Theos-Talk Archives (February 1995 Message tl00013)

Ken, sorry to butt into your conversation, but you asked some
interesting questions and provided some interesting topics of
discussion.

Ken: "I've been intrigued by the whole matter of the Great White
Brotherhood.  To date the attempts to come to grips with its
origins do not take into account what is blatantly obvious to me:
the bodhisattva sangha."

Actually, if you read G.  de Purucker, he describes the
bodhisattva sanga in some detail and compares it with what he
calls the Hierarchy of Compassion.  In an esoteric sense, this
Hierarchy includes virually everyone who has an honest concern
for others, and so the bodhisattva is only one player in this
Hierarchy.  The bodhisattva sanga would likely equate to a branch
or division of it.  The Great White Brotherhood is the Source,
focal point, or 'headquarters' of the Hierarchy of Compassion,
and according to HPB (I believe, but can't recall the exact
reference right now) it is located on the fourth cosmic plane
(which I would call the causal plane) just below the Abyss - the
highest (in the sense of the most spiritual) region in our
universe accessible to the human mind.  She also locates at this
point the Silent Watcher (I am pretty sure this is in THE INNER
GROUP TEACHINGS) who is apparently the Hierarch of the Hierarchy
of Compassion.

Of course, all of this stuff is exoteric (i.e., in so many words)
while what is *really* going on is esoteric and beyond words to
describe properly.  In words, it sound suspiciously like some
kind of government organization spying on us for our own good.

Ken: " In Blavatsky's day very little credence was given to
Tibetan Buddhism"

Sadly True.  Probably the single best writer in English on the
subject was Alexandra David-Neel, who actually lived in Tibet for
several years and adopted a son there.  BTW, her books are still
being read and appreciated today.  It was not until Evans-Wentz
wrote his 4 books on Tibetan subjects that the West began a real
appreciation - and he was a theosophist.

Ken: "One suspects the erotic aspects of Tibetan iconography
furhter colored perceptions."

They still do, Ken.  They still do.

Ken: "Today we know Tibet, as well as China, Korea and Japan
share in a common mythological, symbolic, and soteriological
tradition concerning becoming a bodhisattva in this very life"

I am happy to hear you say this.  Until now, I think I have been
the only one on this net who has consistently said this.  Ken,
most theosophists today do not think that this is possible, and I
have been the brunt of a lot of flames (some kindly, and some
not) over this issue.  Theosophists seem to think that you need
seven or more lifetimes from this one in order to become a
bodhisattva.  This issue is apparently one of the differences
between Tibetan Buddhism and theosophy.  While I am a theosophist
and not a Tibetan Buddhist, I still agree with Tibetan Buddhism
on the possibility of being a bodhisattva in this lifetime.

          Jerry S.