating in mental, physical, and cosmic-historical registers alike. Distinct from apocatastasis (cosmic-scale eschatological restoration after vast cycles) in naming a constant, ever-present oscillation rather than a singular restorative event.
Alaya 'changes periodically its nature' and 'alters during the active life-period with respect to the lower planes,' indicating cyclical oscillation between states.
Organized, persisting groups — fraternities, orders, lodges — that maintain esoteric knowledge or practices as an institution distinct from public religion or mainstream society, holding 'the keys' collectively rather than through any one master-disciple pair. Distinct from esoteric_lineage (a genealogical chain of individual transmission, not an institution) and hidden_sayings (the concealment of a teaching's meaning, independent of whether any organized body holds it).
The 'inner esoteric Schools' and 'Esoteric Buddhists' are referenced as organized groups maintaining secret doctrines distinct from mainstream Buddhist schools.
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
The adept who is 'strong in the Yoga' can 'introduce at will his Alaya by means of meditation into the true Nature of Existence,' implying self-recognition of one's divine nature as the path.
The Buddhist doctrine that all phenomena lack independent self-nature; emptiness as the positive recognition that things arise only in dependence on conditions — distinct from kenoma's mere deficiency.
The passage explicitly states 'Alaya is the personification of the Voidness' and discusses 'the emptiness and illusionary nature of all' as the core insight that Parikalpita (error) fails to realize.
The doctrine that the one Godhead or first principle subsists as three co-equal aspects or persons rather than a bare unity — the Christian Father/Son/Holy Ghost invoked in the recurring liturgical formula 'In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' but structurally the same pattern as the Egyptian Amen/Ptah/Osiris, the Hindu Brahma/Vishnu/Siva, and the Kabbalistic Chochmah/Binah/Kether triads that esoteric writers explicitly map onto it as instances of one universal law. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about internal plurality) and divine_simplicity (God as having no parts or divisions at all) in asserting a definite three-aspected differentiation within a single divine essence.
The passage explicitly describes 'Spirit, Soul and Matter' as 'a trinity synthesized by Life, which pervades them all,' a three-aspected structure within a single divine essence.
Division of the human being into three principles: spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body/matter (hyle or soma).
The passage explicitly divides the human being into 'Spirit, Soul and Matter' (acknowledging these are incorrectly separated) as three principles synthesized by Life.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage teaches that 'everything lives and is conscious' and that Spirit, Soul, and Matter are 'a trinity synthesized by Life, which pervades them all,' asserting one underlying reality in all existence.