Theos-Talk Archives (March 2004 Message tt00639)

I don't think this it is a puzzle, in the Mahatma
Letters KH mentions that they call themselves as
Buddhists not because of the religion, but because of
the meaning of the word Buddhi.

I just can't find the quote now, because I am quite
busy, but I am sure someone that have studied the
Mahatma Letters may give the quote.

Erica Letzerich





--- Pedro Oliveira <prmoliveira@y...> wrote:
> One of the puzzles in theosophical history and
> literature is that HPB's Teachers, the Mahatmas,
> declared themselves to be Buddhists, as in this
> well-known passage from the Mahatma Letters:
> 
> "Therefore, we deny God both as philosophers and as
> Buddhists." (ML 88, chronological)
> 
> And yet, the system they taught, sometimes called
> "Aryan-Arhat Esoteric Doctrine", includes as one of
> its pivotal points Atma, or the seventh principle,
> the
> One Self, as well as Soul.
> 
> Apparently, there are no known school in Buddhism
> that
> accepts Atma as a fundamental reality. The denial of
> Atma is one of the cardinal principles in Buddhist
> philosophy. Two well-known scholars explain why:
> 
> "Buddhism stands unique in the history of human
> thought in denying the existence of such a Soul ,
> Self
> or Atman. According to the teaching of the Buddha, 
> the idea of self is an imaginary, false belief which
> has no corresponding reality." (Walpola Rahula,
> "What
> the Buddha Taught")
> 
> "Sakkayaditthi (Substance-view) is avidya
> (ignorance)
> par excellence, and from it proceed all passions.
> Denial of Satkaya (atman or Substance) is the very
> pivot of the Buddhist metaphysics and doctrine of
> salvation." (T.R.V. Murti, "The Central Philosophy
> of
> Buddhism - A Study of the Madhyamika System") 
> 
> Can someone explain which Buddhism the Mahatmas
> subscribed to?
> 
> Pedro
> 
> 
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=====
Erica Letzerich
ICQ- 16621711 
"The Truth will set you free, but first will make you miserable"





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