Changes

:8. {{Style S-Small capitals|Alone, the one form of existence stretched boundless, infinite, causeless, in dreamless sleep}} (''a'') ; {{Style S-Small capitals|and life pulsated unconscious in universal space, throughout that All-Presence which is sensed by the “ Opened Eye ” * of the Dangma}} (''b''). †

:8. {{Style S-Small capitals|Alone, the one form of existence stretched boundless, infinite, causeless, in dreamless sleep}} (''a'') ; {{Style S-Small capitals|and life pulsated unconscious in universal space, throughout that All-Presence which is sensed by the “ Opened Eye ” * of the Dangma}} (''b''). †

(''a'') The tendency of modern thought is to recur to the archaic idea of a homogeneous basis for apparently widely different things — heterogeneity developed from homogeneity. Biologists are now searching for their homogeneous protoplasm and chemists for their protyle, while science is looking for the force of which electricity, magnetism, heat, and so forth, are the differentiations. The Secret Doctrine carries this idea into the region of metaphysics and postulates a “ One Form of Existence ” as the basis and source of all things. But perhaps the phrase, the “ One Form of Existence,” is not altogether correct. The Sanskrit word is Prabhavapyaya, “ the place, or rather plane, whence emerges the origination, and into which is the resolution of all things,” says a commentator. It is not the “ Mother of the World,” as translated by Wilson (see Book I., Vishnu Purana) ; for Jagad Yoni (as shown by FitzEdward Hall) is scarcely so much “ the Mother of the World ” or “ the Womb of the World ” as the “ Material Cause of the Universe.” The Purânic Commentators explain it by Karana — “ Cause ” — but the Esoteric philosophy, by the ''ideal spirit of that cause. ''It is, in its secondary stage, the Svâbhâvat of the Buddhist philosopher, the eternal cause and effect, omnipresent yet abstract, the self-existent plastic Essence and the root of all things, viewed in the same dual light as the Vedantin views his Parabrahm and Mulaprakriti, the one under two aspects. It seems indeed extraordinary to find great scholars speculating on the possibility of the Vedanta, and the Uttara-Mimansa especially, having been “ evoked by the teachings of the Buddhists,”

(''a'') The tendency of modern thought is to recur to the archaic idea of a homogeneous basis for apparently widely different things — heterogeneity developed from homogeneity. Biologists are now searching for their homogeneous protoplasm and chemists for their protyle, while science is looking for the force of which electricity, magnetism, heat, and so forth, are the differentiations. The Secret Doctrine carries this idea into the region of metaphysics and postulates a “ One Form of Existence ” as the basis and source of all things. But perhaps the phrase, the “ One Form of Existence,” is not altogether correct. The Sanskrit word is Prabhavapyaya, “ the place, or rather plane, whence emerges the origination, and into which is the resolution of all things,” says a commentator. It is not the “ Mother of the World,” as translated by Wilson (see Book I., Vishnu Purana) ; for Jagad Yoni (as shown by FitzEdward Hall) is scarcely so much “ the Mother of the World ” or “ the Womb of the World ” as the “ Material Cause of the Universe.” The Purânic Commentators explain it by Karana — “ Cause ” — but the Esoteric philosophy, by the ''ideal spirit of that cause. ''It is, in its secondary stage, the Svâbhâvat of the Buddhist philosopher, the eternal cause and effect, omnipresent yet abstract, the self-existent plastic Essence and the root of all things, viewed in the same dual light as the Vedantin views his Parabrahm and Mulaprakriti, the one under two aspects. It seems indeed extraordinary to find great scholars speculating on the possibility of the Vedanta, and the Uttara-Mimansa especially, having been “ evoked by the teachings of the Buddhists,”

{{Style P-No indent|whereas, it is on the contrary Buddhism (of Gautama, the Buddha) that was “ evoked ” and entirely upreared on the tenets of the Secret Doctrine, of which a partial sketch is here attempted, and on which, also, the Upanishads are made to rest. * The above, according to the teachings of Sri Sankarâchârya, † is undeniable.}}

{{Style P-No indent|whereas, it is on the contrary Buddhism (of Gautama, the Buddha) that was “ evoked ” and entirely upreared on the tenets of the Secret Doctrine, of which a partial sketch is here attempted, and on which, also, the Upanishads are made to rest. * The above, according to the teachings of Sri Sankarâchârya, † is undeniable.}}

(''b'') Dreamless sleep is one of the seven states of consciousness known in Oriental esotericism. In each of these states a different portion of the mind comes into action ; or as a Vedantin would express it, the individual is conscious in a different plane of his being. The term “ dreamless sleep,” in this case is applied allegorically to the Universe to express a condition somewhat analogous to that state of consciousness in man, which, not being remembered in a waking state, seems a blank, just as the sleep of the mesmerised subject seems to him an unconscious blank when he returns to his normal condition, although he has been talking and acting as a conscious individual would.

(''b'') Dreamless sleep is one of the seven states of consciousness known in Oriental esotericism. In each of these states a different portion of the mind comes into action ; or as a Vedantin would express it, the individual is conscious in a different plane of his being. The term “ dreamless sleep,” in this case is applied allegorically to the Universe to express a condition somewhat analogous to that state of consciousness in man, which, not being remembered in a waking state, seems a blank, just as the sleep of the mesmerised subject seems to him an unconscious blank when he returns to his normal condition, although he has been talking and acting as a conscious individual would.