\nThere exists somewhere in this wide world an old Book \u2013 so very old that our modern antiquarians might ponder over its pages an indefinite time, and still not quite agree as to the nature of the fabric upon which it is written. It is the only original copy now in existence. The most ancient Hebrew document on occult learning \u2013 the\u00a0Siphra Dzeniouta<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 was compiled from it, and that at a time when the former was already considered in the light of a literary relic.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nShe goes on to describe one of the illustrations in the book, which shows Adam emanating from the Divine Essence.(1)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In\u00a0<\/span>The Secret Doctrine<\/em><\/span>\u00a0(1:xliii), Blavatsky writes:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\nThe \u2018very old Book\u2019 is the original work from which the many volumes of\u00a0Kiu-ti<\/em>\u00a0were compiled. Not only this latter and the\u00a0Siphrah Dzeniouta<\/em>\u00a0but even the\u00a0Sepher Jezirah<\/em>, the work attributed by the Hebrew Kabalists to their Patriarch Abraham (!), the book of\u00a0Shu-king<\/em>, China\u2019s primitive Bible, the sacred volumes of the Egyptian Thoth-Hermes, the Pur\u00e2nas in India, and the Chaldean\u00a0Book of Numbers<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0Pentateuch<\/em>\u00a0itself, are all derived from that one small parent volume. Tradition says, that it was taken down in\u00a0Senzar<\/em>, the secret sacerdotal tongue, from the words of the Divine Beings, who dictated it to the sons of Light, in Central Asia, at the very beginning of the 5th (our) race .\u00a0.\u00a0.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In an article entitled \u2018The Secret Books of \u201cLam-Rim\u201d and Dzyan\u2019, which was not published during her lifetime, Blavatsky says that the\u00a0<\/span>Book of Dzyan<\/em><\/span>, on which\u00a0<\/span>The Secret Doctrine<\/em><\/span>\u00a0is based, is one of the volumes of\u00a0<\/span>Kiu-te<\/em><\/span>:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0<\/span>Book of Dzyan<\/em><\/span>\u00a0\u2013 from the Sanskrit word \u2018Dhy\u00e2na\u2019 (mystic meditation) \u2013 is the first volume of the Commentaries upon the seven secret folios of\u00a0<\/span>Kiu-te<\/em><\/span>, and a Glossary of the public works of the same name. Thirty-five volumes of\u00a0<\/span>Kiu-te<\/em><\/span>\u00a0for exoteric purposes and the use of the laymen may be found in the possession of the Tibetan Gelugpa Lamas, in the library of any monastery; and also fourteen books of Commentaries and Annotations on the same by the initiated Teachers.
\nStrictly speaking, those thirty-five books ought to be termed \u2018The Popularised Version\u2019 of the Secret Doctrine, full of myths, blinds, and errors; the fourteen volumes of\u00a0<\/span>Commentaries<\/em><\/span>, on the other hand \u2013 with their translations, annotations, and an ample glossary of Occult terms, worked out from one small archaic folio, the\u00a0<\/span>Book of the Secret Wisdom of the World<\/em><\/span>\u00a0\u2013 contain a digest of all the Occult Sciences. These, it appears, are kept secret and apart, in the charge of the Teshu-Lama, of Shigatse. The\u00a0<\/span>Books of Kiu-te<\/em><\/span>\u00a0are comparatively modern, having been edited within the last millennium, whereas, the earliest volumes of the<\/span>Commentaries<\/em><\/span>\u00a0are of untold antiquity . . .<\/span>(2)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0G. de Purucker makes the following comments on the\u00a0<\/span>Book of Dzyan<\/em><\/span>:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Book of Dzyan, as a physical roll or book or manuscript, .\u00a0.\u00a0. is, as H.P.B. says, not very old, probably about a thousand years, and is part of a well-known, more or less common Tibetan series of works, well-known even exoterically, called Kiu-ti .\u00a0.\u00a0. The substance, however, of the Book of Dzyan, which is simply the Tibetan or Mongolian way of pronouncing the Sanskrit Dhy\u00e2na, is very ancient, even highly archaic, goes right back into Atlantean times, and even beyond as regards the doctrine taught. .\u00a0.\u00a0.
\nThe Book of Dzyan is written in Tibetan, at least part of it or most of it, is interspersed with a lot of exoteric stuff, but the real occult part of the Book of Dzyan is one of the first of the Kiu-ti volumes and deals mainly with cosmogony, and later on to a less extent, I believe, with anthropogony or the beginnings of mankind.<\/span>(3)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Blavatsky states that the Stanzas of Dzyan as presented in\u00a0<\/span>The Secret Doctrine<\/em><\/span>\u00a0are a modern translation that blends together texts and glosses to make them more comprehensible. She speaks of Tibetan and Senzar versions of the stanzas, and says that extracts are given from the Chinese, Tibetan, and Sanskrit translations of the original Senzar commentaries and glosses.(<\/span>4)<\/span><\/span> She also explains that Senzar, the mystery language of the prehistoric ages, is \u2018the language now called SYMBOLISM\u2019.<\/span>(5)<\/span><\/span> An example is the series of glyphs from \u2018an archaic manuscript\u2019 which are described in the first few pages of the Proem (SD 1:1-5), and represent the dawn of a new manvantara.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the Introductory to\u00a0<\/span>The Secret Doctrine<\/em><\/span>\u00a0(1:xxii), Blavatsky writes:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\nOne of the greatest, and, withal, the most serious objection to the correctness and reliability of the whole work will be the preliminary STANZAS: \u2018How can the statements contained in them be verified?\u2019 .\u00a0.\u00a0. The Book of Dzyan (or \u2018Dzan\u2019) is utterly unknown to our Philologists, or at any rate was never heard of by them under its present name.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nDespite all the information provided by Blavatsky, the actual identity of the public books of\u00a0Kiu-te<\/em>\u00a0remained a mystery for over 80 years after her death. The existence of such books was called into question, and they were often dismissed as figments of her imagination. However, in 1975 H.J. Spierenburg (6)<\/span> identified the\u00a0Books of Kiu-te<\/em>\u00a0as the Tibetan Buddhist Tantras \u2013 the correct transliteration of the Tibetan title is\u00a0rGyud-sde<\/em>, but \u2018Kiu-te\u2019 is a good approximation of the pronunciation. In 1981, another theosophical scholar, David Reigle, independently came to the same conclusion regarding the identity of the\u00a0Books of Kiu-te<\/em>.(7)<\/span> He writes:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\nAs [Blavatsky] said, they are indeed found in the library of any Tibetan Gelugpa monastery, as also in those of the other sects (Kargyudpa, Nyingmapa, and Sakyapa), and they are indeed highly occult works, being regarded by the entire Tibetan Buddhist tradition as embodying the Buddha\u2019s secret teachings. .\u00a0.\u00a0. [O]nly the spelling of the term foiled previous attempts to identify them.(8)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The spelling \u2018Kiu-te\u2019 (or Khiu-te) is taken from the writings of the Capuchin monk Horace della Penna. Blavatsky quotes his extremely negative views on the\u00a0<\/span>Books of Kiu-te<\/em><\/span>\u00a0in her article \u2018The Secret Books of \u201cLam-Rim\u201d and Dzyan\u2019, and they are refuted by the \u2018Chohan-Lama\u2019, \u2018the Chief of the Archive-registrars of the secret Libraries of the Dalai and Ta-sh\u00fc-hlumpo Lamas-Rimboche\u2019, in an article entitled \u2018Tibetan Teachings\u2019, written at Blavatsky\u2019s request but not published until after her death.<\/span>(9)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Tibetan Buddhist Sacred Canon is divided into two parts: the Kanjur, containing the Buddha\u2019s Word, and the Tanjur, containing commentaries. Reigle believes that the\u00a0<\/span>Book of Dzyan<\/em><\/span>\u00a0may be the\u00a0<\/span>M\u00fbla<\/em><\/span>\u00a0(Root)\u00a0<\/span>K\u00e2lachakra Tantra<\/em><\/span>\u00a0\u2013 which is\u00a0<\/span>missing<\/em><\/span>. Rather than being \u2018lost\u2019, it was probably withdrawn from the outer world, just as various other esoteric works have been either withdrawn or abridged.<\/span>(10)<\/span><\/span> Given Blavatsky\u2019s remark that the\u00a0<\/span>Book of Dzyan<\/em><\/span>\u00a0is \u2018the first volume of the Commentaries upon the seven secret folios of Kiu-te\u2019, it is significant that the\u00a0<\/span>Laghu<\/em><\/span>\u00a0(Abridged)\u00a0<\/span>K\u00e2lachakra Tantra<\/em><\/span>, which is still available, is always placed\u00a0<\/span>first<\/em><\/span>\u00a0among the\u00a0<\/span>Books of Kiu-te<\/em><\/span>\u00a0in editions of the Kanjur. The\u00a0<\/span>K\u00e2lachakra Tantra<\/em><\/span>\u00a0is the only Buddhist Tantra whose subject matter resembles the cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis of\u00a0<\/span>The Secret Doctrine<\/em><\/span>. According to Reigle, \u2018Dzyan\u2019 is a Tibetan phonetic rendering of the Sanskrit j\u00f1\u00e2na (wisdom), the result of dhy\u00e2na (meditation), and \u2018J\u00f1\u00e2na\u2019 is the title of the fifth and last section of the<\/span>K\u00e2lachakra Tantra<\/em><\/span>. However, none of the stanzas that Blavatsky quotes from the\u00a0<\/span>Book of Dzyan<\/em><\/span>\u00a0has so far been located in the abridged\u00a0<\/span>K\u00e2lachakra Tantra<\/em><\/span>\u00a0or in verses from the root\u00a0<\/span>K\u00e2lachakra Tantra<\/em><\/span>\u00a0quoted in other Buddhist writings.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Blavatsky states that the K\u00e2lachakra is the first and most important work in the Gyut (rGyud) division of the Kanjur, the division of mystic knowledge.<\/span>(11)<\/span><\/span> The\u00a0<\/span>K\u00e2lachakra Tantra<\/em><\/span>\u00a0is considered to be the pinnacle of the Buddha\u2019s esoteric doctrine, and is the only Tantra said to have come directly from Shambhala \u2013 which in theosophical literature is regarded as the headquarters of the Brotherhood of Adepts. Furthermore, the Panchen (or Tashi) Lama is the special protector of K\u00e2lachakra, and his monastery, Tashi-lhunpo, near Shigatse, has been the major centre for K\u00e2lachakra studies in Tibet. Blavatsky states that the secret volumes of\u00a0<\/span>Kiu-te<\/em><\/span>\u00a0are in the charge of the Tashi Lama, with whom her adept teachers were closely associated. In a letter to Franz Hartmann in 1886, she writes:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\nThere is beyond the Himalayas a nucleus of Adepts, of various nationalities; and the Teschu Lama knows them, and they act together, and some of them are with him and yet remain unknown in their true character even to the average lamas .\u00a0.\u00a0. My Master and K.H. and several others I know personally are there, coming and going .\u00a0.\u00a0.(12)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the preface to\u00a0<\/span>The Voice of the Silence<\/em><\/span>, Blavatsky states that the work is a translation of extracts from\u00a0<\/span>The Book of the Golden Precepts<\/em><\/span>, which is part of the same series as the\u00a0<\/span>Book of Dzyan<\/em><\/span>. In\u00a0<\/span>The Voice<\/em><\/span>\u00a0it is asked: \u2018Wouldst thou become a Yogi of \u201cTime\u2019s Circle\u201d?\u2019 (p. 29) \u2013 \u2018time\u2019s circle\u2019 or \u2018wheel of time\u2019 is the literal translation of k\u00e2lachakra.\u00a0<\/span>The Voice<\/em><\/span>\u00a0goes on to say that to become such a yogi, one must not retreat into selfish seclusion, but follow the path of compassionate service to mankind:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sow kindly acts and thou shalt reap their fruition. Inaction in a deed of mercy becomes an action in a deadly sin. .\u00a0.\u00a0.
\nShalt thou abstain from action? Not so shall gain thy soul her freedom. To reach Nirv\u00e2na one must reach Self-Knowledge, and Self-Knowledge is of loving deeds the child. (p. 31)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In 1927 Alice Leighton Cleather and Basil Crump issued a reprint of\u00a0<\/span>The Voice of the Silence<\/em><\/span>\u00a0under the auspices of the Chinese Buddhist Research Society in Peking. In their editorial foreword they state that they undertook the work at the request of the (ninth) Panchen Lama, \u2018as the only true exposition in English of the Heart Doctrine of the\u00a0<\/span>Mahay\u00e2na<\/em><\/span>\u00a0and its noble ideal of self-sacrifice for humanity\u2019. The Panchen Lama contributed a brief message on the path of liberation. David Reigle says that the time of the ninth Panchen Lama (1883-1937) seemed to mark a new period of growth for the K\u00e2lachakra teachings. During his extensive travels he established new K\u00e2lachakra Colleges in monasteries in Tibet and Mongolia.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\nWhile living in Peking, China, he presented the editors of\u00a0The Voice of the Silence<\/em>\u00a0with a small K\u00e2lachakra treatise, and a few years later, in 1932, he there gave the K\u00e2lachakra Initiation to an immense gathering. These large public Initiations are meant to qualify candidates to begin the study and practice of the\u00a0K\u00e2lachakra Tantra<\/em>, or, according to the present Dalai Lama, at least to establish a karmic relationship with the K\u00e2lachakra teachings.(13)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nThe Dalai Lama gave the K\u00e2lachakra initiation in Madison, Wisconsin, in July 1981, the first time it had been given in the West.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Reigle hopes that a Sanskrit or Tibetan manuscript of the\u00a0<\/span>Book of Dzyan<\/em><\/span>\u00a0will be made available in the not-too-distant future, as this would have a major impact on the academic world and undermine its scepticism towards theosophy.(<\/span>14)<\/span><\/span> We can be confident that\u00a0<\/span>The Book of Dzyan<\/em><\/span>\u00a0will be released as soon as the time is ripe, for the mah\u00e2tmas \u2018know best what knowledge is best for mankind at a particular stage of its evolution\u2019.(<\/span>15)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n