and, while it rests in Devachan, is referred to as "the Three Witnesses to Karma." Atma (our seventh principle) being identical with the universal Spirit, and man being one with it in his essence, what is then the Monad proper?
It is that homogeneous spark which radiates in millions of rays from the primeval "Seven;" -- of which seven further on.
It is the EMANATING spark from the UNCREATED Ray -- a mystery.
In the esoteric, and even exoteric Buddhism of the North, Adi Buddha ( Chogi dangpoi sangye ), the One unknown, without beginning or end, identical with Parabrahm and Ain-Soph, emits a bright ray from its darkness.
This is the Logos (the first), or Vajradhara, the Supreme Buddha (also called Dorjechang ) .
As the Lord of all Mysteries he cannot manifest, but sends into the world of manifestation his heart -- the "diamond heart," Vajrasattva ( Dorjesempa ) .
This is the second logos of creation, from whom emanate the seven (in the exoteric blind the five) Dhyani Buddhas, called the Anupadaka, "the parentless." These Buddhas are the primeval monads from the world of incorporeal being , the Arupa world, wherein the Intelligences (on that plane only) have neither shape nor name, in the exoteric system, but have their distinct seven names in esoteric philosophy.
These Dhyani Buddhas emanate, or create from themselves, by virtue of Dhyana, celestial Selves -- the super -human Bodhisattvas.
These incarnating at the beginning of every human cycle on earth as mortal men, become occasionally, owing to their personal merit, Bodhisattvas among the Sons of Humanity, after which they may re-appear as Manushi (human) Buddhas.
The Anupadaka (or Dhyani-Buddhas) are thus identical with the Brahminical Manasaputra , "mind-born sons" -- whether of Brahma or either of the other two Trimurtian Hypostases, hence identical also with the Rishis and Prajapatis.
Thus, a passage is found in Anugita , which, read esoterically, shows plainly, though under another imagery, the same idea and system.
It says: "Whatever entities there are in this world, moveable or immoveable, they are the very first to be dissolved (at pralaya ); and next the developments produced from the elements (from which the visible Universe is fashioned); and, after these developments (evolved entities), all the elements.
Such is the upperward gradation among entities.
Gods, Men, Gandharvas, Pisachas, Asuras, Rakshasas, all have been created by Svabhava (Prakriti, or plastic nature), not by actions, nor by a cause" -- i.e.
, not by any physical cause.
"These Brahmanas (the Rishi Prajapati?), the creators of the world, are born here (on earth) again and again.
Whatever is produced from [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- [[Footnote continued from previous page]] subtraction of the sheaths and that it is the ONLY witness , or synthesized unity.
The less spiritual and philosophical school, solely with an eye to a trinity made three witnesses out of "one," thus connecting it more with earth than with heaven.
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them is dissolved in due time in those very five great elements (the five, or rather seven, Dhyani Buddhas, also called "Elements" of Mankind), like billows in the ocean.
These great elements are in every way beyond the elements that make up the world (the gross elements).
And he who is released even from these five elements (the tanmatras)* goes to the highest goal." "The Lord Prajapati (Brahma) created all this by the mind only," i.e.
, by Dhyana , or abstract meditation and mystic powers like the Dhyani Buddhas ( vide supra ) .
Evidently then, these "Brahmanas" are identical with the Bodhisattvas (the terrestrial) of the heavenly Dhyani Buddhas.
Both, as primordial, intelligent "Elements," become the creators or the emanators of the monads destined to become human in that cycle; after which they evolve themselves, or, so to say, expand into their own selves as Bodhisattvas or Brahmanas, in heaven and earth, to become at last simple men --"the creators of the world are born here , on earth again and again " -- truly.
In the Northern Buddhist system, or the popular exoteric religion, it is taught that every Buddha, while preaching the good law on earth, manifests himself simultaneously in three worlds: in the formless, as Dhyani Buddha, in the World of forms, as a Bodhisattva, and in the world of desire, the lowest (or our world) as a man.
Esoterically the teaching differs: The divine, purely Adi-Buddhic monad manifests as the universal Buddhi (the Maha-buddhi or Mahat in Hindu philosophies) the spiritual, omniscient and omnipotent root of divine intelligence, the highest anima mundi or the Logos .
This descends "like a flame spreading from the eternal Fire, immoveable, without increase or decrease, ever the same to the end" of the cycle of existence, and becomes universal life on the Mundane Plane.
From this Plane of conscious Life shoot out, like seven fiery tongues, the Sons of Light (the logoi of Life); then the Dhyani-Buddhas of contemplation: the concrete forms of their formless Fathers -- the Seven Sons of Light, still themselves , to whom may be applied the Brahmanical mystic phrase: "Thou art 'THAT' -- Brahm.
" It is from these Dhyani-Buddhas that emanate their chhayas (Shadows) the Bodhisattvas of the celestial realms, the prototypes of the super -terrestrial Bodhisattvas, and of the terrestrial Buddhas, and finally of men.
The "Seven Sons of Light" are also called "Stars." The star under which a human Entity is born, says the Occult teaching, will remain for ever its star, throughout the whole cycle of its incarnations in one Manvantara.
But this is not his astrological star.
The latter is concerned and connected with the personality , the former with [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The Tanmatras are literally the type or rudiment of an element devoid of qualities; but esoterically, they are the primeval noumenoi of that which becomes in the progress of evolution a Cosmic element in the sense given to the term in antiquity, not in that of physics.
They are the logoi, the seven emanations or rays of the logos.
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the INDIVIDUALITY.
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 maps structural correspondences across traditions: Dhyani Buddhas are 'identical with the Brahminical Manasaputra' and 'the Rishis and Prajapatis,' demonstrating the as-above-so-below principle across cosmological 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 passage narrates how the universe comes into being through a sequence of emanations from Adi Buddha, describing the origin of the Dhyani Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and ultimately human beings.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
Adi Buddha is described as 'the One unknown, without beginning or end' who 'cannot manifest' and emits a ray 'from its darkness,' embodying the radical concealment of the supreme principle.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The passage repeatedly uses luminous imagery — 'a bright ray from its darkness,' 'seven fiery tongues,' 'a flame spreading from the eternal Fire' — describing the divine as fundamentally luminous.
Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.
The 'homogeneous spark which radiates in millions of rays' and the monads 'destined to become human in that cycle' are explicitly described as fragments of divine light emanating from the source.
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 emanation from Adi Buddha through Logos, Vajrasattva, Dhyani Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, to human beings, each level a shadow or emanation of the one above.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage explicitly distinguishes between 'esoteric' and 'exoteric' Buddhism, noting that in the exoteric system the Dhyani Buddhas are 'blind' (five) while esoterically they have 'distinct seven names,' revealing a concealed inner truth.
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 traces a structured descent from the unconditioned Adi Buddha through successive planes (Logos, Vajrasattva, Dhyani Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, human beings), naming the directional process of spirit descending into matter.
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 named as the first emanation (Vajradhara, the Supreme Buddha) and the mediating principle between the unmanifest Adi Buddha and the world of manifestation.
Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.
Dhyana is named as the creative mechanism by which the Dhyani Buddhas emanate the Bodhisattvas and by which Prajapati 'created all this by the mind only,' identifying meditation as a cosmogonic force.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The passage explicitly defines the Monad as 'that homogeneous spark which radiates in millions of rays from the primeval Seven' and the 'emanating spark from the Uncreated Ray,' making it a central subject of the text.
The passage states that Bodhisattvas 'incarnate at the beginning of every human cycle on earth as mortal men' and that 'the creators of the world are born here, on earth again and again,' describing transmigration across lives.
The rule of the stars and planetary powers over mortal destiny — the astrological governors whose spheres bind souls to birth, error, and death; in Sethian gnosis the 'error of the stars' that the savior exposes, and from which the incorruptible generation alone is free. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of universal affinity) in being a bondage-to-powers claim, and from archons (the rulers as personal beings) in concerning the astral machinery itself.
The passage distinguishes between the astrological star (connected to personality) and the star of Individuality that 'will remain for ever its star throughout the whole cycle,' touching on stellar governance while distinguishing two registers.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage asserts that 'Atma (our seventh principle) being identical with the universal Spirit, and man being one with it in his essence,' and applies the phrase 'Thou art THAT — Brahm,' affirming non-dual oneness.