{"id":343,"date":"2012-07-09T16:48:12","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T14:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/?p=343"},"modified":"2012-07-09T17:59:21","modified_gmt":"2012-07-09T15:59:21","slug":"the-three-logoi-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/the-three-logoi-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Three Logoi (1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

H.P. Blavatsky (HPB), in The Secret Doctrine<\/em><\/a> uses the term Logos throughout the text (with capital \u201cL\u201d, and without prior ordinal), usually indicating the so called Second Logos. In The Secret Doctrine<\/em> each of the three logoi is attributed consistently to one of the three aspects, the hypostases, of what may be called the first cosmological triad of our system. Studying the three logoi in The Secret Doctrine<\/em> can easily lead to confusion, not only because the subject matter itself is prone to confusion, but also because HPB\u2019s style of writing can at times be very confusing.<\/p>\n

In the oevres of Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater on the other hand, the three logoi are more clearly defined, but unfortunately they do not in every respect correspond to the logoi in The Secret Doctrine<\/em>. In many later theosophical works, and also in many other modern works in the area of spirituality, the three logoi are often introduced without any attempt to definition, while implicitly referring to the relevant works of Besant and Leadbeater.<\/p>\n

We could ask ourselves what is the origin of the Besant-Leadbeater interpretation, and how does it correspond to HPB\u2019s version of the logoi? Can we explain the differences? Could we perhaps formulate new air-tight definitions for the three logoi?<\/p>\n

1. Some Examples of Differences<\/h3>\n

There are some clear differences in interpretation, which we could discuss here, illustrated with examples from both Besant\u2019s The Ancient Wisdom<\/em><\/a> (AW) and HPB\u2019s The Secret Doctrine<\/em> (SD), before trying to go deeper into the foundations of the models.<\/p>\n

Example 1: Mahat<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n

In SD II, 468 we have:<\/p>\n

[…] it is the Logos Demiurge (the second logos), or the first emanation from the mind (Mahat), [\u2026]<\/em><\/p>\n

Instead, in AW, p.112, we find:<\/p>\n

[…] the Great Mind in the Kosmos.\u00a0 (Mahat, the Third LOGOS, or Divine Creative Intelligence, the Brahm\u00e2 of the Hindus, the Mandjusri of the Northern Buddhists, the Holy Spirit of the Christians.)\u00a0<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

HPB in the SD associates Mahat with the Second<\/em> Logos, Divine Wisdom, the Brahm\u0101 of the Hindus, the Son-aspect of the Christians, instead of the Third.<\/p>\n

Example 2: Mahat, <\/strong>the Demiurge and Avalokite<\/strong>\u015b<\/strong>vara<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/p>\n

In SD I, 572 we have:<\/p>\n

[…] universal Buddhi (the Maha-buddhi or Mahat in Hindu philosophies) the spiritual, omniscient and omnipotent root of divine intelligence, the highest anima mundi or the Logos.<\/em><\/p>\n

The \u201cLogos\u201d here is the manifested or Second Logos. HPB in the SD identifies the Universal Mind (Mahat) with the Second<\/em> Logos.<\/p>\n

Further in SD I, 110 we have:<\/p>\n

Simultaneously with the evolution of the Universal Mind, the concealed Wisdom of Adi-Buddha — the One Supreme and eternal — manifests itself as Avalokiteshwara (or manifested Iswara), which is the Osiris of the Egyptians, the Ahura-Mazda of the Zoroastrians, the Heavenly Man of the Hermetic philosopher, the Logos of the Platonists, and the Atman of the Vedantins.* By the action of the manifested Wisdom, or Mahat, represented by these innumerable centres of spiritual Energy in the Kosmos, the reflection of the Universal Mind, which is Cosmic Ideation and the intellectual Force accompanying such ideation, becomes objectively the Fohat of the Buddhist esoteric philosopher.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Logos of the (Neo-) Platonists is the Plotinic Second<\/em> Logos. It is the Demiurge and Avalokite\u015bvara, and corresponds to Mahat. In SD I, 72n we have, to be sure that HPB does not mean the Third Logos:<\/p>\n

But there are two Avalokiteshwaras in Esotericism; the first and the second Logos.<\/em><\/p>\n

Instead, in AW p. 42 we find:<\/p>\n

Then the Third LOGOS, the Universal Mind, [\u2026]<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

Note that in the quotation from SD I, 110, the Anima Mundi (Second Logos), is not equivalent to the Anima Mundi, the World Soul, of the Neo-Platonists, which is the third<\/em> aspect. This is, of course, to make things easier for us…<\/p>\n

Example 3: Brahm\u0101<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n

In SD I, 381n we have:<\/p>\n

In Indian Puranas it is Vishnu, the first, and Brahma, the second logos, or the ideal and practical creators, […]<\/em><\/p>\n

HPB in the SD identifies Brahm\u0101 with the Second<\/em> Logos.<\/p>\n

Instead, in AW p. 14-15 we find:<\/p>\n

The LOGOS in His triple manifestation is : [..]the Third, Manjusri \u2013 \u201cthe representative of creative wisdom, corresponding to Brahm\u00e2.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

We could now take a closer look at the \u201cdefinitions\u201d of the three logoi in both these works, in the next post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H.P. Blavatsky (HPB), in The Secret Doctrine uses the term Logos throughout the text (with capital \u201cL\u201d, and without prior ordinal), usually indicating the so called Second Logos. In The Secret Doctrine each of the three logoi is attributed consistently to one of the three aspects, the hypostases, of what may be called the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"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":[44,51,50,34,39,46,41,3,48,40,42,45,49,43,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anima-mundi","category-avalokiteshvara","category-brahma","category-cosmogenesis","category-creation-stories","category-darkness","category-demiurge","category-fohat","category-hypostasis","category-logos-logoi","category-mahat","category-mulaprakriti","category-nous","category-universal-mind","category-world-soul"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":345,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343\/revisions\/345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}