The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 136 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
STANZA VI.
1.
B Y THE POWER OF THE M OTHER OF M ERCY AND K NOWLEDGE ( a ), K WAN- Y IN,* THE " T RIPLE" OF K WAN- S HAI- Y IN, RESIDING IN K WAN- Y IN- T IEN ( b ), F OHAT, THE BREATH OF THEIR PROGENY, THE S ON OF THE S ONS, HAVING CALLED FORTH FROM THE LOWER ABYSS ( chaos ) THE ILLUSIVE FORM OF S IEN- T CHAN ( our Universe ) AND THE SEVEN ELEMENTS: -- ( a .) The Mother of Mercy and Knowledge is called "the triple" of Kwan-Shai-Yin because in her correlations, metaphysical and cosmical, she is the "Mother, the Wife and the Daughter" of the Logos , just as in the later theological translations she became "the Father, Son and (the female) Holy Ghost" -- the Sakti or Energy -- the Essence of the three.
Thus in the Esotericism of the Vedantins, Daiviprakriti , the Light manifested through Eswara, the Logos,** is at one and the same time the Mother and also the Daughter of the Logos or Verbum of Parabrahmam; while in that of the trans-Himalayan teachings it is -- in the hierarchy of allegorical and metaphysical theogony -- "the M OTHER" or abstract, ideal matter, Mulaprakriti, the Root of Nature; -- from the metaphysical standpoint, a correlation of Adi-Bhuta, manifested in the Logos, Avalokiteshwara; -- and from the purely occult and [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * This stanza is translated from the Chinese text, and the names, as the equivalents of the original terms, are preserved.
The real esoteric nomenclature cannot be given, as it would only confuse the reader.
The Brahmanical doctrine has no equivalent to these.
Vach seems, in many an aspect, to approach the Chinese Kwan-yin, but there is no regular worship of Vach under this name in India, as there is of Kwan-Yin in China.
No exoteric religious system has ever adopted a female Creator, and thus woman was regarded and treated, from the first dawn of popular religions, as inferior to man.
It is only in China and Egypt that Kwan-Yin and Isis were placed on a par with the male gods.
Esotericism ignores both sexes.
Its highest Deity is sexless as it is formless, neither Father nor Mother; and its first manifested beings, celestial and terrestrial alike, become only gradually androgynous and finally separate into distinct sexes.
** The "Theosophist" of February, 1887, p.
305, first lecture on the Bhagavadgita.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 137 THE MYSTERY OF THE FEMALE LOGOS.
Cosmical, Fohat,* the "Son of the Son," the androgynous energy resulting from this "Light of the Logos," and which manifests in the plane of the objective Universe as the hidden, as much as the revealed, Electricity -- which is L IFE.
( b ) Kwan-Yin-Tien means the "melodious heaven of Sound," the abode of Kwan-Yin, or the " Divine Voice " literally.
This "Voice" is a synonym of the Verbum or the Word: "Speech," as the expression of thought.
Thus may be traced the connection with, and even the origin of the Hebrew Bath-Kol , the "daughter of the Divine Voice," or Verbum, or the male and female Logos, the "Heavenly Man" or Adam Kadmon, who is at the same time Sephira.
The latter was surely anticipated by the Hindu Vach, the goddess of Speech, or of the Word.
For Vach -- the daughter and the female portion, as is stated, of Brahma, one "generated by the gods" -- is, in company with Kwan-Yin, with Isis (also the daughter , wife and sister of Osiris) and other goddesses, the female Logos, so to speak, the goddess of the active forces in Nature, the Word, Voice or Sound, and Speech.
If Kwan-Yin is the "melodious Voice," so is Vach; "the melodious cow who milked forth sustenance and water" (the female principle) -- "who yields us nourishment and sustenance," as Mother-Nature.
She is associated in the work of creation with the Prajapati.
She is male and female ad libitum , as Eve is with Adam.
And she is a form of Aditi -- the principle higher than Ether -- in Akasa, the synthesis of all the forces in Nature; thus Vach and Kwan-Yin are both the magic potency of Occult sound in Nature and Ether -- which "Voice" calls forth Sien-Tchan, the illusive form of the Universe out of Chaos and the Seven Elements.
Thus in Manu Brahma (the Logos also) is shown dividing his body into two parts, male and female, and creating in the latter, who is Vach, Viraj, who is himself, or Brahma again -- it is in this way a learned Vedantin Occultist speaks of that "goddess," explaining the reason why Eswara (or Brahma) is called Verbum or Logos ; why in fact it is called Sabda Brahmam: -- [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Says the lecturer on p.
306: "Evolution is commenced by the intellectual energy of the Logos , not merely on account of the potentialities locked up in Mulaprakriti.
This light of the Logos is the link .
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between objective matter and the subjective thought of Eswara (or Logos).
It is called in several Buddhist books Fohat.
It is the one instrument with which the Logos works." [[Vol.
1, Page]] 138 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
"The explanation I am going to give you will appear thoroughly mystical; but if mystical, it has a tremendous significance when properly understood.
Our old writers said that Vach is of four kinds (see Rig Veda and the Upanishads).
Vaikhari-Vach is what we utter.
Every kind of Vaikhari-Vach exists in its Madhyama , further in its Pasyanti , and ultimately in its Para form.* The reason why this Pranava is called Vach is this, that the four principles of the great Kosmos correspond to these four forms of Vach.
Now the whole manifested solar System exists in its Sukshma form in the light or energy of the Logos , because its energy is caught up and transferred to Cosmic matter.
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.
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Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The description of the highest Deity as 'sexless as it is formless, neither Father nor Mother' employs negation to describe the divine, transcending all positive 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 passage explicitly states that 'the four principles of the great Kosmos correspond to these four forms of Vach,' mapping cosmic structure onto a linguistic hierarchy.
Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.
The passage is fundamentally a narrative of cosmic origin: the Logos calling forth the Universe from the Lower Abyss (chaos) through the Voice/Word, producing Sien-Tchan and the Seven Elements.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
Daiviprakriti is defined as 'the Light manifested through Eswara, the Logos,' and the Logos' light is described as the link between objective matter and subjective thought, functioning as the creative illuminating principle.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The passage states 'Its highest Deity is sexless as it is formless, neither Father nor Mother,' pointing to a simple, undivided, non-composite ultimate reality.
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 traces a clear downward cascade from Parabrahmam through the Logos/Verbum, Daiviprakriti, Fohat, to the manifested Universe, with each level derived from the one above.
The Hermetic doctrine that a masculine-feminine generative principle operates on every plane of being, not only the biological — present at all times as a structural feature of creation itself. Distinct from divine_marriage (a specific reunification event or symbol) and aeons (paired divine beings arranged in syzygies, not a universal structural claim).
The entire passage is structured around the masculine-feminine generative principle operating on every plane: the female Logos (Kwan-Yin/Vach), the androgynous first beings, and the progressive separation into sexes as a universal structural law.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The footnote explicitly states 'The real esoteric nomenclature cannot be given, as it would only confuse the reader,' marking a boundary between exoteric and esoteric knowledge.
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 directional descent from the unconditioned (Parabrahmam) through the Logos to manifested matter, with the four forms of Vach (Para to Vaikhari) mapping successive stages of condensation, and 'Evolution is commenced by the intellectual energy of the Logos' implies the paired process.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The Logos/Verbum is the central organizing concept of the entire passage, identified with Eswara, Brahma, the Word, the Voice, and the link between objective matter and subjective thought.
The Hermetic doctrine that apparent opposites are identical in nature but differ in degree — two extremes of the same scale (hot/cold, love/hate) — such that one pole can be shifted toward its opposite by a change of degree ('mental transmutation'). Distinct from opposites_transcended (a completion-state marking the path's end, not this doctrine's active technique) and magical_equilibrium (balance held BETWEEN two forces, not identity-by-degree of what looks like two forces).
The passage extensively treats male-female duality as a structural feature of creation: Brahma dividing into two parts, beings becoming 'androgynous and finally separate into distinct sexes,' and Vach being 'male and female ad libitum.'
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 maps the 'triple' of Kwan-Shai-Yin (Mother, Wife, Daughter of the Logos) onto the Christian Trinity (Father, Son, and the female Holy Ghost), presenting it as a universal structural pattern.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage implies a single underlying reality (Parabrahmam) from which all manifestations flow, with the Logos as the mediating expression of that one source.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
The passage describes the Voice/Word as the creative instrument: 'this Voice calls forth Sien-Tchan, the illusive form of the Universe out of Chaos and the Seven Elements,' and Fohat is 'the one instrument with which the Logos works.'