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(1). Upâdya is a spiritual preceptor, a Guru. The Northern Buddhists choose these generally among the "Narjol ," saintly men, learned in gôtrabhu-gnyâna and gnyâna-dassana-suddhi teachers of the Secret Wisdom.

(2). Yâna - vehicle: thus Mahayâna is the "Great Vehicle," and Hinayâna , the "Lesser Vehicle," the names for two schools of religious and philosophical learning in Northern Buddhism.

(3). Srâvaka - a listener, or student who attends to the religious instructions. From the root "Sru ." When from theory they go into practice or performance of asceticism, they become Sramanas , "exercisers," from Srama , action. As Hardy shows, the two appellations answer to the words akoustikoi and asketai of the Greeks.

(4). Samtan (Tibetan), the same as the Sanskrit Dhyâna , or the state of meditation, of which there are four degrees.

(5). Paramitas , the six transcendental virtues; for the priests there are ten .

(6). Srôtâpatti - (lit.) "he who has entered the stream" that leads to the Nirvanic ocean. This name indicates [88] the first Path. The name of the second is the Path of Sakridagamin , "he who will receive birth (only) once more." The third is called Anagâmin , "he who will be reincarnated no more," unless he so desires in order to help mankind. The fourth Path is known as that of Rahat or Arhat . This is the highest. An Arhat sees Nirvana during his life. For him it is no post-mortem state, but Samâdhi , during which he experiences all Nirvanic bliss.* {* How little one can rely upon the Orientalists for the exact words and meaning, is instanced in the case of three "alleged" authorities. Thus the four names just explained are given by R. Spence Hardy as: 1. Sowân; 2. Sakradâgâmi; 3. Anâgâmi, and 4. Arya. By the Rev. J. Edkins they are given as: I. Srôtâpanna; 2. Sagardagam; 3. Anâgânim, and 4. Arhan. Schlagintweit again spells them differently, each, moreover, giving another and a new variation in the meaning of the terms.}

(7). "Arrival at the shore" is with the Northern Buddhists synonymous with reaching Nirvana through the exercise of the six and the ten Paramitas (virtues).

(8). The "MASTER-SOUL" is Alaya , the Universal Soul or Atman, each man having a ray of it in him and being supposed to be able to identify himself with and to merge himself into it.

(9). Antaskarana is the lower Manas , the Path of [89] communication or communion between the personality and the higher Manas or human Soul. At death it is destroyed as a Path or medium of communication, and its remains survive in a form as the Kamarupa - the "shell."

(10). The Northern Buddhists, and all Chinamen, in fact, find in the deep roar of some of the great and sacred rivers the key-note of Nature. Hence the simile. It is a well-known fact in Physical Science, as well as in Occultism, that the aggregate sound of Nature - such as heard in the roar of great rivers, the noise produced by the waving tops of trees in large forests, or that of a city heard at a distance - is a definite single tone of quite an appreciable pitch. This is shown by physicists and musicians. Thus Prof. Rice (Chinese Music ) shows that the Chinese recognized the fact thousands of years ago by saying that "the waters of the Hoang-ho rushing by, intoned the kung " called "the great tone" in Chinese music; and he shows this tone corresponding with the F, "considered by modern physicists to be the actual tonic of Nature." Professor B. Silliman mentions it, too, in his Principles of Physics , saying that " this tone is held to be the middle F of the piano; which may, therefore, be considered the key-note of Nature."

[90] (11). The Bhons or Dugpas , the sect of the "Red Caps," are regarded as the most versed in sorcery. They inhabit Western and little Tibet and Bhutan. They are all Tantrikas. It is quite ridiculous to find Orientalists who have visited the borderlands of Tibet, such as Schlagintweit and others, confusing the rites and disgusting practices of these with the religious beliefs of the Eastern Lamas, the "Yellow Caps," and their Narjols or holy men. The following is an instance.

(12). Dorje is the Sancrit Vajra , a weapon or instrument in the hands of some gods (the Tibetan Dragshed , the Devas who protect men), and is regarded as having the same occult power of repelling evil influences by purifying the air as Ozone in chemistry. It is also a Mudra a gesture and posture used in sitting for meditation. It is, in short, a symbol of power over invisible evil influences, whether as a posture or a talisman. The Bhons or Dugpas , however, having appropriated the symbol, misuse it for purposes of Black Magic. With the "Yellow Caps," or Gelugpas , it is a symbol of power, as the Cross is with the Christians, while it is in no way more "superstitious." With the Dugpas , it is like the double triangle reversed , the sign of sorcery.

(13). Virâga is the feeling of absolute indifference to [91] the objective universe, to pleasure and to pain. "Disgust" does not express its meaning, yet it is akin to it.

(14). Ahankara - the "I" or feeling of one's personality, the "I-am-ness."

(15). "One who walks in the steps of his predecessors" or "those who came before him," is the true meaning of the name Tathâgata .

(16) Samvriti is that one of the two truths which demonstrates the illusive character or emptiness of all things. It is relative truth in this case. The Mahayâna school teaches the difference between these two truths - Paramârthasatya and Samvritisatya (Satya "truth"). This is the bone of contention between the Madhyâmikas and the Yogâcharyas , the former denying and the latter affirming that every object exists owing to a previous cause or by a concatenation. The Madhyâmikas are the great Nihilists and Deniers, for whom everything is parikalpita , an illusion and an error in the world of thought and the subjective, as much as in the objective universe. The Yogâcharyas are the great spiritualists. Samvriti , therefore, as only relative truth, is the origin of all illusion.

(17). Lhamayin are elementals and evil spirits adverse to men and their enemies.

[92] (18). Dhyân-Mârga is the "Path of Dhyâna," literally; or the Path of pure knowledge , of Paramârtha or (Sanscrit) Svasamvedana "the self-evident or self-analyzing reflection."

(19). Vide Glossary of Part II., Number 4. "Diamond-Soul" or Vajradhara presides over the Dhyani-Buddhas .

(20). This is an allusion to a well-known belief in the East (as in the West, too, for the matter of that) that every additional Buddha or Saint is a new soldier in the army of those who work for the liberation or salvation of mankind. In Northern Buddhist countries, where the doctrine of Nirmânakâyas - those Bôdhisattvas who renounce well-earned Nirvana or the Dharmakâya vesture (both of which shut them out for ever from the world of men) in order to invisibly assist mankind and lead it finally to Paranirvana - is taught, every new Bôdhisattva or initiated great Adept is called the "liberator of mankind." The statement made by Schlagintweit in his Buddhism in Tibet to the effect that Prulpai Ku or Nirmânakâya is "the body in which the Buddhas or Bôdhisattvas appear upon earth to teach men" - is absurdly inaccurate and explains nothing.

(21). A reference to human passions and sins which are slaughtered during the trials of the novitiate, and serve as [93] well-fertilized soil in which "holy germs" or seeds of transcendental virtues may germinate. Pre-existing or innate virtues, talents or gifts are regarded as having been acquired in a previous birth. Genius is without exception a talent or aptitude brought from another birth.

(22). Titiksha is the fifth state of Raja Yoga - one of supreme indifference; submission, if necessary, to what is called "pleasures and pains for all," but deriving neither pleasure nor pain from such submission - in short, the becoming physically, mentally, and morally indifferent and insensible to either pleasure or pain.

(23). Sowanee is one who practices Sowan , the first path in Dhyan , a Srôtâpatti.

(24). "Day" means here a whole Manvantara , a period of incalculable duration.

(25). Mount Meru, the sacred mountain of the Gods.

(26). In the Northern Buddhist symbology, Amitabha or "Boundless Space" (Parabrahm) is said to have in his paradise two Bôdhisattvas - Kwan-shi-yin and Tashishi - who ever radiate light over the three worlds where they lived, including our own (vide 27), in order to help with this light (of knowledge) in the instruction of Yogis, who will, in their turn, save men. Their exalted position in Amitabhas's realm is due to deeds of mercy [94] performed by the two, as such Yogis, when on earth, says the allegory.

(27). These three worlds are the three planes of being, the terrestrial, astral and the spiritual.

(28). The "Guardian Wall" or the "Wall of Protection." It is taught that the accumulated efforts of long generations of Yogis, Saints and Adepts, especially of the Nirmânakayas - have created, so to say, a wall of protection around mankind, which wall shields mankind invisibly from still worse evils.

(29). Klesha is the love of pleasure or of worldy enjoyment, evil or good.

(30). Tanha , the will to live, that which causes rebirth.

(31). This "compassion" must not be regarded in the same light as "God, the divine love" of the Theists. Compassion stands here as an abstract, impersonal law whose nature, being absolute Harmony, is thrown into confusion by discord, suffering, and sin.

(32). In the Northern Buddhist phraseology all the great Arhats, Adepts and Saints are called Buddhas.

(33). A Bôdhisattva is, in the hierarchy, less than a "perfect Buddha." In the exoteric parlance these two are very much confused. Yet the innate and right [95] popular perception, owing to that self-sacrifice, has placed a Bôdhisattva higher in its reverence than a Buddha.

(34). This same popular reverence calls "Buddhas of Compassion" those Bôdhisattvas who, having reached the rank of an Arhat (i.e. , having completed the fourth or seventh Path), refuse to pass into the Nirvânic state or "don the Dharmakâya robe and cross to the other shore," as it would then become beyond their power to assist men even so little as Karma permits. They prefer to remain invisibly (in Spirit, so to speak) in the world, and contribute toward man's salvation by influencing them to follow the Good Law, i.e. , lead them on the Path of Righteousness. It is part of the exoteric Northern Buddhism to honour all such great characters as Saints, and to offer even prayers to them, as the Greeks and Catholics do to their Saints and Patrons; on the other hand, the esoteric teachings countenance no such thing. There is a great difference between the two teachings. The exoteric layman hardly knows the real meaning of the word Nirmânakâya - hence the confusion and inadequate explanations of the Orientalists. For example Schlagintweit believes that Nirmânakâya - body, means the physical form assumed by the Buddhas when they [96] incarnate on earth - "the least sublime of their earthly encumbrances" (vide "Buddhism in Tibet") - and he proceeds to give an entirely false view on the subject. The real teaching is, however, this : -

The three Buddhic bodies or forms are styled : -

I. Nirmânakâya .

2. Sambhogakâya .

3. Dharmakâya .

The first is that ethereal form which one would assume when leaving his physical he would appear in his astral body - having in addition all the knowledge of an Adept. The Bôdhisattva develops it in himself as he proceeds on the Path. Having reached the goal and refused its fruition, he remains on Earth, as an Adept; and when he dies, instead of going into Nirvâna, he remains in that glorious body he has woven for himself, invisible to unitiated mankind, to watch over and protect it.

Sambhogakâya is the same, but with the additional lustre of "three perfections," one of which is entire obliteration of all earthly concerns.

The Dharmakâya body is that of a complete Buddha, i.e. , no body at all, but an ideal breath: Consciousness merged in the Universal Consciousness, or Soul devoid of every attribute. Once a Dharmakâya, an Adept or [97] Buddha leaves behind every possible relation with, or thought for this earth. Thus, to be enabled to help humanity, an Adept who has won the right to Nirvâna, "renounces the Dharmakâya body" in mystic parlance; keeps, of the Sambhogakâya, only the great and complete knowledge, and remains in his Nirmânakâya body. The esoteric school teaches that Gautama Buddha with several of his Arhats is such a Nirmânakâya , higher than whom, on account of the great renunciation and sacrifice for mankind there is none known.

(35). Myalba is our earth - pertinently called "Hell," and the greatest of all Hells, by the esoteric school. The esoteric doctrine knows of no hell, or place of punishment other than a man-bearing planet or earth. Avitchi is a state and not a locality.

(36). Meaning that a new and additional Saviour of mankind is born, who will lead men to final Nirvâna i.e. , after the end of the life-cycle.

(37). This is one of the variations of the formula that invariably follows every treatise, invocation or Instruction. "Peace to all beings," "Blessings on all that Lives," &c., &c.

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