Esoteric Buddhism / by A.P. Sinnett.

  • Alfred Percy Sinnett
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Esoteric Buddhism / by A.P. Sinnett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Without the light of hitherto secret Oriental know- ledge, it is impossible by any study of its published literature—English or Sanscrit—for students of even the most scholarly qualifications, to reach a compre- hension of the inner doctrines and real meaning of any Oriental religion. This assertion conveys no reproach to the sympathetic, learned, and industrious writers of great ability who have studied Oriental religions generally, and Buddhism especially, in their external aspects. Buddhism, above all, is a religion which has enjoyed a dual existence from the very beginning of its introduction to the world. The real inner meaning of its doctrines has been kept back from uninitiated students, while the outer teachings have merely presented the multitude with a code of moral lessons and a veiled, symbolical literature, hinting at the existence of knowledge in the back- ground. This secret knowledge, in reality, long antedated the passage through earth-life of Gautama Buddha. Brahminical philosophy, in ages before Buddha, embodied the identical doctrine which may now be described as Esoteric Buddhism. Its outlines had indeed been blurred ; its scientific form partially confused ; but the general body of knowledge was already in possession of a select few before Buddha came to deal with it. Buddha, however, undertook the task of revising and refreshing the esoteric science of the inner circle of initiates, as well as the morality of the outer world. The circumstances under which this work was done have been wholly misunderstood, nor would a straightforward explanation thereof be
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