Quotation

"Listen quietly, and judge kindly."

— Shakespeare

Since the appearance of Theosophical literature in England, it has become customary to refer to its teachings as "Esoteric Buddhism." And as an old saying based on daily experience says, once a habit is formed, "error slides down an inclined plane, but truth must be laboriously climbed up."

Old, self-evident truths are often the wisest. It is difficult for the human mind to remain completely free from prejudice. Furthermore, definitive opinions often form before a subject has been thoroughly examined from all sides. Here, I will discuss two common errors: (a) limiting Theosophy to Buddhism, and (b) confusing the religious philosophical teachings of Gotama, that is, Buddha, with the doctrines roughly outlined in "Esoteric Buddhism." It is difficult to imagine a more incorrect view. This misunderstanding has allowed adversaries to acquire an effective weapon against Theosophy. As one prominent Pali scholar stated very accurately, "there is neither esoteric nor Buddhist" in those writings.

The esoteric truths revealed in Mr. Sinnet's writings ceased to be esoteric the moment they were made public. Furthermore, what was included in his works was not Buddhism itself, but only a few doctrines extracted from teachings that had previously been hidden. These have since been supplemented, expanded upon, and explained with even more content in the current volumes. However, even these latter works, while revealing many fundamental principles from the "secret doctrine" of the East, reveal only a small corner of the dark veil. This is because no matter how great a living master may be, they are not permitted to indiscriminately reveal what has been cleverly hidden from the world for long eons and ages, towards a world that would ridicule and refuse to believe it, nor can they reveal it even if they wished to.

"Esoteric Buddhism" was an excellent work, but the title was very unfortunate. However, what that title meant is not more than what the title of this book, "The Secret Doctrine," means. People tend to judge things based on their appearance rather than their meaning, and this error has become so widespread now that even most members of the Theosophical Society have fallen victim to the same misunderstanding. Therefore, the title was an unfortunate one.

However, from the beginning, people including the Brahmins protested against the title. I must add this for my own honor: "Esoteric Buddhism" was given to me as a completed book, and I had no idea how the author intended to spell the word "Budh-ism."

This confusion is directly attributable to the fact that those who first introduced this subject to the public did not point out the difference between "Buddhism," a religious and ethical system taught by Gautama, named after his title of "Buddha" (the Awakened One), and Budha, which refers to the ability to perceive and originates from the Sanskrit root "Budh" (to know), meaning "wisdom" or knowledge (Vidya).

We, the Indian Theosophists, are truly responsible. At that time, we did our best to correct this error (see "Theosophist," June 1883 issue). It was easy to avoid this regrettable misnomer. We could have changed the spelling and, with everyone's agreement, pronounced and written it as "Budhism" instead of "Buddhism." Furthermore, even the latter term is not accurate in English; originally, it should be called "Buddhaism," and its followers should be called "Buddhaists."

This explanation is absolutely necessary at the beginning of a work like this book. "Wisdom Religion" is a legacy inherited by all ethnicities around the world. However, in the preface to the first edition of "Esoteric Buddhism," it states, "Two years ago (that is, in 1883), I was the only one, and no European who was alive at that time, who knew this science alphabet, which was compiled into a scientific form for the first time here."

This error must have been introduced unintentionally. This is because the current author knew everything that was "revealed" in Esoteric Buddhism, and even more, long before the year 1880 when the author felt obligated to impart a part of this secret doctrine to two European gentlemen. One of those two gentlemen became the author of Esoteric Buddhism. And the current author, possessing an undeniable qualification as a European due to birth and education, which is somewhat delicate for him personally,

Furthermore, a significant portion of the philosophy that Mr. Sinnett advocated was taught to him in America by two Europeans and my colleague, Colonel H. S. Olcott, even before the publication of "Isis Unveiled."

Furthermore, a significant portion of the philosophy that Mr. Sinnett espoused had already been taught to two Europeans in America, and to my colleague, Colonel H. S. Olcott, even before the publication of "Isis Unveiled." Of the three teachers, the first was a Hungarian initiate, the second an Egyptian, and the third a Hindu. Colonel Olcott made public some aspects of this teaching in various forms, as far as he was permitted to do so. The other two did not do so simply because they were not allowed to. Their time had not yet come for public activity. However, the time has now come for others, and the appearance of Mr. Sinnett's several interesting works serves as a visible demonstration of that fact.

It is important to remember that the value of a book on Theosophy does not increase in any way by being endorsed by someone claiming authority.

Etymologically, Adi and Adhi Budha, meaning "the one (or the first)" and "supreme wisdom," are terms used in the secret treatises by Ārya Sangha, and now employed by all Northern esoteric Buddhists. This is Sanskrit, and it was a designation given to an unknown deity by the early Aryans. The word "Brahma" cannot be found in the Vedas or in any of the early texts. This term means absolute wisdom, and FitzEdward Hall translates "Adi-bhuta" as "the primordial cause of all things, which is not created."

It must have taken an immeasurable amount of time for the title "Buddha" to change, evolving from a more human meaning to eventually being bestowed upon a single individual who possessed unparalleled virtue and knowledge, earning them the epithet "the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom."

Bodha means innate divine intelligence, that is, "understanding." Buddha means acquiring it through individual effort and merit. On the other hand, Buddhi refers to the ability of cognition, which is the path by which divine knowledge reaches the "ego," the power to distinguish between good and evil, also known as the "divine conscience," and the "spiritual soul" that carries the Atma.

Those who are blindly hostile towards Buddhism, and in the modern era, untimely in their hatred, and as a reaction to that, harbor hatred even for "Buddhism," and deny its esoteric teachings (which are also the teachings of the Brahmins), are foolish. They are denying it simply because the name is different.

When these teachings, originally a secret and sacred group among the Alahat, were transmitted during missionary activities to lands unprepared for metaphysical concepts, time and human imagination greatly distorted their purity and philosophy. Specifically, they were passed from India to China, Japan, Siam, and Burma. How the original purity of these great revelations was treated can be understood by studying ancient so-called "esoteric" Buddhist sects in their modern forms. This applies not only to China and other Buddhist countries in general, but also to a certain number of Tibetan schools that were entrusted to uninitiated lamas and Mongolian innovators.