At the end of the twentieth century, our country experienced a number of crises, each of which can safely be called systemic. Economic upheavals, the collapse of a single state, a revaluation of historical facts, a change in attitude towards religious life - this is just an incomplete list of events that fell like an avalanche on the heads of former Soviet people who were accustomed to living, albeit modestly, but stably.

Former atheists find themselves at a crossroads. They could maintain their unbelief or choose between many faiths. The fashionable word “esotericism” attracted people with its foreign sound; it felt something modern, progressive and the opposite of what many confused citizens believed had become obsolete - both communist and religious.

The works of Helena Roerich appeared on book shelves, and Blavatsky was next to her. The Secret Doctrine briefly became a bestseller. Of course, everything accessible only to the enlightened is so attractive, but here is the book of all books, the synthesis of all religions and science.

However, the majority of those who, in difficult times, decided to pay a considerable amount for a weighty three-volume book were overcome by a complex feeling consisting of stunned disappointment and boredom. Helena Blavatsky wrote hard. The “Secret Doctrine” is presented in a manner incomprehensible to a wide circle of readers. Scientists are completely sad. A single and absolute reality is still somehow familiar; we have all become accustomed to living in it for many decades. But “rootless root” is already too much. Reincarnation, the presence of an oversoul and other attributes of Buddhism cannot be called the personal invention of the author.

Blavatsky did not come up with this idea. The Secret Doctrine, however, is replete with these concepts. The work has nothing to do with science; it is based on the fact that there are certain sources of knowledge to which the extraordinary writer has joined, while others are barred from entering this palace.

The flair with which Blavatsky was surrounded during her life is mysterious. The secret doctrine of countless worlds disappearing and then emerging again, and other cyclicalities of the universe, claimed to be another universal law describing everything and everyone. The trouble was the complete inapplicability of this complex concept to solving any practical issues. The writer herself, during the years of her passion for spiritualism, tried to predict, but, obviously, without success. The medium is required to make short-term forecasts that are easy to verify. Then she switched to periods significantly distant in time. Today, one hundred and twenty-five years after the publication of the three-volume book, it can be assumed that her prophecies did not come true, or they were made in an extremely vague form, and some historical facts allow for “pull” according to

after some adjustment.

So why is Blavatsky not forgotten? The Secret Doctrine, a summary of which is almost impossible to summarize, and rarely does anyone have the patience to read the entire three-volume work, has successfully taken its place on the bookshelves of people who claim to belong to the intellectual elite of society. This book performs mainly a decorative function. But sometimes quotes from it are still used. They sometimes try to “improve” Orthodoxy, making it “more tolerant” and “more convenient.”

Since there are not enough reasonable and well-founded arguments for reform actions, the same “esoteric method” that Blavatsky used is used. The "Secret Doctrine" remains a secret, at least outwardly. Another thing is that sometimes the main secret lies precisely in its absence.

Current page: 1 (book has 59 pages in total)

Helena Blavatsky

Secret Doctrine

COSMOGENESIS

I dedicate this work to all the true Theosophists of every country and every race, for they called it forth and for them it is written.

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SCIENCES, RELIGIONS, AND PHILOSOPHIES

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E. P. BLAVATSKY

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AUTHOR OF "ISIS UNVEILED"

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SATYВT NВSTI PARO DHARMAH

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"NO RELIGION IS HIGHER THAN TRUTH"

From the translator

When starting to translate the Secret Doctrine, we set ourselves the task of adhering to the original text with all accuracy and thereby protecting the nature of the presentation. Most of the capital letters found in the text were also retained.

Foreign words included in this work are conveyed, if possible, in the currently existing transcription in Russian literature.

Helena Roerich

Preface to the first edition

The author - or rather the writer - considers it necessary to apologize for the long delay in the publication of this work. This delay occurred due to ill health and the extensiveness of the undertaking. Even the two volumes now published do not complete the task and do not comprehensively treat the subjects presented in them. A large amount of material has already been collected concerning the history of Occultism, contained in the lives of the great Adepts of the Aryan Race and proving the connection of Occult Philosophy with the feat of life, as it is and as it should be.

Should the present volumes meet with favorable reception, every effort will be made to carry out the purpose of this work in its entirety.

It should be added that such a task was not envisaged when the production of this work was first announced. According to the original plan Secret Doctrine was supposed to be a corrected and expanded edition " Isis Unveiled" It soon became clear, however, that the explanations which might be added to those already given in the above-mentioned work and others relating to Esoteric Science were such as to require a different method of presentation, and as a result the present volumes contain no more than twenty pages taken from " Isis Unveiled».

The author does not consider it necessary to ask for the indulgence of readers and critics for the imperfections of the English language and for the many shortcomings of literary style that may be encountered in these pages. Being a foreigner, her knowledge of this language was acquired in later years of her life; English is used here because it is the most widely used medium for the transmission of truths, which it has become its duty to make public.

These truths, in no case, are presented as revelation, nor does the author claim to be the exposer of mystical knowledge being made public for the first time in the history of the world. For what is contained in this work may be found scattered among thousands of volumes containing the Scriptures of the great Asiatic and early European religions, hidden in glyphs and symbols and, by virtue of this veil, hitherto neglected. Now an attempt is being made to bring together the most ancient foundations and make of them one harmonious and inseparable whole. The only advantage that the writer has over her predecessors is that she does not have to resort to personal speculations and theories. For this work is a partial statement of what she herself has learned from those who are more knowledgeable, and added in some detail by the results of her personal study and observation. The publication of many of the facts here given was made necessary by the appearance of the wild and chimerical theories which theosophists and students of Mysticism have indulged in during the last few years in their endeavors, as they imagined, to develop an integral system of thought from the few facts previously communicated to them.

It is unnecessary to explain that this book is not the Secret Doctrine in its entirety, but only a select number of fragments of its main provisions. Particular attention is paid to some facts, seized by various writers and distorted beyond any semblance of Truth.

But it may be useful to affirm with all clearness that the teachings contained in these volumes, although fragmentary and incomplete, do not belong to any one religion, such as the Hindus, Zoroaster, Chaldeans and Egyptians, nor to Buddhism, Islam, Judaism or Christianity, exclusively. The Secret Doctrine is the essence of them all. Born from it in their beginnings, the various religious systems now return to their original element, from which every mystery and dogma arose, developed and materialized.

It is more than likely that this book will be considered by the majority as the wildest fable, for who has ever heard of the Book of Dzyan?

The writer of these lines is therefore quite ready to accept full responsibility for the content of this work and is not even afraid of the accusation that everything is just her invention. She is fully aware that this work has many shortcomings. And she only claims that no matter how fantastic the content of this work may seem to many, its logical coherence and consistency give the right to this new Genesis to stand, in any case, on a level with the “working hypotheses” so openly accepted by modern science. Further, this work demands attention, not because of any appeal to dogmatic authority, but because it is closely related to Nature and follows the laws of unity and analogy.

The purpose of this work can be defined as follows: to prove that Nature is not a “random combination of atoms” and to show man his rightful place in the scheme of the Universe; save archaic truths, which are the basis of all religions, from corruption; to reveal to some extent the basic unity from which they all originate; finally, to show that the occult side of Nature has never before been accessible to the science of modern civilization.

If this is accomplished to some extent, the writer is satisfied. This work was written in the service of humanity, and must be judged by humanity and future generations. Its author does not recognize the lesser court of appeal. She is accustomed to insults; she encounters slander every day; She smiles at slander in silent contempt.

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De minimis non curat lex.

H.P.B.

London, October, 1888.

Preface to the third and revised edition

In preparing this edition for publication, we have sought to correct minor details of literary style without touching on more important issues. If H. P. Blavatsky had lived to see the new edition, she would undoubtedly have corrected and significantly expanded this work. The fact that this was not done is one of the many lesser losses caused by this great loss.

Unfortunate expressions due to imperfect knowledge of the English language have been corrected; most of the excerpts from other works have been checked and accurately referenced - a task that required a lot of work, since the references in previous editions were often inaccurate; a uniform system for transcribing Sanskrit words was also adopted. We have abandoned the transcription adopted by Western Orientalists as misleading to the general reader, and have rendered consonants not found in the English alphabet in combinations which approximately correspond to the sound meaning, and have carefully marked the length of the vowels. On a few occasions we inserted notes into the text itself, but this was done very rarely and only when the notes formed part of the text.

Annie Besant

G. R. S. Meeed

London, 1893.

Introduction

“Listen meekly, judge kindly.”

With the advent of Theosophical literature in England, it became customary to call this teaching " Esoteric Buddhism" And having become a habit, it confirmed the old proverb, based on daily experience, “error rolls down an inclined plane, while truth must laboriously make its way uphill.”

Old truisms are often the wisest. The human mind can hardly remain entirely free from prejudice, and decisive, settled opinions are often formed before a thorough investigation of the subject in all its aspects has been made. What has been said refers to the prevailing error, which, on the one hand, limits Theosophy to Buddhism; and on the other hand, he confuses the provisions of the religious philosophy preached by Gotama Buddha with the doctrines broadly sketched in “ Esoteric Buddhism"Mr. Sinnett. It's hard to imagine anything more wrong than this. This made it possible for our enemies to acquire a strong weapon against Theosophy, for, as one famous scientist very sharply put it, there was “neither Esotericism nor Buddhism” in the mentioned volume. The esoteric truths presented in Mr. Sinnett's work ceased to be esoteric from the moment of their publication; also the book does not contain the religion of the Buddha, but simply only a few provisions of the hitherto secret teaching, which in the present volumes are explained and added by many others. But even the latter, although they reveal many of the main theses of the SECRET DOCTRINE of the East, still only slightly lift the edge of the dense cover. For no one, not even the greatest living Adept, could - even if he wanted to - indiscriminately expose to the ridicule of the unbelieving world that which had been so carefully hidden from it for long eons and centuries.

« Esoteric Buddhism“was an excellent work with a very unfortunate title, although the title meant the same as the table of contents of the present work - “THE SECRET DOCTRINE.” It proved unsuccessful because people are in the habit of always judging things by their appearance rather than by their meaning, and because this error has become so general that even members of the Theosophical Society have fallen prey to the same erroneous idea. However, from the very beginning, Brahmins and many others protested against such a table of contents. And, in fairness, I must add that " Esoteric Buddhism"was presented to me in its finished form and I was completely unaware of how the author intended to write the word "Budh"ism."

The responsibility for this error falls on those who first attracted public attention to these topics and did not bother to point out the difference between “Buddhism,” the religious system of ethics preached by Lord Gotama and named after his title Buddha - Illuminated - and “Buddhism” from Budha - Wisdom or Knowledge (Vidyā) the ability of cognition, from the Sanskrit root budh - to know. We ourselves, the Theosophists of India, are the true culprits, although we have since made every effort to correct the mistake. It was easy to avoid this sad misunderstanding: with mutual consent, it was only necessary to change the spelling of the word and write “Buddhism” instead of “Buddhism.” But this term is also incorrect, because in English one should write and pronounce “Buddaism”, and its followers should be called “Buddaists”.

This explanation is absolutely necessary when starting such a work as the present one. The Wisdom Religion is the heritage of the peoples of the whole world, despite what has been done in “ Esoteric Buddhism", the statement that "two years ago (in 1883) not only I, but not a single living European, did not even know the ABCs of science, which were first presented here in scientific form” ... etc. This misconception must have crept in through an oversight. The writer of the present knew everything that was “published” in “ Esoteric Buddhism"and much more, many years before it became her duty to transmit a small part of the Secret Doctrine to two Europeans, one of whom was the author of " Esoteric Buddhism"; and of course, the writer of these lines has the undeniable, although for herself rather ambiguous, advantage of being of European origin and education. Moreover, much of the philosophy expounded by Sinnett was taught in America even before the publication of " Isis Unveiled", two Europeans and my colleague, Colonel G. S. Olcott. Of the Three Teachers that H. S. Olcott had, the first was a Hungarian Initiate, the second an Egyptian, the third a Hindu. By special permission Colonel Olcott conveyed certain teachings in various ways. If the other two did not do the same, it was simply because they were not allowed to do so, because their time for public work had not yet come. But for others it has come, and Mr. Sinnett’s interesting works are proof of this. Moreover, the most important thing to keep in mind is that not a single theosophical book acquires the slightest added value by presenting authority.

Adi or Adhi Budha, the One or Primary and Supreme Wisdom is a term used by Aryasanga in his secret writings, now by all the mystics of Northern Buddhism. It is a Sanskrit term and the name given by the earliest Aryans to the Unknowable Deity. The word "Brahma" does not appear in any Vedas, nor in other early works, it signifies Absolute Wisdom, and Adibhuta is translated by Fitzedward-Hall as "the Eternal, Uncreated Cause of all." Aeons of ineffable extension must have passed before the epithet Buddha became so, so to speak, humanized that this term could be applied to mortals, and finally be given to the One whose incomparable virtues and knowledge earned Him the title “Buddha of Unshakable Wisdom.” Bodha" means the innate possession of divine intelligence or understanding; Buddha- mastery of this through personal effort and merit, while Budhi there is the faculty of cognition, the channel through which divine knowledge reaches the Ego, the discrimination of good and evil, also the divine conscience and the Spiritual Soul, which is the vehicle for the Atma. “When Buddhi consumes our Egotism (destroys it) with all its Vikaras, Avalokiteshvara becomes manifest to us, and Nirvana or Mukti is achieved.” Mukti is the same as Nirvana, liberation from the snares of Maya or Illusion. Bodhi there is also a name for a special state of trance called Samadhi, during which the subject reaches the highest degree of spiritual knowledge.

Mad are those who, in their blind and untimely hatred of Buddhism in our era and in reaction to Buddhism, deny its esoteric teachings, which are also the teachings of the Brahmins, only because they associate this name with the principles which they, being monotheists, viewed as harmful doctrines. Crazy, in this case, is the correct term. For in our era of crude and anti-logical materialism, Esoteric Philosophy alone is able to withstand repeated attacks on everything that man considers most dear and hidden in his inner spiritual life. The true philosopher who studies Esoteric Wisdom is completely freed from personalities, dogmatic beliefs and special religions. Besides. Esoteric Philosophy reconciles all religions and, removing from each its outer shell, human, indicates the identity of the root of each with the basis of every other great religion. It proves the necessity of the Divine and Absolute Principle in Nature. She also does not deny the Divinity, like the Sun. Esoteric Philosophy has never rejected “God in Nature”, just like the Divinity, as absolute and abstract Essence. It only refuses to recognize the gods, the so-called monotheistic religions, created by man in his own image and likeness, the blasphemous and sad caricatures of the Eternally Unknowable. Moreover, the records that we propose to reveal to the reader embrace the esoteric doctrines of the whole world from the very beginning of the origin of mankind, and the Occultism of Buddhism occupies in them only its rightful place, but no more.

Verily, the hidden parts Dan or Gianna (Dhyana), The metaphysics of Gotama - no matter how lofty they may seem to one not familiar with the doctrines of the ancient Wisdom Religion - are only a small part of the whole. The Hindu Reformer limited his general Teachings to the purely moral and physiological aspect of Wisdom-Religion, ethics and man. The things “invisible and immaterial”, the secrets of Existence beyond our earthly sphere, were left completely untouched by the Great Teacher in his appeals to the masses, preserving the Sacred Truths for a select circle of his Arhats. The latter received initiation in the famous Saptaparna Cave (Sattapanni Mahavansa), near Mount Baibhar (Webhara in the Pali Manuscripts). This cave was located at Rajagriha, in the ancient capital of Magadha, and was the same Cheta cave mentioned by the Chinese pilgrim Fa-hsien, as is correctly assumed by some archaeologists.

Time and human imagination quickly corrupted the purity and philosophy of this teaching, after it had been transferred from the secret and sacred circle of the Arhats during their proselytizing activities to soil less prepared than India for metaphysical ideas, such as China, Japan, Siam and Burma. How the primary purity of these great revelations was dealt with can be seen by studying the so-called “esoteric” Buddhist schools of antiquity in their modern garb, not only in China and other Buddhist countries in general, but even in many schools of Tibet, left to the care of the uninitiated lamas and Mongolian innovators.

Therefore, the reader should keep in mind the very important difference that exists between orthodox Buddhism, i.e. the general teachings of Gotama Buddha and His Esoteric Buddhism. However, His Secret Doctrine was no different from that of the initiated Brahmins of His day. Buddha was a native of the Land of the Aryans, a Hindu by birth and Kshatriya caste, and a disciple of the "twice-born" (initiated Brahmins) or Movement. His teaching could not differ from their doctrines because the entire Buddhist reform consisted only in revealing part of what had been kept secret from everyone except the enchanted circle of hermits and Temple Initiates. Not being able, by virtue of his vow, to convey All, what was communicated to Him, Buddha, although he taught a philosophy built on the basis of true Esoteric Knowledge, nevertheless, gave the world only its external material appearance and preserved its soul for his chosen ones. Many Chinese scholars among orientalists have heard of the “Doctrine of the Soul.” But no one understood its true meaning and significance.

This doctrine was guarded - perhaps too secretly - in the sanctuaries. The mystery that shrouded its main dogma and aspiration - Nirvana - so tempted and aroused the curiosity of the scientists who studied it that, being unable to solve it logically and satisfactorily, having untied its Gordian knot, they cut it, declaring that Nirvana means absolute destruction.

Towards the end of the first quarter of this century a special type of literature appeared, which every year becomes more definite in its tendency. Being founded so to speak, on the scientific research of Sanskritologists and Orientalists in general, this literature was considered scientific. Hindu, Egyptian and other ancient religions, myths and emblems, betrayed only what the symbolists wanted to see in them and, thus, instead internal meaning, often only crude external form. Remarkable works for their inventive conclusions and theories circulus vitiosus- prejudicial conclusions usually took the place of premises in the syllogisms of many Sanskrit and Pali scholars - quickly appeared and successively filled the libraries with contradictory dissertations, more on phallic and sexual worship than on true symbolism.

Perhaps this is the true reason why, after a long, deepest silence and mystery of millennia, hints of some basic truths from the Secret Teachings of Archaic Times are now being revealed. I say this on purpose" some truth,” for what must remain unsaid cannot be contained in a hundred similar volumes, nor can it be entrusted to the present generation of Sadducees. But even the little that is given now is better than complete silence about these life truths. The world of the present day, in its ardent rush towards the unknown - which physicists are too hasty to confuse with the Unknowable whenever a problem goes beyond their understanding - is rapidly advancing on the opposite plane towards the plane of spirituality. Now before us is a vast field, a veritable valley of discord and endless struggle; an entire Necropolis where the highest and most sacred aspirations of our Spirit-Soul lie buried. With each new generation this Soul becomes more paralyzed and atrophied. “Dear secular pagans and complete debauchees,” about whom he speaks Grills, care little about revival deceased sciences of the past; but there is a fine minority of serious students who are entitled to learn some of the truths that can now be given to them. AND Now this is much more necessary than ten years ago, when “ Isis Unveiled” or even when later attempts to explain the secrets of esoteric science were published.

One of the greatest and perhaps the most serious objections to the reliability of this work and the credibility of it will be the preliminary Stanzas. How can the statements contained in them be verified? It is true that most of the Sanskrit, Chinese and Mongolian works mentioned in the present volumes are known to some Orientalists, however, the main work from which the Stanzas are taken is not available in European libraries. THE BOOK OF DZIAN (or DZAN) is completely unknown to our philologists, or, in any case, they have never heard of it under this name. This is, of course, a great disadvantage to them who follow in their research the prescribed methods of official science, but for students of Occultism and for all true occultists this is of little importance. The main basis of this Doctrine is found in hundreds and thousands of Sanskrit manuscripts, some of which have already been translated and, as usual, distorted by interpretation, while others are still awaiting their turn. Therefore, each student has the opportunity to verify the statements made here as well as check most of the excerpts given. Only a few new facts, new only to the uninitiated Orientalist, and passages taken from the Commentary will be difficult to trace to their source. Moreover, some of the teachings are still taught orally, but nevertheless, allusions to them are found in every case in almost all the countless volumes of the temple literature of the Brahmins, China and Tibet.

In any case, no matter what unkind criticism holds in store for the author of this work in the future, one fact is completely reliable. Members of several esoteric schools - whose seat is beyond the Himalayas and whose ramifications can be found in China, Japan, India and Tibet and even in Syria, not counting South America - claim to possess all the sacred and philosophical works in manuscript and print, in a word, all works that have ever been written have been in languages ​​and styles from the very beginning of the art of writing, from hieroglyphs to the alphabet of Cadmus and Devanagari.

It has been constantly asserted that from the very time of the destruction of the library of Alexandria, every work which could, by its content, lead the uninitiated to the final discovery and understanding of some of the secrets of the Sacred Science, was assiduously sought out by the united efforts of the members of this Brotherhood. Moreover, it is added by those who know that all such works, once found, were destroyed with the exception of three copies of each, which were kept and hidden in safety. In India, the last of these precious Manuscripts were obtained and hidden during the reign of Emperor Akbar.

Professor Max Müller points out that no amount of bribery or threats from Akbar could have extracted the original text Ved from the Brahmins, and yet boasts that the European Orientalists possess it! It is highly doubtful that Europe will have full text, and the future may have some very unpleasant surprises in store for orientalists.

Moreover, it is asserted that every sacred book of similar content, the text of which was not sufficiently hidden in symbols, or which had any direct connection with the ancient mysteries, was first copied in a secret script that could withstand the art of the best and most skilful paleographers, and then destroyed until the last copy. During the reign of Akbar, several fanatical courtiers, dissatisfied with the Emperor’s sinful inquisitiveness towards the religions of the wicked, themselves helped the Brahmins to hide their Manuscripts. Such was Badaoni, who fed undisguised horror before Akbar's mania for idolatrous religions. This Badaoni in his: Muntakhab"t Tawurikh, writes:

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“Since they (Sramanas and Brahmins) surpass other learned men in their treatises on morality and physical and religious sciences and reach a high degree in their knowledge of the future, in spiritual power and human perfection, then they gave proofs based on reason and testimony... and impressed their doctrines so firmly... that no man... could now raise doubts in His Majesty, even if the mountains crumbled to sand, or the heavens opened... His Majesty enjoys the knowledge of these wicked sects, which cannot be counted, so numerous are they; and them books of Revelations there is no end".

This work “was kept secret and was not published until the reign of Jehangir.” In addition, all large and rich monasteries have underground temples and cave libraries carved into the rock, if Gonpa(monastery) or Lhakang built on the mountain. Outside western Tsaidam, in the lonely passages of Gun-lun, there are several such hidden vaults. Along the Altyn Tag ridge, where no European has yet set foot, there is a certain village, lost in a deep mountain pass: a small crowd of houses, more a village than a monastery, with a poor temple and an old lama, a hermit, living nearby to guard it. Travelers say that the underground galleries and the rooms below them contain a collection of books, the number of which, according to reports, is too large to fit even in the British Museum.

According to the same legend, the now uninhabited areas in the waterless country of Tarim - a real desert in the heart of Turkestan - were in ancient times covered with flourishing and rich cities. At present, several green oases enliven her terrible loneliness. One such oasis covers the tomb of a vast city, buried under the sandy desert soil, and belongs to no one, but is often visited by Mongols and Buddhists. Tradition also speaks of vast underground rooms, wide passages filled with tablets and cylinders. This may be idle talk, but it may also turn out to be a real fact.

All this will more than likely cause a smile of doubt. But before the reader dismisses the veracity of the rumors, let him pause and consider the following well-known facts. Joint research by orientalists in recent years, especially the work of researchers in comparative philology and the science of religions, has given them the opportunity to confirm that countless manuscripts and even printed works, known to have existed are no longer found. They disappeared without leaving the slightest trace. If these works had no significance, they could have perished due to the conditions of time, and their names would have been erased from human memory. But this is not so, for, as has now been proven, most of these works contained the true keys to works still in circulation, but now completely incomprehensible for most of their readers without these additional volumes of commentary and explanation.

Such are, for example, the works of Lao Tzu, the predecessor of Confucius. They say that he wrote nine hundred and thirty books on ethics and religions and seventy on magic, in total - thousand. However, his great work "Tao Te Ching", heart his doctrines, and scriptures" Tao-sy" have, as Stanislav Julien points out, only "about 5,000 words", barely twelve pages. However, prof. Max Müller finds that the text is not intelligible without commentaries, so that M. Julien had to use references in more than sixty commentaries for his translation, and the oldest of them went back to 163 BC, but not earlier as we see. During the four and a half centuries preceding this "earliest" commentary, time had been sufficient to conceal the true doctrine of Lao Tzu from all except his initiated priests. The Japanese, among whom one can now find the most learned priests and followers of Lao Tzu, simply laugh at the mistakes and hypotheses of European and Chinese scientists. And tradition claims that the commentaries available to our Western sinologists are not authentic occult records, but only deliberate disguises, and that genuine comments, like all texts, have long been disappeared from the eyes of the profane.

About the writings of Confucius we read the following:

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"If we turn to China, we will find that the religion of Confucius is based on the Five Books" Jing" and Four Books " Shu“- these books themselves are of considerable size and are surrounded by voluminous commentaries, without which even the most knowledgeable scientists would not dare to penetrate depth their innermost canon."

But they did not penetrate it; and this causes the lamentation of the Confucianists, as one of the very knowledgeable members of this Society stated in 1881 in Paris.

If our scholars turn to the ancient literature of the Semitic religions, to the Chaldean scriptures, the elder sister and mentor, if not the main source Bible Moses, the basis and starting point of Christianity, what will they find? To perpetuate the memory of the ancient religions of Babylon, to record the huge cycle of astronomical observations of the Magi of Chaldea, to justify the legends about their magnificent and especially occult literature, what remains now? Just a few fragments attributed to Beroza.

But they are almost devoid of any value, even as a key to the characterization of what has disappeared, for they passed through the hands of the Bishop of Caesarea - that self-affirmed censor and publisher of the sacred annals of religions alien to him - and they no doubt, to this day, bear the stamp of his “highly truthful , trustworthy" hand. For what is the history of this treatise on the once great religion of Babylon?

It was written in Greek for Alexander the Great by Berosus, a cleric of the Temple of Bel, based on the astronomical and chronological records maintained by the servants of that Temple - records covering a period of 200,000 years - now lost. In the first century BC. Alexander Polyhistor made a series of excerpts from this treatise, which are also lost. Eusebius (270-340 after AD) used these excerpts when writing his “ Chronikon" The similarity of points - almost identity - in the European and Chaldean Scriptures was a great danger for Eusebius in his roles defender and champion of a new religion that adopted the Jewish scriptures and with them an absurd chronology.

The Secret Doctrine of Helena Blavatsky. First meeting with Annie Besant. Creation of the school of occultism and Madame Blavatsky's lodge. Biography of the creator of "Lucifer"

The Secret Doctrine and its Creator

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (née von Hahn) was born on August 12, 1831 in Dnepropetrovsk. It mixed the blood of famous families of France, Germany and Russia.

Since 1842, after the death of her mother, Elena and her younger sister Vera moved to Saratov to live with their grandmother E.P. Fadeeva. At the age of 17, Elena married the old retired general N.V. Blavatsky, this was a way to gain freedom.

Three months later in 1849, Elena, with her father’s money, went on a long trip to Turkey and Egypt.

Secret doctrine_Uchitelja Blavatskj_“secret doctrine”

In 1851 she came to London, where she met her Teacher Mahathma Morya. She immediately recognized him as the same person whom she had seen in astral form as a child. He revealed to her that she should become the founder of the Theosophical Society.

To prepare and improve the Spirit, she needs to spend 3 years in Tibet. In the same year, Elena visits the USA, South America and then India.

However, this time the trip to Tibet had to be postponed. Only three years later, in 1854, from America through India, she again made an attempt to get to Tibet to her Teacher.

In 1858, having undergone initiation, she returned to Europe, and then to Russia in Pskov - to her sister Vera.

Very soon the whole city was talking about the “miracles” of Madame Blavatsky. She had clairvoyance and moved objects with her gaze.

From 1860 to 1865 Traveling through the Caucasus, Elena experienced a severe physical and mental crisis. But everything ended well, and she learned to control her unusual abilities.

In 1868, Elena again went to Tibet and spent about three years in the house of her teacher Kut Khumi, continuing her novitiate.

At the end of 1870, Blavatsky returned to Europe, then to Odessa to visit her relatives.

On the instructions of her Teacher in 1873, Elena comes to America. There she meets Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, the famous Irish-American lawyer, and William Quan Judge, who would play a decisive role in the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875.

In 1877, her “Isis Unveiled” was published. And in 1879, Elena went with the colonel to Bombay, where the headquarters of the Theosophical Society was created and the first Theosophical magazine “The Theosophist” was published there, which still exists today.

In 1884, a scandal broke out due to the slander of two employees who accused Blavatsky of fraud. Unfortunately, based on these facts, the London Society for Psychical Research (SPR) published a report in which it described Blavatsky as “one of the most brilliant and interesting frauds in history.” And to this day this report is cited as evidence of Blavatsky’s fraud.

It later turned out that this case was concocted by the Jesuits, who hated Helen and the Society she created. The accusation was built and fabricated on letters allegedly written by Blavatsky with instructions on how to organize phenomena. The Jesuit conspiracy involved a Columa couple who talked about the secret refurbishment of her house.

An excerpt from E.I. Roerich’s letter to Vera Alexandrovna Dushinskaya is of interest: “...due to the lack of a special selection of persons possessing the synthesis of the high Spirit, the Society for Psychical Research will continue to drag out its shameful existence...”

spiritualism_thumb_sjera_Artura_“secret doctrine”

It’s funny that the author of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who devoted 50 years of his life to the occult and spiritualism, studied theosophy for several years and, having become disillusioned with it, in 1891 joined the Society for Psychical Research.

Hodgson's accusations were analyzed and refuted in 1963 by Adley Waterman in Obituary: Hodgson's Report on Madame Blavatsky.

Only 100 years later, the OPI disavowed its “famous report,” recognizing it as biased. OPI published its apologies in leading English-language publications in the USA, Canada and Australia.

Judicial squabbles and false accusations undermined Elena Petrovna's health, and in 1887 she moved to London, where she was invited by English theosophists. And by the fall of 1888, her famous “Secret Doctrine” (La Doctrina Secreta) was published. In order to protect the secret doctrine, the brainchild of her whole life, Elena is preparing the release of a new magazine, the name of which has caused a storm of criticism and...

incredible success.

Subject to increasing attacks from the London Lodge, and having effectively lost control of her magazine, The Theosophist, Helen creates a new magazine, Lucifer. The first issue, which in 1888 not only protected her from the militant profane, but also became the stronghold of her own esoteric lodge - the Lodge of Madame Blavatsky.

Vera and Charles Johnston with Henry Alcott stand behind Helena Blavatsky and her sister, Vera Zhelikhovskaya. London, 1888_"secret doctrine"

In the same 1888, the active madam opened her esoteric school “Practical Occultism”. In the context of these meetings, a summary has been preserved, now known as the “Proceedings of the Blavatsky Lodge.”

Thanks to “Lucifer” and “The Secret Doctrine” in 1889, the world saw new revelations of Madame Blavatsky - “The Key to Theosophy” (La Clave de la Teosofia) and the mystical book “The Voice of Silence” (La voz del Silencio).

Meanwhile, the secret doctrine, which was gaining momentum and popularity, made it possible by 1890 to open the European headquarters of the Theosophical Society. It was there that Elena met Annie Besant for the first time.

Nee Wood, Annie was so attractive and eloquent that Elena could not help but invite her to join her bed. This brilliant person was very popular not only in society; Bernard Shaw, whom Annie almost married, dedicated his plays to her.

Having found an older friend in Madame Blavatsky, Annie developed mystical and spiritualistic abilities and, after Blavatsky’s death, became the leader of the Theosophical Society

In Germany, Theosophy was banned by the Third Reich, but immediately after its fall in 1945, the Theosophical Society of Germany resumed its educational activities. And on the house in which Helena Blavatsky wrote her “Secret Doctrine,” the house of Countess Constance Wachmeister in Würzburg (Würzburg, Ludwigstraße 6), a memorial plaque is now installed in her honor.

Secret Doctrine

from the Creator of "Lucifer"

"There is no doctrine higher than truth"

Blavatsky

Volume 1

Stanza 1 "secret doctrine"

“The eternal birthing mother, eternally invisible, once again slumbered for 7 eternities.”

The mother giving birth is space. 7 eternities are 7 periods of one Manvantara during the “Great Age” (100 Years of Brahma). As a result, 311,040,000,000,000 years. The year of Brahma = 360 days and nights, and the day of Brahma = 4,320,000,000 mortal years. These eternities belong to the most secret calculations, in which, in order to come to a true result, each figure must be 7 to the power of X, and X varies depending on the cycle and each figure in the real or unreal world must be a multiple of 7. Key this cannot be given, it is the secret of esoteric calculations.

“A single darkness filled the boundless everything, for father, mother and son were still one, and the son had not yet awakened for the new wheel and wanderings on it.”

The term "wheel" is a symbol of the world or ball, indicating that the ancients knew that the Earth was a rotating ball. The “Great Wheel” is a complete revolution of a chain of globes or spheres. “Small wheels” = circles, of which there are also 7. Father-mother-son in the cosmophysical sense, this is the Universe - Planetary chain - Earth. In the spiritual sense = this is the Unknowable Deity - Planetary Spirit - Man - the Son of both, a being of Spirit and Matter and their manifestation in its periodic manifestations on Earth during the “Wheels” or Manvantar.

Stanza 2 "secret doctrine"

“The hour has not yet struck, the ray has not yet penetrated the embryo, the matripadma has not yet swelled.”

Padma is the Indian word for lotus. The lotus is a product of heat (fire) and water (ether). Water is the mother, fire is the father. The lotus symbolizes human life, as well as the life of the Cosmos.

Stanza 3 "secret doctrine"

“The last trembling of the 7th eternity trembles in infinity, the mother swells like a lotus bud.”

“The darkness disappeared and no longer existed, it disappeared in its nature, in the body of fire and water, father and mother.”

In the Gospel of John 1.4: “And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” - the word “darkness” does not apply to the spiritual vision of man, but truly to Darkness, the Absolute, which does not know, cannot imagine the transitory Light.

The “secret doctrine” gate awaits everyone who finds it.

The Devil is now called "Darkness" by the church. Whereas in the bible or in the book of Job he is called "Son of God", the bright star of the early morning Lux, the Dawn of Manvantara. He was transformed by the church into Lucifer or Satan because he was higher and older than Jehovah and had to be sacrificed to the New Dogma.

Stanza 4 "secret doctrine"

« There is Darkness, infinity or Adi - Nidana - 0

Adi - Sanat = 1, Voice of the word, Svabhavat (spirit), numbers, square without form,

These three, enclosed in O, are the hidden quaternity, then come the sons, the seven warriors, one - the eighth is left aside, and his breath is the light giver.”

O is an infinite circle; zero becomes a number only when one of the nine digits precedes it. The “Word” or Logos in combination with the Voice and Spirit (the expression and source of Consciousness) reveals nine numbers, forming with zero a decade that contains the entire Universe. The triad forms a quadrangle or “Hidden Quaternary” inside a circle. The square in the circle is the most powerful of the magical figures. “The One Rejected” is the Sun of our system.

Stanza 5 "secret doctrine"

“The primordial seven breaths of the dragon of wisdom generate a fire whirlwind with their sacred circular-spiral breath. They make him the messenger of their will, Jyu becomes Fohat.”

The doctrine teaches that in order to become a divine conscious God - yes! Even the highest – Spiritual, Primordial Minds – had to pass through the human stage. And when we say “human,” this applies not only to our earthly humanity, but also to mortals living in other worlds.

Kollektivnaja Mudrost’_“secret doctrine”

Ju is collective Wisdom. Its antithesis is Jyuma, who deals only with illusions.

In the unmanifested Universe, Fohat is not the winged cupid (Eros) or Love. Fohat does not yet have contact with the Cosmos. For the Cosmos has not yet been born. It is an abstract philosophical concept. He's just a potential creative force. When the "Divine Son" is revealed, Fohat becomes the active Power that forces the one to become Two and Three on the cosmic plane of manifestation. The Trinity "One" differentiates into "Many" and then Fohat turns into that force which attracts the basic atoms and causes them to gather and combine.

Stanza 6 "secret doctrine"

“Fohat brought to life the ghostly form of the Universe and the 7 principles. The impetuous and radiant one generates 7 Laila - centers (nirvanas), which no one will overcome until the great day “Be with us” and surrounds the Universe with primary germs (atoms).”

The worlds, including our Earth, of course, developed initially from one element in its second stage of “Father-Mother,” the differentiated world Soul. Esotericism knows no gender. His Supreme Deity is as much beyond gender as he is beyond form. His first manifested beings are only gradually separated into two principles. Thus, in “Manu” Brahma (also Logos) is revealed as dividing his body into 2 parts of the male and female principles and subsequently creating the Son, who is himself and the same Brahma.

Neither water, nor air, nor earth (synonyms for all solid bodies) existed at all in their present states. For all of them, and even fire, are only products in new atmospheric combinations, already completely formed spheres, thus, in the first periods of the formation of the Earth they were something completely different. Not only the elements of our planet, but also the elements of all its sisters in the Solar System vary in their combinations from each other as widely as from the cosmic elements outside the Solar System. Each world has its own Fohat, which is omnipresent in its field of activity.

Kosmicheskaja sila_“secret doctrine”

Fohat, the creative force of the Cosmos, itself arose from “the brain of the Father and the womb of the Mother.” And then he himself was transformed into two principles, male and female, i.e. into positive and negative electricity. He has 7 sons, who are also his brothers. Fohat is forced to be born every time one of his “sons-brothers” gets too close to each other. To avoid this, he unites and binds together those who are different in nature. And separates those who are identical. As everyone knows, this refers to electricity. The “7 principles” are electricity, magnetism, sound, light, heat, and so on.

It is Fohat that directs the transfer of principles from one planet to another and from one star to another. When a planet dies, its life-giving principles are transferred to the laya or dormant center, which has potential energy, which begins to form again into a new stellar body.

Starting from the 7th stanza of the secret doctrine, everything will concern our solar system. Among the eleven stanzas of the secret doctrine released, there is one (apparently the seventh) giving a description of the formation of planetary chains. Divinity is the Law, the only eternal law, based on the sevenfold principle of constructing countless circles of the Chains of Worlds, consisting of 7 Globes. Of these 7, only the fourth, the lowest and most material, is accessible to our knowledge. The other six belong to higher planes and are invisible to our eyes. The planetary circle is a large circle, from Globe A to Globe G. Each Globe also goes through its own 7 circles - Circles of the Globe, or let’s call them Earth Circles.

Fajeton planetarnye cepi_“secret doctrine”

When a Planetary Chain is in its last circle, its Globe A, before it finally freezes, sends all its energy and all its principles to the neutral center of latent force, the laya center, and thereby revitalizes matter, giving it life for the next planetary chain.

So, every stellar body, every planet visible to us, has 6 fellow Globes, invisible to us. The evolution of life occurs on these 7 Globes over 7 Circles of Globes or 7 Cycles. Each Globe has its own 7 cycles.

These Globes are formed by a process called the process of rebirth of Planetary Chains or Rings. When the seventh and last round of one of these Rings has begun, the highest (or first) Globe A, and then the other globes, instead of entering into a long period of rest as was the case in the previous Rounds, begins to die and transfers all its principles to laya - center. And then to the new Planetary Chain. Globe A animates Globe A of the new chain, Globe B sends its energy to Globe B of the new chain, etc.

Only during the 1st Circle does the Heavenly Man (otherwise the Lunar ancestors or Pitrises) become a human being on Globe e A and again become a mineral, plant, animal on Globes B, C, D. The process changes completely from the second circle. Our Earth forms and hardens during the first three circles. Her humanity develops fully only in the 4th Circle - our real Circle. During the last three, it will return to its primary form, becoming, so to speak, spiritualized.

Jenergetika Dushi, Monady_“secret doctrine”

Now we should remember that Monads (Souls) are divided into 7 classes or hierarchies. Each new Manvantara must have a limited number of monads. Since this is necessary in view of the doctrine of Reincarnation and Karma and the gradual return of the human Monad to its source - the Absolute Divinity. The appearance of these Monads on the Globe is so adjusted that when class 7 (the last one) appears on Globe A, then class 1 has just transferred to Globe B from another planetary chain and so on. Thus it turns out that in the first round only the first class of monads reaches the human state, the Second Class Monads achieve human development only in the second round, etc. until the fourth round. In the middle of the 4th Circle, in which the human stage will be fully developed, the “door” to the human kingdom closes, since all other Monads will reach the human stage only at the end of the 7th Circle. They will therefore not be people in this chain, but will constitute the humanity of the future Manvantara in a higher Chain of the spiral of development.

Roughly speaking, according to the secret doctrine, there are 3 large classes of human Monads.

1. The most developed Monads are the Moon Gods or Pitrises, whose purpose is to pass in the 1st Round through the entire triple cycle of the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms in their most ethereal forms in order to adapt to the nature of the newly formed Chain. It is they who are the first to achieve human form on Globe A in the first circle, if it is appropriate to call it “people”. They do not resemble us either in form or in nature, but in terms of their spiritual development they can rather be called “Gods.”

2. Those monads who first reach the human stage within three and a half rounds and become "humans."

Rasy i Monady_"secret doctrine"

3. The remaining Monads who will not have time to reach the human stage.

There are Mineral Monads, Plant Monads, Animal Monads. The Mineral Monads are on the opposite arc of the circle from the Human Monads.

The mineral kingdom forms a turning point in the stages of the "Monadic nature." The complete development of the mineral age (three principles) on globe A prepares the way for the development of vegetation (first principle). As soon as it begins, the mineral life impulse passes to Globe B. Then, when the development of vegetation on Globe A ends, animal (first principle) development begins. The plant life impulse passes to Globe B, the mineral impulse passes to Globe C.

Finally, the development of animals ends and the last, human impulse (2 principles) enters Globe A.

The "Human Monad" is a combination of two principles in man - the sixth and seventh. The term “Human Monad” is applicable only to the Dual Soul (Atma-Buddhi), but not to its highest spiritual principle, Atma, taken separately.

The most developed Lunar Monads reach the human embryonic stage in the First Round, become earthly, although very ethereal beings by the end of the 3rd Round, remaining on the Earthly (4th) Globe as a seed for the future humanity in the 4th Round.

The Pitris developed astral doubles from themselves, which became the first Human Race on Earth. Thus, man, or, more precisely, his Monad, existed on Earth from the 1st Circle, but right up to our Fifth Race, the external appearances that clothed these “gods” changed and became denser, because they had to adapt to the constantly changing conditions on the Earth's Globe.

In the 1st Circle on the Earthly Globe, the First Race is the Pitris, and by analogy, the First Race of the 4th Circle is also ethereal, spiritual, but unreasonable.

In the 2nd Circle on Earth, Man becomes more physical, but less intelligent than spiritual. It has no sex and, like plants and animals, develops monstrous bodies corresponding to the harshness of its surroundings.

Circle 3rd - Man has a dense body, at first it is the form of a huge monkey and now he is more intelligent, or rather cunning, rather than spiritual. In the last half of the Third Circle, his gigantic build decreases and he becomes more intelligent. All this is almost exactly repeated in the Third Root Race of the 4th Circle.

4 Circle. Reason reaches enormous development. The Fourth Race acquires human speech. At this midpoint of the 4th Circle (as in the fourth Root Race or the Atlantean Race), the world is saturated with the results of rational activity and a decrease in spirituality.

The people of the Third Race, the ancestors of the Atlanteans, were exactly the same ape-like giants who did not possess reason, like those creatures who represented humanity during the 3rd Circle. Being morally irresponsible, these "people" of the Third Race, through indiscriminate copulation with animals of a lower level than themselves, created that missing link, which, several centuries later, became the distant ancestor of the real ape. However, the Lemuro-Atlanteans were a highly civilized race, this race was superior to us, with all our sciences and the degraded civilization of our days.

From the middle of the 4th Round there was to be an equilibration between spirit and matter, the highest point of civilization and knowledge. It was at this time that humanity was divided into two diametrically opposed paths: the Right path and the Left path. Thus the seeds of White and Black Magic were sown to sprout in the early period of the Fifth (our Race).

The Holy Youths (Gods) refused to reproduce and create species in their own image. And they had to suffer for this in later births, as written in Volume 2. Creatures who rebelled against the laws of nature and thereby interfered with its legitimate progress were doomed to suffer.

Stanza 7 "secret doctrine"

“The spark of Fohat, connected with the flame by a thin thread, it wanders through the 7 worlds of Maya, it stops in the first, becoming metal and stone, comes to the second and see a plant, etc.”

The phrase "Through the 7 Worlds of Maya" refers here to the 7 Globes of the Planetary Chain and the 7 Circles or 49 places of active existence which stand before the "spark" or Monad, at the beginning of each Great Cycle of Life or Manvantara. The “Thread of Fohat” is the thread of life.

The sequence of primary aspects of nature, with which the sequence of Circles is associated, concerns the development of the elements: fire, air, water and earth. In the Old Testament:

Hypotheses of the origin of life_Sotvorenie Mira_“secret doctrine”

“In the beginning God created heaven and earth” is a distorted translation that does not mean heaven and earth. But there are two heavens: upper and lower heavens. Or the separation of the original Substance, which was light in its upper part and darkness in its lower (manifested Universe). Its duality of invisible to our senses and visible to our knowledge. “And God separated the light from the darkness and then created the firmament” (that is, air) “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters,” that is, under the firmament is our manifested Universe, and above the firmament are plans invisible to us Genesis. In chapter 2, plants were created before water: “The Lord God created the earth and the sky, and every bush of the field that was not yet on the earth, and every grass of the field that was not yet growing, for the Lord God did not send rain on the earth” - this is absurdity , if you do not accept the esoteric explanation. Plants were created before they were in the earth - for then there was no such earth as there is now.

"secret doctrine" year 1888

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Helena Blavatsky

Secret Doctrine

COSMOGENESIS

SCIENCES, RELIGIONS, AND PHILOSOPHIES

SATYВT NВSTI PARO DHARMAH

"NO RELIGION IS HIGHER THAN TRUTH"

From the translator

When starting to translate the Secret Doctrine, we set ourselves the task of adhering to the original text with all accuracy and thereby protecting the nature of the presentation. Most of the capital letters found in the text were also retained.

Foreign words included in this work are conveyed, if possible, in the currently existing transcription in Russian literature.

Helena Roerich

Preface to the first edition

The author - or rather the writer - considers it necessary to apologize for the long delay in the publication of this work. This delay occurred due to ill health and the extensiveness of the undertaking. Even the two volumes now published do not complete the task and do not comprehensively treat the subjects presented in them. A large amount of material has already been collected concerning the history of Occultism, contained in the lives of the great Adepts of the Aryan Race and proving the connection of Occult Philosophy with the feat of life, as it is and as it should be.

Should the present volumes meet with favorable reception, every effort will be made to carry out the purpose of this work in its entirety.

It should be added that such a task was not envisaged when the production of this work was first announced. According to the original plan Secret Doctrine was supposed to be a corrected and expanded edition " Isis Unveiled" It soon became clear, however, that the explanations which might be added to those already given in the above-mentioned work and others relating to Esoteric Science were such as to require a different method of presentation, and as a result the present volumes contain no more than twenty pages taken from " Isis Unveiled».

The author does not consider it necessary to ask for the indulgence of readers and critics for the imperfections of the English language and for the many shortcomings of literary style that may be encountered in these pages. Being a foreigner, her knowledge of this language was acquired in later years of her life; English is used here because it is the most widely used medium for the transmission of truths, which it has become its duty to make public.

These truths, in no case, are presented as revelation, nor does the author claim to be the exposer of mystical knowledge being made public for the first time in the history of the world. For what is contained in this work may be found scattered among thousands of volumes containing the Scriptures of the great Asiatic and early European religions, hidden in glyphs and symbols and, by virtue of this veil, hitherto neglected. Now an attempt is being made to bring together the most ancient foundations and make of them one harmonious and inseparable whole. The only advantage that the writer has over her predecessors is that she does not have to resort to personal speculations and theories. For this work is a partial statement of what she herself has learned from those who are more knowledgeable, and added in some detail by the results of her personal study and observation. The publication of many of the facts here given was made necessary by the appearance of the wild and chimerical theories which theosophists and students of Mysticism have indulged in during the last few years in their endeavors, as they imagined, to develop an integral system of thought from the few facts previously communicated to them.

It is unnecessary to explain that this book is not the Secret Doctrine in its entirety, but only a select number of fragments of its main provisions. Particular attention is paid to some facts, seized by various writers and distorted beyond any semblance of Truth.

But it may be useful to affirm with all clearness that the teachings contained in these volumes, although fragmentary and incomplete, do not belong to any one religion, such as the Hindus, Zoroaster, Chaldeans and Egyptians, nor to Buddhism, Islam, Judaism or Christianity, exclusively. The Secret Doctrine is the essence of them all. Born from it in their beginnings, the various religious systems now return to their original element, from which every mystery and dogma arose, developed and materialized.

It is more than likely that this book will be considered by the majority as the wildest fable, for who has ever heard of the Book of Dzyan?

The writer of these lines is therefore quite ready to accept full responsibility for the content of this work and is not even afraid of the accusation that everything is just her invention. She is fully aware that this work has many shortcomings. And she only claims that no matter how fantastic the content of this work may seem to many, its logical coherence and consistency give the right to this new Genesis to stand, in any case, on a level with the “working hypotheses” so openly accepted by modern science. Further, this work demands attention, not because of any appeal to dogmatic authority, but because it is closely related to Nature and follows the laws of unity and analogy.

The purpose of this work can be defined as follows: to prove that Nature is not a “random combination of atoms” and to show man his rightful place in the scheme of the Universe; save archaic truths, which are the basis of all religions, from corruption; to reveal to some extent the basic unity from which they all originate; finally, to show that the occult side of Nature has never before been accessible to the science of modern civilization.

If this is accomplished to some extent, the writer is satisfied. This work was written in the service of humanity, and must be judged by humanity and future generations. Its author does not recognize the lesser court of appeal. She is accustomed to insults; she encounters slander every day; She smiles at slander in silent contempt.

De minimis non curat lex.

H.P.B.

London, October, 1888.

Preface to the third and revised edition

In preparing this edition for publication, we have sought to correct minor details of literary style without touching on more important issues. If H. P. Blavatsky had lived to see the new edition, she would undoubtedly have corrected and significantly expanded this work. The fact that this was not done is one of the many lesser losses caused by this great loss.

Unfortunate expressions due to imperfect knowledge of the English language have been corrected; most of the excerpts from other works have been checked and accurately referenced - a task that required a lot of work, since the references in previous editions were often inaccurate; a uniform system for transcribing Sanskrit words was also adopted. We have abandoned the transcription adopted by Western Orientalists as misleading to the general reader, and have rendered consonants not found in the English alphabet in combinations which approximately correspond to the sound meaning, and have carefully marked the length of the vowels. On a few occasions we inserted notes into the text itself, but this was done very rarely and only when the notes formed part of the text.

Helena Blavatsky

Secret Doctrine

COSMOGENESIS

SCIENCES, RELIGIONS, AND PHILOSOPHIES

SATYВT NВSTI PARO DHARMAH

"NO RELIGION IS HIGHER THAN TRUTH"

From the translator

When starting to translate the Secret Doctrine, we set ourselves the task of adhering to the original text with all accuracy and thereby protecting the nature of the presentation. Most of the capital letters found in the text were also retained.

Foreign words included in this work are conveyed, if possible, in the currently existing transcription in Russian literature.

Helena Roerich

Preface to the first edition

The author - or rather the writer - considers it necessary to apologize for the long delay in the publication of this work. This delay occurred due to ill health and the extensiveness of the undertaking. Even the two volumes now published do not complete the task and do not comprehensively treat the subjects presented in them. A large amount of material has already been collected concerning the history of Occultism, contained in the lives of the great Adepts of the Aryan Race and proving the connection of Occult Philosophy with the feat of life, as it is and as it should be.

Should the present volumes meet with favorable reception, every effort will be made to carry out the purpose of this work in its entirety.

It should be added that such a task was not envisaged when the production of this work was first announced. According to the original plan Secret Doctrine was supposed to be a corrected and expanded edition " Isis Unveiled" It soon became clear, however, that the explanations which might be added to those already given in the above-mentioned work and others relating to Esoteric Science were such as to require a different method of presentation, and as a result the present volumes contain no more than twenty pages taken from " Isis Unveiled».

The author does not consider it necessary to ask for the indulgence of readers and critics for the imperfections of the English language and for the many shortcomings of literary style that may be encountered in these pages. Being a foreigner, her knowledge of this language was acquired in later years of her life; English is used here because it is the most widely used medium for the transmission of truths, which it has become its duty to make public.

These truths, in no case, are presented as revelation, nor does the author claim to be the exposer of mystical knowledge being made public for the first time in the history of the world. For what is contained in this work may be found scattered among thousands of volumes containing the Scriptures of the great Asiatic and early European religions, hidden in glyphs and symbols and, by virtue of this veil, hitherto neglected. Now an attempt is being made to bring together the most ancient foundations and make of them one harmonious and inseparable whole. The only advantage that the writer has over her predecessors is that she does not have to resort to personal speculations and theories. For this work is a partial statement of what she herself has learned from those who are more knowledgeable, and added in some detail by the results of her personal study and observation. The publication of many of the facts here given was made necessary by the appearance of the wild and chimerical theories which theosophists and students of Mysticism have indulged in during the last few years in their endeavors, as they imagined, to develop an integral system of thought from the few facts previously communicated to them.

It is unnecessary to explain that this book is not the Secret Doctrine in its entirety, but only a select number of fragments of its main provisions. Particular attention is paid to some facts, seized by various writers and distorted beyond any semblance of Truth.

But it may be useful to affirm with all clearness that the teachings contained in these volumes, although fragmentary and incomplete, do not belong to any one religion, such as the Hindus, Zoroaster, Chaldeans and Egyptians, nor to Buddhism, Islam, Judaism or Christianity, exclusively. The Secret Doctrine is the essence of them all. Born from it in their beginnings, the various religious systems now return to their original element, from which every mystery and dogma arose, developed and materialized.

It is more than likely that this book will be considered by the majority as the wildest fable, for who has ever heard of the Book of Dzyan?

The writer of these lines is therefore quite ready to accept full responsibility for the content of this work and is not even afraid of the accusation that everything is just her invention. She is fully aware that this work has many shortcomings. And she only claims that no matter how fantastic the content of this work may seem to many, its logical coherence and consistency give the right to this new Genesis to stand, in any case, on a level with the “working hypotheses” so openly accepted by modern science. Further, this work demands attention, not because of any appeal to dogmatic authority, but because it is closely related to Nature and follows the laws of unity and analogy.

The purpose of this work can be defined as follows: to prove that Nature is not a “random combination of atoms” and to show man his rightful place in the scheme of the Universe; save archaic truths, which are the basis of all religions, from corruption; to reveal to some extent the basic unity from which they all originate; finally, to show that the occult side of Nature has never before been accessible to the science of modern civilization.

If this is accomplished to some extent, the writer is satisfied. This work was written in the service of humanity, and must be judged by humanity and future generations. Its author does not recognize the lesser court of appeal. She is accustomed to insults; she encounters slander every day; She smiles at slander in silent contempt.

De minimis non curat lex.

H.P.B.

London, October, 1888.

Preface to the third and revised edition

In preparing this edition for publication, we have sought to correct minor details of literary style without touching on more important issues. If H. P. Blavatsky had lived to see the new edition, she would undoubtedly have corrected and significantly expanded this work. The fact that this was not done is one of the many lesser losses caused by this great loss.

Unfortunate expressions due to imperfect knowledge of the English language have been corrected; most of the excerpts from other works have been checked and accurately referenced - a task that required a lot of work, since the references in previous editions were often inaccurate; a uniform system for transcribing Sanskrit words was also adopted. We have abandoned the transcription adopted by Western Orientalists as misleading to the general reader, and have rendered consonants not found in the English alphabet in combinations which approximately correspond to the sound meaning, and have carefully marked the length of the vowels. On a few occasions we inserted notes into the text itself, but this was done very rarely and only when the notes formed part of the text.

Annie Besant

G. R. S. Meeed

London, 1893.

Introduction

“Listen meekly, judge kindly.”

With the advent of Theosophical literature in England, it became customary to call this teaching " Esoteric Buddhism" And having become a habit, it confirmed the old proverb, based on daily experience, “error rolls down an inclined plane, while truth must laboriously make its way uphill.”

Old truisms are often the wisest. The human mind can hardly remain entirely free from prejudice, and decisive, settled opinions are often formed before a thorough investigation of the subject in all its aspects has been made. What has been said refers to the prevailing error, which, on the one hand, limits Theosophy to Buddhism; and on the other hand, he confuses the provisions of the religious philosophy preached by Gotama Buddha with the doctrines broadly sketched in “ Esoteric Buddhism"Mr. Sinnett. It's hard to imagine anything more wrong than this. This made it possible for our enemies to acquire a strong weapon against Theosophy, for, as one famous scientist very sharply put it, there was “neither Esotericism nor Buddhism” in the mentioned volume. The esoteric truths presented in Mr. Sinnett's work ceased to be esoteric from the moment of their publication; also the book does not contain the religion of the Buddha, but simply only a few provisions of the hitherto secret teaching, which in the present volumes are explained and added by many others. But even the latter, although they reveal many of the main theses of the SECRET DOCTRINE of the East, still only slightly lift the edge of the dense cover. For no one, not even the greatest living Adept, could - even if he wanted to - indiscriminately expose to the ridicule of the unbelieving world that which had been so carefully hidden from it for long eons and centuries.