{"id":164,"date":"2012-02-22T04:18:53","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T03:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/?p=164"},"modified":"2012-02-22T04:26:23","modified_gmt":"2012-02-22T03:26:23","slug":"the-meaning-of-svabhava","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/the-meaning-of-svabhava\/","title":{"rendered":"The Meaning of Svabh\u0101va"},"content":{"rendered":"

The meaning of svabh\u0101va given in The Secret Doctrine<\/em>, drawing from the compilation prepared by Jacques, is the \u201cessence,\u201d the \u201cself-existent plastic essence and the root of all things,\u201d the \u201c\u2018plastic essence\u2019 that fills the universe,\u201d the \u201croot of all things,\u201d the “mystic essence,” and the “plastic root of physical nature.\u201d In referring to svabh\u0101va as an \u201cessence,\u201d HPB was apparently following the writers of her time, such as Samuel Beal. But she was well aware of the inadequacy of this term. In the \u201cSumming Up\u201d section of the SD, her third statement, referring to the \u201cSubstance-Principle\u201d spoken of in her second statement, says:<\/p>\n

\u201c(3.) The Universe is the periodical manifestation of this unknown Absolute Essence. To call it \u201cessence,\u201d however, is to sin against the very spirit of the philosophy. For though the noun may be derived in this case from the verb esse<\/em>, \u201cto be,\u201d yet It cannot be identified with a being<\/em> of any kind, that can be conceived by human intellect.\u201d (SD 1.273)<\/p>\n

Although this refers to the \u201cSubstance-Principle,\u201d the same idea applies to its first remove or secondary stage, svabh\u0101va. We may now refine the meaning of svabh\u0101va. If you try to find or search for svabh\u0101va under the translation \u201cessence\u201d in books published in the last hundred years, you will not likely have much success. The meaning \u201cessence\u201d is not found for svabh\u0101va in the standard Sanskrit-English dictionaries (Monier Monier-Williams and Vaman Shivaram Apte), or in the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary (Franklin Edgerton). I see that it is given in Wikipedia, but it is there likely copied from an online Theosophical glossary.<\/p>\n

As literally as normal English allows, svabh\u0101va means \u201cself-nature.\u201d Some translators use the literal \u201cown-being,\u201d but this is not normal English. Another very close, but somewhat more idiomatic translation is \u201cinherent nature,\u201d or \u201cintrinsic nature.\u201d Of these two synonymous phrases, I have adopted \u201cinherent nature\u201d over \u201cintrinsic nature\u201d because of its verbal similarity to \u201cinherent existence.\u201d Inherent existence is another translation of svabh\u0101va that is widely used in the Madhyamaka Buddhist context of the denial of svabh\u0101va; e.g., the \u201cemptiness of inherent existence\u201d (svabh\u0101va-\u015b\u016bnyat\u0101). A thing\u2019s \u201cinherent nature\u201d is something that always remains the same; so in this philosophical context it has come to mean something\u2019s \u201cinherent existence.\u201d The basic meaning of svabh\u0101va is shown in the often-used example that heat is the \u201cinherent nature\u201d of fire.<\/p>\n

As may be seen, svabh\u0101va is the inherent nature of something, whatever that something may be. In Buddhism, it is normally the inherent nature of the dharmas, the factors of existence that make up the world. It is not a stand-alone essence. One can call it the essence of something, but one would not normally call it an essence per se. Of course, if it is the inherent nature of something that is itself an essence, then as being indistinguishable from that essence, svabh\u0101va, too, could be called an essence. This appears to be what is happening in the Theosophical writings. Although as HPB noted above, it is philosophically incorrect to refer to the one \u201cSubstance-Principle\u201d as an essence, it is nonetheless done for expedience. When doing so, one can then also expediently use essence for svabh\u0101va. Even if this is adopted from other writers where it is incorrect in relation to Buddhism (because Buddhism does not teach an essence), it would not in this way be incorrect for Theosophy. It would refer to the inherent nature of something that can loosely be called an essence.<\/p>\n

A careful study of the Theosophical references will show that the term svabh\u0101va is used in two different ways. It is used more loosely and more precisely. It is loosely referred to as an essence, while more precisely it is called force or motion or radiance. This latter fits in well with the basic meaning of svabh\u0101va, inherent nature. The inherent nature of the one Substance-Principle is force or motion or radiance. Put another way, motion is the inherent nature of the one element, the dh\u0101tu. It always remains, fitting the definition of svabh\u0101va as something that is unchanging, because unceasing motion is the imperishable life of eternal, living, superphysical substance, the one Substance-Principle (see Cosmological Notes and Mahatma Letter #10).<\/p>\n

Svabh\u0101va is force or motion:<\/p>\n

\u201cStudy the laws and doctrines of the Nepaulese Swabhavikas, the principal Buddhist philosophical school in India, and you will find them the most learned as the most scientifically logical wranglers in the world. Their plastic, invisible, eternal, omnipresent and unconscious Swabhavat is Force or Motion<\/em> ever generating its electricity which is life.\u201d (Mahatma Letter #22)<\/p>\n

Svabh\u0101va is radiance:<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the first two Parts, it was shown that, at the first flutter of renascent life, Sv\u00e2bh\u00e2vat<\/strong>, “the mutable radiance of the Immutable Darkness unconscious in Eternity,” passes, at every new rebirth of Kosmos, from an inactive state into one of intense activity; that it differentiates, and then begins its work through that differentiation.\u201d (SD 1.635)<\/p>\n

This also fits in well with how svabh\u0101va is used in the Book of Dzyan. The meaning of svabh\u0101va in the Book of Dzyan is indicated by its usage, where svabh\u0101va:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. is the root of the world (stanza 2.1)<\/li>\n
  2. is father-mother (stanza 2.5)<\/li>\n
  3. was in darkness (prior to manifestation) (stanza 2.5)<\/li>\n
  4. is the two substances (spirit and matter) made in one (stanza 3.10)<\/li>\n
  5. sends fohat to harden the atoms (at the time of manifestation) (stanza 3.12)<\/li>\n
  6. is the \u0101di-nid\u0101na (first cause) (stanza 4.5)<\/li>\n
  7. is the voice of the word (not lord, as misprinted on p. 31) (stanza 4.5) (this is the voice that emanates the word; see The Secret Doctrine Commentaries<\/em>, p. 341)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The meaning of svabh\u0101va in the Book of Dzyan appears to be the inherent nature of the dh\u0101tu, the one element, and this inherent nature is its life or motion. This motion is what brings about the manifestation of a cosmos. So the cosmogenesis teaching of the Book of Dzyan can accurately be called svabh\u0101va-v\u0101da. No known system teaches this any longer, but it is referred to as an ancient teaching in all three of the religions of old India, Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. From these writings, we see that there is more than one kind of svabh\u0101va-v\u0101da. These will be the subject of further research here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The meaning of svabh\u0101va given in The Secret Doctrine, drawing from the compilation prepared by Jacques, is the \u201cessence,\u201d the \u201cself-existent plastic essence and the root of all things,\u201d the \u201c\u2018plastic essence\u2019 that fills the universe,\u201d the \u201croot of all things,\u201d the “mystic essence,” and the “plastic root of physical nature.\u201d In referring to svabh\u0101va […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-svabhavat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}