神智学简介

阿克

Meaning of The word "Theosophy"

5 B( Z0 g! N! b- o"Theosophy" comes from the Greek "Theos" and "sophia" meaning literally "Divine Knowledge". It is a body of knowledge accumulated since time immemorial that answers the great questions of life - Who am I， Where am I going， What am I doing here， What is the nature of the soul， What is the origin of the universe and What can be said about the nature of divinity.
1 i/ ^5 X- x8 Y! x2 x/ U* s7 A"神智学”一词源自于希腊语“Theos”和“sophia”，意思是“神圣的知识”。它是有关解答生命根本问题——我是谁、我从何处来、往何处去、灵魂是什么、宇宙的起源，以及神性的本质——的知识，它是自古至今这种知识的集聚。
The term theosophy (in its Greek and other forms) had been used about 100 or so times over two millennia in western civilization before Madame Blavatsky. The term came to be the most appropriate word to describe her teachings and so， with a capital "T"， Theosophy came to be the name given to that which she taught in the 19th century.
4 c( ?6 e- K" Z4 A神智论一词（希腊语和<敏感詞>语言中）在布拉瓦茨基夫人之前的两千多年的西方文明中曾使用过上百次。这个词正好最恰当地描述了她的教义，因此，将“T”大写，神智学是她在十九世纪所教授的学说的名称。
Some have， quite understandably， extended the meaning of the word to cover that entire body of knowledge known to Blavatsky's teachers a portion of which was imparted to her. Some academics have taken to using the word to mean "comparative religion"， now that the word has become well known but this certainly dilutes the specific meaning it acquired during the time of Blavatsky. And regrettably， some writers in the 20th century have based themselves on her writings but subtly altered the teachings and then continued to call their writings Theosophy misleading any number of students in the process.
/ S7 O8 `* I: c5 e  o7 l7 S有些人，相当可理解地，将这个词的意思包括了作为布拉瓦茨基夫人的教师传授给她的那部分的整个知识。一些学者使用这个词以指“比较宗教”，既然这个词已变得众所周知，但这当然冲淡了布拉瓦茨基夫人当时它得名时的特定的意思。并且遗憾的是，在20世纪的一些作家对她的作品巧妙地改变教义并继续把他们的作品称为神智学，这误导了一些学生。
Blavatsky Net defines Theosophy as "what Madame Blavatsky wrote".
! _- L/ ^- o' _布拉瓦茨基网定义神智学为“布拉瓦茨斯基夫人的作品”。
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4 ?9 G/ M5 @  ]* T  cSource of Theosophy
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7 V# X' W* M, _" y1 eThe truths of the Secret Doctrine are not the result of one person's opinion. Rather they have been preserved and extended according to a "scientific method" employed over long long centuries by adepts "testing, checking, and verifying" the results of fellow adepts. HPB explains:
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The Secret Doctrine is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages ... such is the mysterious power of Occult symbolism, that the facts which have actually occupied countless generations of initiated seers and prophets to marshal, to set down and explain in the bewildering series of evolutionary progress, are all recorded on a few pages of geometrical signs and glyphs. The flashing gaze of those seers has penetrated into the very kernel of matter, and recorded the soul of things there ... It is useless to say that the system in question is no fancy of one or several isolated individuals. That it is the uninterrupted record covering thousands of generations of Seers whose respective experiences were made to test and to verify the traditions passed orally by one early race to another, of the teachings of higher and exalted beings, who watched over the childhood of Humanity. That for long ages, the "Wise Men" of the Fifth Race, of the stock saved and rescued from the last cataclysm and shifting of continents, had passed their lives in learning, not teaching. How did they do so? It is answered: by checking, testing, and verifying in every department of nature the traditions of old by the independent visions of great adepts;i.e., men who have developed and perfected their physical, mental, psychic, and spiritual organisations to the utmost possible degree. No vision of one adept was accepted till it was checked and confirmed by the visions - so obtained as to stand as independent evidence - of other adepts, and by centuries of experience. -Secret Doctrine by Blavatsky, Vol I, page 273.
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William Q. Judge, the very close student and colleague of Blavatsky, summarized the source of Theosophy:
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Theosophy is not a new invention but the essential underlying truth of all philosophies; it is a body of doctrine in philosophy, science, and ethics, principally derived from the Eastern archaic sacred Theories, which were worked out by a brotherhood of devotees and initiates who used every method of scientific investigation known to us, as well as their own highly developed practices of observation, experiment, concentration, and meditation to reach the truth. They traced all phenomena by every possible means from their significance to their source, and by comparison of their independent searches and observations recorded their conclusions and accepted such results only as could stand the test of applicability and verification from every point and in every conceivable direction.
This slowly accumulating body of facts furnished the basis for these great universal doctrines, and the psychic development of these devotees and students gave them great power over nature and insight into the mystic side of the universe and man. These doctrines were handed down from generation to generation since time immemorial, and were guarded by the most sacredly pledged disciples, who had devoted their whole lives to the development of their psychic and spiritual faculties. The reason why these doctrines had been so strenuously guarded from the profane and unripe is because the possession of their knowledge gives great power for use or abuse. It embraces the science of the finer forces in nature, their relation and correspondences in themselves, and the knowledge of their uses and application for the benefit or destruction of humanity.* Although this transcendental knowledge was accessible at all times to those who were ripe and who felt the craving for it strong enough to make the unremitting sacrifice, it would be acquired only by those whose supreme intensity of excitement and enthusiasm made it possible in those times to incur the self-denial and renunciation of worldly concerns necessary to initiation. Nor is it any different now, and never will be, except that portions of the doctrine are given out from time to time, such as may be safely trusted to an advancing age, because to penetrate into the mystery of nature requires a state of the greatest purity and perfection, and this final perfection is not a gift to be expected from without, but is to be worked for by those who desire it. (From Theosophy and The Theosophical Society, an article by W. Q. Judge)

Blavatsky was taught by two of the Masters who were part of this body of initiated seers referred to above. So she once answered a question as follows:

What I do believe in is (1), the unbroken oral teachings revealed by living divine men during the infancy of mankind to the elect among men; (2), that it has reached us unaltered; and (3) that the M[size=-1]ASTERS are thoroughly versed in the science based on such uninterrupted teaching. (FromWhat Shall We Do For Our Fellow-Men? by H.P. Blavatsky)

# ^1 A% {4 x) d1 w/ w& ~+ V2 MChecklist of Some Principles of Theosophy
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ANCIENT WISDOM knew - and continues to know - deep and vast knowledge about ourselves, our purpose in life, nature, the universe, the highest god-like principles, and man's long pre-history on this earth. Theosophy is the portion of that ancient knowledge brought to us by H. P. Blavatsky toward the end of the 19th century, as taught to her by her Teachers in Tibet.
Some of its principles are:
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• Everything in the universe originates from one boundless, eternal, unknowable source. After a period of manifested existence the universe returns to that source.
• The universe itself is an organic whole, alive, intelligent, conscious, and divine.
• The laws of nature are the result of intelligent forces.
• The law of karma holds throughout the universe. It operates at all levels, ensuring justice, harmony, and balance.
• We reincarnate into successive lives. Once we have reached the human level we do not regress back into animal forms.
• The law of karma acts over our successive lives to ensure justice. (We don't get away with it.) We are the cause of every joy and pain in our own life.
• A law of cycles provides fundamental structure at all levels. Two examples are our pattern of reincarnation, and the continuing "lives" of the universe as it appears, then returns to its source.
• Analogy and correspondence provide fundamental structure for the universe. This is a broad statement of the Hermetic axiom - "As above, so below".
• Evolution applies on a grand scale to all of life.
• Soul gets involved in this world of matter. It experiences and learns. Soul then works its way back in a long pilgrimage to its primal source. This again follows a cyclic pattern.
• This evolution achieves experience, self-awareness, and ever increasing perfection. Evolution occurs on the physical, mental, and spiritual planes.
• "Survival of the fittest" along with gradual accumulation of small beneficial changes does not explain the "origin of the species". The origin of the species is due to intelligent design.
• Humanity has experienced significant evolution in long periods on the continents (not islands) of Atlantis and Lemuria.
• There is a seven fold constitution of man ranging from the physical plane to the purely spiritual plane.
• Thoughts are tangible objects on higher planes. Every thought and action has its effect on us and on our surroundings and has a karmic consequence.
• The three higher planes of this constitution form the "higher self" and that is what reincarnates from life to life and accumulates the experience, the lessons, the virtues. The lower planes form the "lower self" and are the vehicle used by the higher self while it is living in this active testing ground of incarnate life.
• At the moment of death we have a review of our life just past - as we cast off this physical frame. After a short period, that varies greatly between individuals, we cast off other lower aspects of our constitution and the reincarnating self begins a long period of merciful, earned, rest before the next birth.
• Often during this life, our spiritual nature is obscured in our self-centered daily lives as we cater to our immediate needs and desires. But the spiritual self is always there to guide us if we seek it with strong earnest desire.
• We can strive to reach our higher self by:
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  • Listening to our still small voice of conscience.
  • Noting the dreams from the higher self.
  • Developing our intuition.
  • Meditating.
  • Studying principles of the Wisdom Religion.
  • Aligning ourselves with Nature.
  • Engaging in action for the greater good.
  • Carefully reading the events of our daily life.
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• Brotherhood is a fact in nature. We are ONE at the highest spiritual component of our nature. We are sparks from one flame. We are the fingers on one hand. We are ONE at other levels as well.
• We should:
  
  • Understand we are not separate from humanity or the world.
  • Emphasize brotherhood, altruism, and compassion in our daily lives.
  • Strive to know our higher self.
  • As a guiding rule - act for and as the Self of All.
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• The religions of the world are branches on the tree whose trunk is the one ancient - once universal - wisdom religion. The religions are the tributaries of one great river. (But they borrow from each other to make the actual details much more complex.)
• Mythology often transmits some of this knowledge in symbolic form.
• Periodically, great teachers come amongst us to help us in this evolutionary path. They may create another branch on the tree.
• Humanity's potential is infinite and every being has a contribution to make toward a grander world. We are all in it together. We are one.
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% O) ?5 K: g5 ^" o8 VMadame Blavatsky - Who Was She?
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' g$ [* a; q1 u: wMadame Blavatsky was born in Russia in 1831 and died in England in 1891. She is the pioneer esotericist of our age.7 v# V" What She Did.

• Launched the Theosophical Movement calling her message Theosophy.
• First introduced knowledge of eastern religions to the West - including the ideas of karma and reincarnation.
• First showed that all major religions are derived from one original religious philosophy.
• Demonstrated that the ancient wisdom was still known.
• Presented a portion of that ancient wisdom.
• Performed phenomena not explainable by "known" laws of science.
• Gave the logical basis for morality and brotherhood.
• Required that the first objective of the Theosophical Movement be Universal Brotherhood without regard to race, creed, sex, caste, or color.
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What She Wrote.

• 1877 Isis Unveiled - over 1300 pages. Sold out first day in print.
• 1879 The Theosophist - monthly magazine started in India.
• 1887 Lucifer - monthly magazine (literally meaning "light bringer") started in London.
• 1888 The Secret Doctrine - her master work - over 1500 pages.
• 1889 Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge - stenographic recording of Blavatsky's answers to student questions.
• 1889 The Voice of the Silence - an inspirational book - studied by disciples.
• 1889 The Key to Theosophy - an introductory book.
• 1892 Theosophical Glossary - published posthumously - not fully edited by her.
• Miscellaneous other articles, notes, and personal correspondence during her life.
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Chronology of Her Life.

1831 Born August 12 at Dnepropetrovsk (Ekaterinoslav), Ukraine. Daughter of Col. Peter von Hahn and Helena Andreyevna, nee de Fadeyev, renowned novelist who died young. Granddaughter on maternal side of Privy Councilor Audrey de Fadeyev and Princess Helena Pavlovna Dolgorukov, who supervised her education at Saratov and Tiflis, Caucasus. Endowed from childhood with remarkable psychic powers.
# z' d9 R7 @7 @' B# a4 g0 Z& }1849 Married Nikifor Blavatsky, a State Official, very much her senior.
5 m1 b% _* O- T8 G1849-50 Left him and traveled in Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and France.
' _- J& }3 r2 H- G1851 Met her Master in London.  
1852 Embarked for Canada later in the year; went to New Orleans, Mexico, South America, West Indies, thence via the Cape and Ceylon to India.
1853 Attempted but failed to enter Tibet. Returned to England via Java.
, D2 [' V. G/ [2 d' l6 p1854 Came to America again, crossing the Rockies with a caravan of immigrants. May have visited South America again.

1855 Left for India late in the year, via Japan and the Straits.
: z1 ^) T1 g7 S9 |" n, t1856-57 Traveled throughout India, Kashmir, Ladakh, parts of Tibet, Burma.
1858 Returned to Europe via Java, staying in France and Germany. Then returned to Russia, reaching Pskov on Christmas Night.
& [' v: N! d$ M& G6 X( S1860 Left for the Caucasus early in the year, where she traveled among the native tribes, remaining there until 1864-65. Experienced severe physical and psychic crisis acquiring complete control over her occult powers.

1866-67 Left Russia again and traveled extensively in Balkans, Egypt, Syria, Italy. Returned to Italy in 1867 and paid a short visit to southern Russia. Was present at the battle of Mentana, November 3, 1867, and was wounded.
0 R6 B& Y$ z4 c/ m1868 Went to India and Tibet with her Master.
; d( V0 K9 Q) l/ d9 [8 Q1870 Returned to Greece.
) b" \6 {) w% u/ `: E7 s2 Z; W1871 Embarked for Egypt and was shipwrecked near the island of Spetsai, July 4.
$ K5 d, B  e* d! t# u6 o1871-72 Settled in Cairo. Traveled to Syria, Palestine, Lebanon in 1872, returning for a short time to Odessa.
1873 After brief travels in Eastern Europe, went to Paris in spring. On her Master's orders left for New York, landing July 7.

1874 Met Col. Henry Steel Olcott at the Eddy farmhouse, Chittenden, Vermont, October 14.
6 \. H5 H8 {4 `: ?1875 September 8, founded the Theosophical Society, together with Col. Olcott, William Q. Judge, and others. Inaugural address of Col. Olcott delivered November 17.
% M8 |& N# E+ j4 @- K+ k1877 Published her first great work, Isis Unveiled, in the fall.
0 F" W* p  h+ \9 u1878 Became an American citizen, July 8. Left for India with Col. Olcott, December 17, settling at Bombay.
5 h. Z% F# V0 K6 o# }1879 Launched her first magazine, The Theosophist, in October, which resulted in rapid growth of Theosophical work in India, 1879-83.
5 e. J7 U5 u' {, B! g+ H; |3 _1882 Transferred headquarters to Adyar, Madras, India on December 19.
1884 Left for Europe, February 20, accompanied by Olcott and others. After visiting Nice, settled for a while in Paris to work on The Secret Doctrine. Briefly visited London. Moved to Elberfeld, Germany, in the fall. Went to London in October and soon after sailed to India, reaching Adyar December 21.
+ Z' A; f  z1 y- t8 |5 x( }3 w; b1885 Gravely ill, February. Sailed for Naples March 31, leaving India for good. After a brief stay at Torre del Greco, settled at Wurzburg, Germany, where she wrote a large part of The Secret Doctrine.
7 s& j% f6 r( L2 Z1886 Moved to Ostende in July, visiting Elberfeld on her way.
1887 Transferred her residence to London in May, where the Blavatsky Lodge was established, and her second magazine, Lucifer was launched in September.
1888 Published The Secret Doctrine, late fall. Founded the Esoteric School.
1889 Published The Key to Theosophy and The Voice of the Silence.
; b' ~0 y9 O$ q# A! t1890 Established European headquarters of the Theosophical Society, at 19 Avenue Road, London, where she died.

1891 Died May 8. Cremated at Woking Crematorium, Surrey, England.

Note: Chronology taken from "H.P.B.: The Extraordinary Life and Influence of Helena Blavatsky, Founder of the Modern Theosophical Movement" by Sylvia Cranston - the best biography of Madame Blavatsky.) Unfortunately this book is now out of print.
(Note: Much controversy has swirled around Madame Blavatsky. If you are interested, see also: Refutation of charges against Madame Blavatsky.)
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