The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 213 THE CREATIVE POWERS.
STANZA VII.
1.
B EHOLD THE BEGINNING OF SENTIENT FORMLESS LIFE ( a ).
F IRST, THE DIVINE ( vehicle ) ( b ), THE ONE FROM THE MOTHER-SPIRIT ( Atman ) ; THEN THE S PIRITUAL -- ( Atma-Buddhi , Spirit-soul ) * ( c ); ( again ) THE THREE FROM THE ONE ( d ), THE FOUR FROM THE ONE ( e ), AND THE FIVE (f), FROM WHICH THE THREE, THE FIVE AND THE SEVEN ( g ) -- THESE ARE THE THREE-FOLD AND THE FOUR-FOLD DOWNWARD; THE "MIND-BORN SONS OF THE FIRST L ORD ( Avalokiteswara ) THE S HINING S EVEN ( the " Builders ") .
** I T IS THEY WHO ARE THOU, ME, HIM, O L ANOO; THEY WHO WATCH OVER THEE AND THY MOTHER, B HUMI ( the Earth ) .
( a ) The hierarchy of Creative Powers is divided into seven (or 4 and 3) esoteric, within the twelve great Orders, recorded in the twelve signs of the Zodiac; the seven of the manifesting scale being connected, moreover, with the Seven Planets.
All this is subdivided into numberless groups of divine Spiritual, semi-Spiritual, and ethereal Beings.
The Chief Hierarchies among these are hinted at in the great Quaternary, or the "four bodies and the three faculties" of Brahma exoterically, and the Panchasyam, the five Brahmas, or the five Dhyani-Buddhas in the Buddhist system.
The highest group is composed of the divine Flames, so-called, also spoken of as the "Fiery Lions" and the "Lions of Life," whose esotericism is securely hidden in the Zodiacal sign of Leo.
It is the nucleole of the superior divine World (see Commentary in first pages of Addendum).
They are the formless Fiery Breaths, identical in one aspect with the upper Sephirothal T RIAD, which is placed by the Kabalists in the "Archetypal World." The same hierarchy, with the same numbers, is found in the Japanese system, in the "Beginnings" as taught by both the Shinto and the Buddhist sects.
In this system, Anthropogenesis precedes Cosmogenesis, as the Divine merges into the human, and creates -- [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * This relates to the Cosmic principles.
** The seven creative Rishis now connected with the constellation of the Great Bear [[Vol.
1, Page]] 214 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
midway in its descent into matter -- the visible Universe.
The legendary personages -- remarks reverentially Omoie -- "having to be understood as the stereotyped embodiment of the higher (secret) doctrine, and its sublime truths." To state it at full length, however, would occupy too much of our space, but a few words on this old system cannot be out of place.
The following is a short synopsis of this Anthropo-Cosmogenesis, and it shows how closely the most separated notions echoed one and the same Archaic teaching.
When all was as yet Chaos ( Kon-ton ) three spiritual Beings appeared on the stage of future creation: (1) Ame no ani naka nushi no Kami , "Divine Monarch of the Central Heaven"; (2) Taka mi onosubi no Kami , "Exalted, imperial Divine offspring of Heaven and the Earth"; and (3) Kamu mi musubi no Kami , "Offspring of the Gods," simply.
These were without form or substance (our arupa triad), as neither the celestial nor the terrestrial substance had yet differentiated, "nor had the essence of things been formed." In the Zohar -- which, as now arranged and re-edited by Moses de Leon, with the help of Syrian and Chaldean Christian Gnostics in the XIIth century, and corrected and revised still later by many Christian hands, is only a little less exoteric than the Bible itself -- this divine "Vehicle" no longer appears as it does in the "Chaldean Book of Numbers." True enough, Ain-Soph, the A BSOLUTE E NDLESS N O-THING, uses also the form of the O NE, the manifested "Heavenly man" (the FIRST CAUSE) as its chariot ( Mercabah , in Hebrew; Vahan , in Sanskrit) or vehicle to descend into, and manifest through, in the phenomenal world.
But the Kabalists neither make it plain how the A BSOLUTE can use anything, or exercise any attribute whatever, since, as the Absolute, it is devoid of attributes; nor do they explain that in reality it is the First Cause (Plato's Logos ) the original and eternal IDEA, that manifests through Adam Kadmon, the Second Logos, so to speak.
In the "Book of Numbers" it is explained that E N (or Ain , Aior) is the only self-existent, whereas its "Depth" ( Bythos or Buthon of the Gnostics, called Propator ) is only periodical.
The latter is Brahm as differentiated from Brahma or Parabrahm.
It is the Depth, the Source of Light, or Propator, which is the unmanifested Logos or the abstract Idea , and not Ain-Soph, whose ray uses Adam-Kadmon or the manifested Logos (the objective Universe) "male and female" -- as a chariot through which to manifest.
But in the Zohar we read the following incongruity: " Senior [[Vol.
1, Page]] 215 ONE PARENT FLAME, COUNTLESS FLAMES.
occultatus est et absconditus; Microprosopus manifestus est , et non manifestus.
" ( Rosenroth; Liber Mysterii , IV .
, 1.) This is a fallacy, since Microprosopus or the microcosm , can only exist during its manifestations, and is destroyed during the Maha-Pralayas.
Rosenroth's Kabala is no guide, but very often a puzzle.
( b ) As in the Japanese system, in the Egyptian, and every old cosmogony -- at this divine FLAME, The "One," are lit the three descending groups.
Having their potential being in the higher group, they now become distinct and separate Entities.
These are called the "Virgins of Life," the "Great Illusion," etc., etc., and collectively the "Six-pointed Star." The latter is the symbol, in almost every religion, of the Logos as the first emanation.
It is that of Vishnu in India (the Chakra , or wheel), and the glyph of the Tetragrammaton, the "He of the four letters" or -- metaphorically -- "the limbs of Microprosopos" in the Kabala, which are ten and six respectively.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
Ain-Soph is described as 'the ABSOLUTE ENDLESS NO-THING' that 'is devoid of attributes,' and the passage notes the Kabbalists cannot explain 'how the ABSOLUTE can use anything, or exercise any attribute whatever.'
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 most separated notions echoed one and the same Archaic teaching,' showing the same numerical and structural patterns across Japanese, Egyptian, Kabbalistic, and Buddhist systems.
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 Japanese Anthropo-Cosmogenesis is narrated in detail: 'When all was as yet Chaos (Kon-ton) three spiritual Beings appeared on the stage of future creation,' with named deities and their roles in the origin of the universe.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The passage references the Zohar's statement that 'Senior occultatus est et absconditus' (the Senior is hidden and concealed), and describes the esotericism as 'securely hidden.'
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The 'divine Flames,' 'Fiery Lions,' 'Lions of Life,' 'formless Fiery Breaths,' and 'Source of Light' (Propator) all describe the luminous quality of the divine as a creative and revelatory force.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
Ain-Soph is described as the 'ABSOLUTE ENDLESS NO-THING' devoid of all attributes, and the 'One from the Mother-Spirit' is presented as undivided before differentiation into three, four, and five.
The infinite, unknowable aspect of the divine prior to and beyond all emanation; the hidden root from which the Sephirot unfold.
Ain-Soph is explicitly discussed as 'the ABSOLUTE ENDLESS NO-THING,' devoid of attributes, which uses the form of the One (Adam Kadmon) as its chariot to manifest in the phenomenal world.
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 entire passage is structured around a cascading hierarchy from the One (Atman) through three, four, five, and seven levels of Creative Powers, explicitly described as 'downward' emanations.
A historical or mythical chain of transmission for secret wisdom from master to disciple across time and cultures — the credential of the teaching, not merely its content. Distinct from oral_tradition (the spoken-not-written modality of transmission, which a lineage may or may not use) and hidden_sayings (the concealment-for-readiness of a teaching's meaning, independent of who transmitted it or in what unbroken chain).
The passage demonstrates a universal chain of the same teaching across Japanese Shinto, Buddhist, Egyptian, Kabbalistic, and Hindu traditions, presenting them as echoes of 'one and the same Archaic teaching.'
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage repeatedly frames its content as secret: 'the higher (secret) doctrine, and its sublime truths,' 'esotericism is securely hidden,' and the text itself is titled 'The Secret Doctrine.'
The doctrine that the divine or a spiritual principle takes on a specific, bounded material or bodily form — descending from an unconditioned state into individual, corporeal existence — as a discrete act rather than a diffuse pervading presence. The Christian Word made flesh, the Hindu avatara, the Egyptian pharaoh as living Horus, the Vajrayana tulku. Distinct from divine_immanence (the general claim that the divine pervades all of creation diffusely, not a specific embodiment-event) and separation_from_source (the felt exile FROM origin, the opposite motion) in describing a specific, individuated descent INTO a particular body or form.
The Logos descends 'midway in its descent into matter' to create the visible Universe, and the 'Heavenly man' (Adam Kadmon) is the form through which the Absolute manifests in the phenomenal world.
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 describes multiple non-physical dimensions: the 'Archetypal World,' the realm of 'divine Spiritual, semi-Spiritual, and ethereal Beings,' and the 'superior divine World' of formless Fiery Breaths.
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: 'THE THREE-FOLD AND THE FOUR-FOLD DOWNWARD,' the 'descent into matter,' and the Logos descending 'midway in its descent into matter' to create the visible Universe.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The Logos is explicitly and extensively discussed: the 'unmanifested Logos or the abstract Idea' (Bythos/Propator) versus the 'manifested Logos (the objective Universe)' (Adam Kadmon), with Plato's Logos as the mediating principle.
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 declaration 'IT IS THEY WHO ARE THOU, ME, HIM' identifies the divine hierarchy with the individual, and the 'Heavenly man' (Adam Kadmon) serves as the microcosmic image of the manifested Logos.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The 'One from the Mother-Spirit (Atman)' and the 'Divine Vehicle, the One' are presented as the absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity flows.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The entire passage is structured around sacred numbers: seven (or 4 and 3), twelve great Orders, three from the one, four from the one, five, the 'Shining Seven,' the 'Six-pointed Star,' and the Panchasyam (five Brahmas).
The ten attributes or emanations through which the Ein Sof (Infinite) reveals itself and creates the universe in Kabbalistic theology.
The 'upper Sephirothal TRIAD' is explicitly named, and the discussion of Adam Kadmon, Microprosopus, and the Tetragrammaton's 'four letters' and 'ten and six' limbs engages Kabbalistic emanation structure.
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 'arupa triad' of three formless spiritual beings in the Japanese cosmogony, the 'upper Sephirothal TRIAD,' and the 'three from the one' all instantiate the three-aspected differentiation pattern.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage presents all emanations as deriving from a single source: 'THE ONE FROM THE MOTHER-SPIRIT,' with 'the three from the one, the four from the one, and the five,' and identifies the divine hierarchy as 'THOU, ME, HIM.'