Esoteric Buddhism: The Buddhist influence in the work of Helena Blavatsky

Coordinator: Juan Almirall (UB)

In 1883 “Esoteric Buddhism” of Alfred Percy Sinnett was published, a work that changed the course of the theosophical movement. The book advance some of the ideas that were widely developed in “The Secret Doctrine” of H. P. Blavatsky, published in 1888, which was originally composed of two volumes: Cosmogenisis and Anthropogenesis, in the form of comments to the “Book of Dzyan” or “Dhyan”. The Book of Dzyan says Blavatsky, is the first volume of commentaries to the seven volumes of Kiu-te (rgyud-sde), which contain the canon of the Buddhist Tibetan Tantras included in the Kangyur and Tengyur commentaries. The originality of the Book of Dzyan has been defended by David Reigle in his article “The Book of Dzyan: The Current State of the Evidence”, which holds that it might be a fragment of the Kalacakra Tantra Commentary (Vimalaprabhâ). The cosmological and anthropological ideas of “The Secret Doctrine” were complemented by an explanation of the Perfections Path of Mahayana Buddhism in “The Voice of Silence” written in 1889, a year after the foundation of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society.