And it is, therefore, with hardly a smile that we find another preposterous absurdity quoted about "Budh," as being a name "which signifies not only the sun as the source of generation but also the male organ ( Round Towers of Ireland; quoted by Mr.
Hargrave Jennings in " Phallicism ," p.
264).
Max Muller, in his "False Analogies," says that "the most celebrated Chinese scholar of his time, Abel Remusat," maintains "that the three syllables I Hi Wei (in the fourteenth chapter of the Tao-te-king ) were meant for Je-ho-vah ( Science of Religion , p .
332); and again, Father Amyot, who "feels certain that the three persons of the Trinity could be recognised" in the same work.
And if Abel Remusat, why not Hargrave Jennings?
Every scholar will recognise the absurdity of ever seeing in Budh, "the enlightened" and "the awakened," a "phallic symbol." Kwan-shi-yin, then, is "the Son identical with his Father" mystically, or the Logos -- the word.
He is called the "Dragon of Wisdom" in Stanza III., as all the Logoi of all the ancient religious systems are connected with, and symbolised by, serpents.
In old Egypt, the God Nahbkoon, "he who unites the doubles," (astral light re-uniting by its dual physiological and spiritual potency the divine human to its purely divine Monad, the prototype "in heaven" or Nature) was represented as a serpent on human legs, either with or without arms.
It was the emblem of the resurrection of Nature, as also of Christ with the Ophites, and of Jehovah as the brazen serpent healing those who looked at him; the serpent being an emblem of Christ with the Templars also, (see the Templar degree in Masonry).
The symbol of Knouph (Khoum also), or the soul of the world, says Champollion ( Pantheon , text 3), "is represented among other forms under that of a huge serpent on human legs; this reptile, being the emblem of the good genius and the veritable Agathodaemon, is sometimes bearded." The sacred animal is thus identical with the serpent of the Ophites, and is figured on a great number of engraved stones, called Gnostic or Basilidean gems.
This serpent appears with various heads (human and animal), but its gems [[Vol.
1, Page]] 473 SNOBS, OR DRAGONS?
are always found inscribed with the name [[ CHNOUBIS ]] (Chnoubis).
This symbol is identical with one which, according to Jamblichus and Champollion, was called "the first of the celestial gods"; the god Hermes, or Mercury with the Greeks, to which god Hermes Trismegistos attributes the invention of, and the first initiation of men into, magic; and Mercury is Budh, Wisdom, Enlightenment, or "Re-awakening" into the divine Science.
To close, Kwan-Shi-Yin and Kwan-Yin are the two aspects (male and female) of the same principle in Kosmos, Nature and Man, of divine wisdom and intelligence.
They are the "Christos-Sophia" of the mystic Gnostics -- the Logos and its Sakti.
In their longing for the expression of some mysteries never to be wholly comprehended by the profane, the Ancients, knowing that nothing could be preserved in human memory without some outward symbol, have chosen the (to us) often ridiculous images of the Kwan-Yins to remind man of his origin and inner nature.
To the impartial, however, the Madonnas in crinolines and the Christs in white kid gloves must appear far more absurd than the Kwan-Shi-Yin and Kwan-Yin in their dragon garb.
The subjective can hardly be expressed by the objective.
Therefore, since the symbolic formula attempts to characterise that which is above scientific reasoning, and as often far beyond our intellects, it must needs go beyond that intellect in some shape or other, or else it will fade out from human remembrance.
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The universal fluid or medium of occult philosophy — Lévi's Great Magical Agent — that transmits will, thought, and magical influence between minds and matter, and preserves the impress of all forms and actions as a book of consciences; cognate with akasha and the anima mundi. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of hidden affinity) in being a substantival medium that can be charged, directed, and abused.
The passage directly invokes 'astral light re-uniting by its dual physiological and spiritual potency the divine human to its purely divine Monad' as the mechanism of Nahbkoon.
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 systematically maps the same serpent/Logos symbol across Egyptian, Ophite, Templar, Masonic, Buddhist, and Greek traditions, asserting a universal structural correspondence.
The reunification of complementary divine principles (male-female, spirit-matter) as a symbol of wholeness and salvation.
The passage presents Nahbkoon as 'he who unites the doubles' and identifies Kwan-Shi-Yin and Kwan-Yin as the Logos and its Sakti — the reunification of complementary divine principles as a symbol of wholeness.
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 passage explicitly states that Kwan-Shi-Yin and Kwan-Yin are 'the two aspects (male and female) of the same principle in Kosmos, Nature and Man,' and identifies the Logos and its Sakti as a universal generative pair.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
Mercury is identified as 'Budh, Wisdom, Enlightenment, or Re-awakening into the divine Science,' touching on direct experiential knowledge as the salvific path.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage argues that 'the Ancients, knowing that nothing could be preserved in human memory without some outward symbol, have chosen the (to us) often ridiculous images' to encode 'mysteries never to be wholly comprehended by the profane.'
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The passage centrally identifies Kwan-shi-yin as 'the Logos — the word,' equates it with Christos-Sophia, and traces the Logos concept through Buddhism, Gnosticism, Egyptian, and Greek traditions.