Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary

Ta-Tel

Ta’aroa (Tahitian) The chief Tahitian god who broke out of the darkness within the cosmic egg. After living alone, he created a daughter with whom he made the manifested world. Later he fashioned man out of red earth, and then put him to sleep for ages — referring to the ages during which the mind principle had not yet awakened to conscious activity. During this sleep Ta’aroa extracted a bone from the man, and from this fashioned woman, a reference to the third root-race when the androgynous mankind separated into the present type of sexual humanity. The mental sleep of the third root-race mankind lasted from a number of minor time periods after the separation, and before mind really incarnated in the relatively mindless bodies. Whether the myths relating to the creation of man and woman are indigenous or imported from Christianity is debated.

Taaut (Phoenician) A Phoenician deity described as having four eyes, two in front and two in back, and four wings. “The eyes denote that the god sees in sleep, and sleeps in waking; the position of the wings that he flies in rest, and rests in flying” (Sanchoniathon quoted in IU 2:235). Taaut is in some respects equivalent to the Greek Kronos or Saturn; yet there are elements in what is known of him reminiscent of the Roman Janus, seeing with two faces, and seeing both the past and the future which coalesce in the Eternal Now.

Tabernacle Used mainly to describe the portable sanctuary instituted during the wandering of the Israelites. The references in the Jewish history before Deuteronomy are different from later writings in the Old Testament which mention a very elaborate edifice containing a courtyard, outer and inner chambers, with sacrificial and atoning rituals, albeit erected so that it could readily be taken down and transferred to another place. The sanctuary referred to in the Priestly Code, however, is the sanctuary of the ark (in Hebrew3 mishkan ha‘eduth, “the tabernacle of revelation”), i.e., the receptacle in which lay the ark of testimony, the chest in which it is alleged that the stones containing the inscriptions of the decalog were placed.

The real meaning of the tabernacle can be traced to Egypt:

“In the Egyptian temples, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, an immense curtain separated the tabernacle from the place for the congregation. The Jews had the same. In both, the curtain was drawn over five pillars (the Pentacle) symbolising our five senses and five Root-races esoterically, while the four colours of the curtain represented the four cardinal points and the four terrestrial elements. The whole was an allegorical symbol. It is through the four high Rulers over the four points and Elements that our five senses may became cognisant of the hidden truths of Nature; and not at all, as Clemens would have it, that it is the elements per se that furnished the Pagans with divine Knowledge or the knowledge of God. . . . For what was the meaning of the square tabernacle raised by Moses in the wilderness, if it had not the same cosmical significance? ‘Thou shalt make an hanging . . . of blue, purple, and scarlet’ and ‘five pillars of shittim wood for the hanging . . . four brazen rings in the four corners thereof . . . boards of fine wood for the four sides, North, South, West, and East . . . of the Tabernacle . . . with Cherubims of cunning work.” (Exodus, Ch. xxvi, xxvii.) The Tabernacle and the square courtyard, Cherubim and all, were precisely the same as those in the Egyptian temples. The square form of the Tabernacle meant just the same thing as it still means, to this day, in the exoteric worship of the Chinese and Tibetans — the four cardinal points signifying that which the four sides of the pyramids, obelisks, and other such square erections mean. Josephus takes care to explain the whole thing. He declares that the Tabernacle pillars are the same as those raised at Tyre to the four Elements, which were placed on pedestals whose four angles faced the four cardinal points: adding that ‘the angles of the pedestals had equally the four figures of the Zodiac’ on them, which represented the same orientation (Antiquites I, VIII, ch. xxii).

“The idea may be traced in the Zoroastrian caves, in the rock-cut temples of India, as in all the sacred square buildings of antiquity that have survived to this day” (SD 2:125-6).

The sacred chest or receptacle — in which was supposed to reside either a god’s presence or mystically holy or sacred emblems connected therewith — is also virtually universal throughout the world.

Tabernacles, Feast of The feast which the Hebrews celebrated in the autumn as a thanksgiving for the produce gathered, especially for the harvest of olives and grapes, which was called the feast of ingatherings (Ex 23:16) or the feast of booths (Deut 16:13). It commenced on the 15th of the month Ethanim and lasted until the 22nd. While the festival of the Eleusinian Mysteries was held in the month Boedromion — corresponding to September, the time of grape gathering — Plutarch thought that the feast of booths was not the Eleusian but the Bacchic rites.

Table-turning The spiritualistic or astral phenomenon of motion produced in a table when the sitters at a seance hold their hands over or on it, and varying from risings into the air and movings around the room, to giving tilts in answer to code-questions. Ordinary Occidental intelligence seems incapable of imagining anything between a purely mechanical action and a full-blown human intelligence. The phenomena are usually supposed to be either due to tricks or some kind of unconscious muscular action on the part of the sitters, or to be spirits of the departed. But there are a variety of degrees between physical mechanism and self-conscious volition, just as there are multitudes of living beings in widely differing states of materiality filling the gap between physical organisms and the spirits of the departed. The astral light is filled with an enormous variety of beings, mostly of a low type, not using physical bodies, not human in their nature, but having a sort of consciousness of their own; and the conditions provided by the vitality of the medium and sitters may vitalize, stimulate, and to a certain extent direct, these beings and thus at times cause them to become active in the production of physical phenomena. Again, the human organism in all its ranges itself is composed of a vast number of elements, physical, astral, etc., which in normal life are held together in a unit and in subordination to the general life of the person. Some of these elements may become temporarily extruded, especially in natural mediums or those who have cultivated mediumship; and thus the phenomena may be caused unintelligently or ignorantly by the sitters themselves — and just here is the instrumental cause of nearly all the physical phenomena produced by mediums, or mediums and sitters together.

Tabnith (Hebrew) Tabnīth A model, pattern; image, likeness. In the Qabbalah, a form.

Tabula Smaragdina. See SMARAGDINE TABLET

Tad. See TAT

Tadaikya (Sanskrit) Tadaikya [from tat that, the Boundless + aikya oneness, harmony, identity from eka one] Oneness or unity with the Boundless or parabrahman, the frontierless, unknowable kosmic essence, which is never limited by any name but is commonly called tat (That). In the relations of the human being with the kosmic spirit, tadaikya signifies the reentrance of the higher human ego into its supernal source, atman, which in Buddhist philosophy is called assuming the dharmakaya, the equivalent of entering nirvana.

T’Agathon. See AGATHON

Tahmurath (Persian), Takhmorab (Pahlavi) Takhmōrab, Takhma-rupa (Avestan) [from Avest takhmao strength, force + rupa body, form] Also Teimuraz, Tahumers, Tahmuras, Taimuraz. The third king of the legendary Pishdadi dynasty, succeeding his father Hushang. His steed, the Simorgh-Anke, was more rare and rapid than his father’s twelve-legged horse. He is called Div-band (the binder of divs) in Firdusi’s Shahnameh, for he waged war on the divs and captured them all. Tahmurath ordered their death, whereupon they promised to teach him the art of writing if he spared their lives. Granting their entreaty, he was taught not one but thirty languages.

A chapter of the Desatir, “The Book of Shet the Prophet Tahmuras,” consists of a hymn addressed to the sun, which is depicted as being “stationed in the fourth heaven” (v. 31).

Tahor (Hebrew) “Mundus, the world; a name given to the Deity, which identification indicates a belief in Pantheism” (TG 317).

Taijasa (Sanskrit) Taijasa [from tejas light] Radiant, flaming, bright; sometimes the higher parts of a human being, such as the manasa-rupa, are designated as taijasa. A star is called taijasi, the feminine form.

Taijasa-bhuta (Sanskrit) Taijasa-bhūta [from taijasa radiant, flaming + bhūta element] The flaming, radiant, sparkling element; the fire element of nature, the fourth in the descending scale of the seven cosmic bhutas. This element is directly connected with what in the human constitution is called the kama, and also has direct reference, because of its cosmically intellectual qualities, to the nature of the radiant or sparkling vehicles of the manasaputras.

Taijasa-tattva (Sanskrit) Taijasa-tattva [from taijasa sparkling + tattva thatness, reality] The fiery, sparkling principle of nature — the fire principle which contains in itself both intellectual energies or seeds and the roots of kama; the fourth in the descending scale of the seven tattvas. See also ASURA

Taimuraz. See TAHMURATH

Tairyagyonya (Sanskrit) Tairyagyonya [from tiryañc crooked, curved] “Of beings with crooked digestive canals,” i.e., of animal origin. In the Puranas seven creations of living beings are enumerated, the fifth being called tiryaksrotas or tairyagyonya (animal evolution).

Taittiriya (Sanskrit) Taittirīya The collection of hymns known as the Black Yajur-Veda; also the name of a Brahmana and of an Upanishad of the Black Yajur-Veda. The Taittiriyas were the pupils of Tittiri.

Tala (Sanskrit) Tala Lower or inferior portions of a series, inferior world; also a chasm, abyss, floor. All these ideas suggest lower or inferior planes. Often used in conjunction with loka (place, world). The talas stand for the material aspects or substance-principles of the different worlds which are the cosmic universe, in contrast with the lokas which suggest the spiritual aspect of the universe. The number of loka-talas is generally given as seven, though the number varies, all the seven lokas and seven talas interblending and interworking to form the universe and all its various hierarchies. The seven talas are generally given in theosophical writings as atala, vitala, sutala, rasatala, talatala, mahatala, and patala.

Because the lokas are more particularly the spheres of spiritual and intellectual character, and the talas the spheres of vehicular or more substantial character, it has been customary in Indian literature to speak of the lokas as heavens and the talas as hells — neither heavens nor hells bearing the shades of meaning attached to them in Christian theology. Every substantial globe is considered a hell; our own earth, for instance, bhurloka-patala, is so considered. All these talas are in the last analysis rising or descending realms forming the astral light which is not one sole restricted realm or sphere.

Talapoin (East Indian) A Buddhist monk of Ceylon, Siam, or Burma. The laws laid down for the Talapoins are very strict, particularly in regard to unchastity. Many of these ascetics have demonstrated their remarkable powers over nature, especially in medical practices (cf IU 2:620-1).

Talatala (Sanskrit) Talātala [from tala place + atala no place] Place no-place; the fifth counting downwards of the seven talas, its corresponding loka or pole being svarloka. This term draws attention to the fact that the talas from this point become rapidly more material. Talatala corresponds to the hierarchies of rupa- or sight-devas, possessed of three senses: hearing, touch, and sight. It is the abode of certain kama-manasic entities and of certain classes of the higher elementals, among which may be classed the sylphs and undines of the medieval Rosicrusians. The state of talatala corresponds in man on earth with an artificial state of consciousness, such as that produced by hypnotism or drugs.

Taley. See DALAI LAMA

Taliesin (Welsh) He of the radiant brow; a transformation of Gwion, eaten as a barley-grain by Ceridwen as an old black hen. She bore him nine months in her womb, and when he was born, set him afloat in a basket of rushes on the Teifi River where Elphin found him and named him Taliesin.

Seventy-seven poems attributed to Taliesin come down, supposedly from the 6th century, though critics maintain that they are forgeries of the 12th or 13th. But the poetry of the later centuries is exceedingly different from the poetry of the Cynfeirdd — Talesin, Myrddin Gwyllt, Llywarch Hen, and Aneurin — said to have lived in the 6th century. Of these four, the first two are mystical and Druidical. The verse forms are simple, the rhythm is lofty: the thought, when it is apparent — for the language is exceedingly archaic and difficult — is in the grand manner. Twelfth and 13th century poetry on the other hand is ultra-tortuous in form — the extreme old age of a literature, when thought and inspiration are gone, and only delight in curious form remains — while the subject matter is practically always the Bard’s praise of his chieftain. Purely literary criticism would most certainly place the Cynfeirdd many centuries earlier than the 12th century poets.

The note of the real Taliesin is pagan, that after-centuries were so desperate to make a Christian:

I have been in many a shape
Before I attained a congenial form
I have been a word in a book
I have been a drop in the air.
I have born a banner
Before Alexander
I was in Canaan
Before Absolom was slain
I was on the high cross
Of the merciful Son of God.
My original country
Is the region of the summer stars:
I am a marvel
Whose origin is not known
Nine months was I then
In the womb of Ceridwen
I was Gwion the Little;
Now I am Taliesin.
Not of father and mother
My creator created me,
But of nine-formed faculties
Of the fruit of fruits
Of the god of the Beginning
Of primroses and hill blooms
Of the blossoms of nettles
Of the ninth wave’s water.
I was enchanted by Math
Before I became immortal:
(Then) I was enchanted by Gwydion
The Initiator of the Britons,
Of Eurwys, of Euron,
Of Euron, of Modron,
Of five battalions of Adepts
Teachers, the Children of Math.

Math fab Mathonwy was a famous enchanter; in the mabinogi he is the teacher of Gwydion. Men are “enchanted by Math before” they “become immortal,” then by Gwydion the Initiator.

A great deal of what is too obscure to be intelligible, breaking now and again into bursts of great poetry, wherein deep esoteric meanings are apparent: such are the 77 poems of Taliesin.

Talisman [from Arab from Greek telesma completion, initiation, incantation] A charm made by engraving, for instance, the seal or sigil of a certain planet on a disc of metal corresponding to that planet, the operation being done at a time when the influence of that planet is strong. This, being worn, secured the help or influence of the genius of the planet, and is thought to be protective against one or another evil influence. The application extends beyond the planets, and an indefinite number of signs might be used to propitiate or protect against various genii, evil or good.

Such symbols as the cross, the svastika, and the serpent may serve as talismans, for a true symbol is more than a mere arbitrary sign and actually plays its part in the evocation of certain influences — but only when intense faith is conjoined in the production of magical effects. Talismans are utterly useless and foolish unless intense faith operates because all such talismanic emblems depend for their efficacy upon the faith of the possessor of them. When a person believes beyond any shadow of doubt and is thoroughly worked up in such conviction, his will power through such faith when concentrated upon a talisman or similar object can actually bring about the functioning of a potent creative power. This is the root of all genuinely magical operations; but the true magician has no need for such exoteric paraphernalia or adventitious aids. He produces his effects through the sole power of his will combined with his wide knowledge of nature and natural laws.

Talmud (Hebrew) Talmūd [from the verbal root lāmad to teach, train in learning, discipline] Study of and instruction in anything (whether by anyone else or by oneself); learning acquired; style, system (as such it is synonymous with Mishnah — oral tradition — in one of its meanings); theory in contradistinction to practice; interpretation of the Mosaic law as is apparent on the surface and not requiring further disquisition; the noncanonical tradition (Barayetha’); the oldest commentary on the canonical tradition (Gemara’); the texts of tradition and commentary combined — this last meaning being the one commonly applied. The Talmud is the body of Rabbinical commentaries on Judaism.

There are two recensions of the Talmud: 1) that of Palestine called the Jerusalem Talmud although the work was prepared by the pupils of Rabbi Yohanan ben ’El‘azar in the school of Tiberias situated some 45 miles north of Jerusalem: it was entitled Talmud of the Benei Me-‘arba’ (of the Sons of the West) by early writers; 2) that of Babylon composed principally in the 5th century from old oral courses by Rabbi ’Ashshei bar Sinai, headmaster of the Academy at Sura’ and completed in the 6th century by Rabbi Yosei. These works are not the religious or natural philosophy of the Jews, but oral traditions and discussion of the rabbis upon these legends. Christian Orientalists have given most attention to the Palestinian recension, although the Babylonian is preferred by the rabbis who call it the Shas — i.e., Shishshah Sedarim — six books ordered or arranged. The Babylonian is four times as large as the Jerusalem.

The Talmud proved the greatest factor for keeping alive the religious ideas of the Jewish people, especially after the fall of Jerusalem and its temple, together with the Old Testament becoming the Bible of the Hebrews. Both were regarded reverentially, for whereas the Pentateuch was the Torah or written word of Moses, the Talmud was believed to be the prophet’s oral teaching transmitted.

Tamala-pattra (Sanskrit) Tamāla-pattra [from tamāla dark-barked + pattra leaf] A leaf of the tamala tree, the Xanthochymus pictorius, the bark of which is dark, but its blossoms white and very fragrant. Also used for a leaf of the Laurus cassia, “a tree regarded as having various very occult and magical properties” (TG 318). When a person is compared to the tamala-pattra, he is considered stainless, pure, and sage-like.

Tamarisk A shrub especially adapted to warm arid climates. In Egypt it was considered to possess great occult virtues. “Many of the temples were surrounded with such trees, preeminently one at Philae, sacred among the sacred, as the body of Osiris was supposed to lie buried under it” (TG 318).

Tamas (Sanskrit) Tamas The quality of darkness, illusion, ignorance; also quiescence, passivity, rest, inertia. One of the three gunas — qualities or essential attributes of manifested beings — the others being rajas and sattva.

“The condition of manifested existence in the state of cosmic pralaya is in one sense of the word the tamasic condition, signifying quiescence or rest. When the universe is in the stage of active manvantaric manifestation, we may in a generalizing sense say that the universe is in the rajasic state or condition; and that aspect of the universe which we may call the divine-spiritual, whether in the universe itself or in the manvantara or in pralaya of a globe, can be spoken of as the sattvic state or condition. From these observations it should be evident that the three gunas, sattva, rajas, tamas, not only can exist contemporaneously and coincidentally, but actually do so exist, and that in fact the three are inextricably interblended. They are really three phases or conditions of imbodied consciousnesses, and each has its noble and each its ‘evil’ side” (OG 169-70).

See also TRIGUNAS

Tamasa or Tamasic [Sanskrit tāmasa] Pertaining to the quality of sloth or darkness, adjectival forms of tamas.

Tamasha (East Indian) Used by Hindus and Anglo-Indians to signify show, representation, phenomenon, hence often illusion.

Tamaz. See TAMMUZ

Tamil The principal member of the non-Aryan races in Southern India, generally termed Dravidian, and regarded as aboriginal. Because of intermixture with early Aryan immigrants, they are very similar to the Indo-European type. The Tamil language is the principal one of the Dravidian group spoken in Southern India: it is not akin to Sanskrit and instead of the Devanagari uses a Brahmanical adaptation of the Grantha letters (corresponding to the Vatteluttu or round-hand letters) — an alphabet once common throughout the Pandyan kingdom. At one time Tamil was classed with the Mongoloid races because of the close affinity of their languages. Blavatsky suggests, however, that as the language is said to be akin to the Basque in Spain, this points to a similar origin from offshoots of Atlantean settlements in the Pacific (SD 2:790).

Tammuz or Thammuz A Syrian and Phoenician deity corresponding to Adonis. In Babylonia, the Greek story of Venus and Adonis is repeated in that of Ishtar and Tammuz with slight variations. The myth relates that Ishtar wooed Tammuz in the springtime and in the midsummer he met his death. To save her husband from the clutches of the goddess of the nether world Ishtar journeys thither. Her return to earth marks the return of spring.

The Jews took over the name of the deity and in the Old Testament we find: “Behold there sat women weeping for Tammuz” (Ezek 8:14) — in Hebrew tammuz. “The women of Israel held annual lamentations over Adonis (that beautiful youth being identical with Tammuz). The feast held in his honour was solstitial, and began with the new moon, in the month of Tammuz (July), taking place chiefly at Byblos in Phoenicia; but it was also celebrated as late as the fourth century of our era at Bethlehem, . . . Indeed, in the Mysteries of Tammuz or Adonis a whole week was spent in lamentations and mourning. The funereal processions were succeeded by a fast, and later by rejoicings; for after the fast Adoni-Tammuz was regarded as raised from the dead, and wild orgies of joy, of eating and drinking, as now in Easter week, went on uninterruptedly for several days” (TG 318-9).

That the Tammuz festival was solstitial, began with the new moon in July, and lasted for a week more or less, and that the whole ceremony comprised a dying and resurrection from the dead — all these facts point directly to one of the mysteries of the four great initiatory cycles of the year, one of which is referred to in the mystical story of Jesus in the New Testament. All the great ancient initiations comprised a purification or preparation (katharsis), a trance followed by a dying, and a later resurrection of the initiant or neophyte as a fully born initiate, adept, or new man.

Tamra (Sanskrit) Tāmrā One of the wives of Kasyapa and the mother of Garuda, the mystic chief of the feathered tribe.

Tamra-parna (Sanskrit) Tāmra-parṇa [from tāmra of a red-coppery color + parṇa leaf] Part of Bharata-varsha or ancient India — Ceylon or Sri Lanka, the ancient Taprobana.

Tamti, Tamtu (Assyrian) The personified sea, whether of the cosmic space of our solar system, or of a sea of earth; hence primordial humidity, personified as a goddess equivalent to Belit, the Nature Mother, worshiped particularly at Erech, the great Chaldean necropolis. Tamti also typified turbulent chaos or matter, hence called the great dragon. In planetology, Tamti is theogonically equivalent to Ishtar, Astoreth, or Venus. See also THALLATH; TIAMAT

Tanga-tango (Peruvian) An ancient Peruvian deity, “the symbol of the Triune or the Trinity, . . . [which] existed before our era” (TG 319).

Tanha (Pali) Taṇhā Thirst; in Buddhism the thirst or longing for material existence, the desire to return to the familiar scenes of earth-life. It is “the lower Ego, or personal Self . . . with its fierce Selfishness and animal desire to live a Senseless life (Tanha), which is ‘the maker of the tabernacle,’ as Buddha calls it in Dhammapada” (SD 2:110). This desire to live and the clinging to life on earth is the effectual cause producing rebirth. Equivalent to the Sanskrit trishna.

Tanjur (Tibetan) Bstan-hgyur, bstan ’gyur (ten-gyur, ten-jur) Translation of the sastras; the second part of the Tibetan Buddhist canon, the first part being the Kanjur (both words came into Western languages via Mongolian). The Tanjur is divided into three parts: a one-volume collection of hymns or praises to the Buddha, and two voluminous collections of sastras: tantra commentaries and sutra commentaries. Although called commentaries, these also include independent treatises, and the sutra-commentaries section also includes miscellaneous works such as letters, dictionaries, grammars, medical works, etc. The Tanjur is even larger than the Kanjur, containing up to 225 volumes. Four editions are known in the West: Narthang, Peking, Derge, and Cone (cho-ne) — all 18th century blockprints, although the Tanjur is much older as a manuscript collection. The Tanjur contains works assumed to be Tibetan translations of the works of Indian Buddhist masters, other than the Buddha himself. Compositions by Tibetan masters, however authoritative, are not included in the Tanjur.

Tanmatras (Sanskrit) Tanmātra-s The subtle essences of the five elements, popularly given as earth, water, fire, air, and ether; and in one sense they are referred to as sabda (sound), sparsa (touch), rupa (sight), rasa (taste), and gandha (smell). They are equivalent to the five mahabhutas (foundation-substances of the world). The tanmatras are the abstract sources or originants, devoid of properties and qualities from our point of view, but when the tanmatras emanate what becomes the pertinent qualities and properties of nature, then they become the mahabhutas. In the order of cosmic emanation, each of the seven logoi produces its vehicular expression which is the tanmatra, from which again is emanated the respective propertied and qualified mahabhuta or cosmic element.

Tannaim (Hebrew) Tannā’īm Teachers; initiated teachers among the Jews; adepts and Qabbalists who, says Blavatsky, were “the sole expounders of the hidden meaning contained in the Bible,” said to be the first Qabbalists among the Jews, appearing at Jerusalem about the beginning of the 3rd century BC. (IU 2:220; 1:xxxiv).

Tantras (Sanskrit) Tantra-s Loom, the warp or threads in a loom; a rule or ritual for ceremonial rites. Religious treatises teaching mystical and magical formulas for the attainment of magical powers, and for the worship of the gods; treating of the evolution of the universe and its destruction; the adoration of the divinities; the attainment of desired objects, especially of six superhuman faculties; and methods of union (usually given as four) with the supreme divinity by contemplative meditation. They are mostly composed in the form of dialogues between Siva and his divine consort or sakti Durga, who is worshiped as a personified female power.

The tendency of these works for long ages has been towards black magic. “The origin of the Tantras unquestionably goes back to a very remote antiquity, and there seems to be little doubt that these works, or their originals, were heirlooms handed down from originally debased or degenerate Atlantean racial offshoots. There is, of course, a certain amount of profoundly philosophical and mystical thought running through the more important tantrika works, but the tantrika worship in many cases is highly licentious and immoral” (OG 17;1).

Tantric, Tantrika [Sanskrit tāntrika] The adjectival form of tantra; sometimes employed to signify one who is deeply versed in some study — a scholar; but more accurately pertains to the Tantras themselves and the doctrines in them.

Tao (Chinese) The way, road, path; the Chinese treat of tao in two aspects: the tao of man (jen tao); and the tao of the universe — which is again divided into two aspects, the tao of heaven (t’ien tao) and the tao of earth (t’i tao). There is no supreme god in this system of philosophy, no Demiurge or maker of the cosmos: the yearly renovation of nature is due to the spontaneity of tao. As explained in the I Ching, tao brings about the revolving mutations of the yin and yang: “there is in the system of mutations [of nature] the Most Ultimate which produced the two Regulating Powers [the yin and yang], which produce the four shapes [the seasons]” (Hi-tsze).

“Tao is the ultimate reality in which all attributes are united, it is heavy as a stone, light as a feather; it is the unity underlying plurality. It is that by losing of which men die; by getting of which men live. Whatever is done without it fails; whatever is done by means of it, succeeds. It has neither root nor stalk, leaf nor flower. Yet upon it depends the generation and the growth of the ten thousand things [the cosmos], each after its kind” (Kuan tzu, 49).

The Sanskrit svabhavat is an equivalent, also the deep akasic abysses of the highest reaches of the cosmic anima mundi, manifesting periodically.

Tao Teh Ching or Tao Te King (Chinese) [from tao path, way + te virtue + ching book] The canon of tao and virtue, or the Book of Taoistic virtue; the principal work on tao, attributed to Lao Tzu, consisting of 81 short chapters written in a terse, pithy style which makes its translation and explanation most difficult. When Lao Tsu was departing through the pass, it is said that at the request of its keeper, Yin Hsi (a famous Taoist), he wrote a book in regard to his ideas on tao and te running to somewhat over five thousand characters. Its teaching is principally imparted by means of paradoxes, the object being that by startling the mind one may perceive truth without ratiocinations.

“It is a kind of cosmogony which contains all the fundamental tenets of Esoteric Cosmogenesis. Thus he says that in the beginning there was naught but limitless and boundless Space. All that lives and is, was born in it, from the ‘Principle which exists by Itself, developing Itself from Itself,’ i.e., Swabhavat. As its name is unknown and its essence is unfathomable, philosophers have called it Tao (Anima Mundi), the uncreate, unborn and eternal energy of nature, manifesting periodically. Nature as well as man when it reaches purity will reach rest, and then all become one with Tao, which is the source of all bliss and felicity. As in the Hindu and Buddhistic philosophies, such purity and bliss and immortality can only be reached through the exercise of virtue and the perfect quietude of our worldly spirit; the human mind has to control and finally subdue and even crush the turbulent action of man’s physical nature; and the sooner he reaches the required degree of moral purification, the happier he will feel” (TG 320).

Taparloka (Sanskrit) Tapar-loka [from tapas devotion + loka world, place] Also tapoloka. Devotion world, contemplation world, because of the intellectual entities popularly considered to be sunken profoundly in contemplative devotion; the second, counting downward, of the seven lokas, the corresponding tala being vitala. Taparloka is often called in Hindu literature the mansion of the blest because considered the abode of vairaja-deities, agnishvattas, Sons of Brahma, the highest classes of manasaputras and kumaras who are often spoken of as spiritual nirmanakayas because connected with the hosts of beings who descended and informed man when the manvantaric period to do so arrived. These kumaric nirmanakayas are connected with but not identical with those highly evolved human beings also called nirmanakayas.

Tapas (Sanskrit) Tapas Warmth, fire, heat; abstraction, meditation. To perform tapas is to sit for contemplation or undergo some special observance. Occultly the inner fire or spiritual flame aroused by intense abstraction of thought or meditation. The Laws of Manu says tapas with the Brahmins is sacred learning; with the Kshatriyas, protection of subjects; with the Vaisyas, giving alms to Brahmins; with the Sudras, service.

Tapasa-taru (Sanskrit) Tāpasa-taru [from tapas meditation + taru tree] The tree of ascetics, the Sesamum orientale or Terminalia catappa. This tree was “very sacred among the ancient ascetics of China and Tibet” (TG 320).

Tapasvin (Sanskrit) Tapasvin [from tapas religious observance or asceticisms; inner fire] An ascetic; tapasvi is the nominative singular.

Taphos (Greek) A tomb; in ancient Greece, the mystical tomb or sarcophagus placed in the crypt of initiation, sometimes called the adytum, and in which the neophyte lay during the trance preceding illumination. It was called a tomb because the person for the time being is “dead” — death and resurrection being involved in all ancient initiations.

Tapo-loka. See TAPARLOKA

Tara, Taraka (Sanskrit) Tārā, Tārakā The wife of Brihaspati (Jupiter). The Puranas relate that Soma, the moon, carried Tara off with him, which brought about the great war in heaven between the gods and the asuras. Brahma put an end to the war and had Tara restored to Brihaspati. She then gave birth to a son, Budha (esoteric wisdom), whom she claimed was the son of Soma.

“Soma is the moon astronomically; but in mystical phraseology, it is also the name of the sacred beverage drunk by the Brahmins and the Initiates during their mysteries and sacrificial rites. . . .

“Soma was never given in days of old to the non-initiated Brahman — the simple Grihasta, or priest of the exoteric ritual. Thus Brihaspati — ‘guru of the gods’ though he was — still represented the dead-letter form of worship. It is Tara his wife — the symbol of one who, though wedded to dogmatic worship, longs for true wisdom — who is shown as initiated into his mysteries by King Soma, the giver of that Wisdom. Soma is thus made in the allegory to carry her away. The result of this is the birth of Budha — esoteric Wisdom — (Mercury, or Hermes in Greece and Egypt.) He is represented as ‘so beautiful,’ that even the husband, though well aware that Budha is not the progeny of his dead-letter worship — claims the ‘new-born’ as his Son, the fruit of this ritualistic and meaningless forms. Such is, in brief, one of the meanings of the allegory” (SD 2:498-9).

See also SOMA; TARAKAMAYA

Tara-daitya (Sanskrit) Tāra-daitya A daitya or danava described in the Puranas as practicing such severe spiritual and intellectual tapas as a yogi, that the gods feared lest he surpass them; therefore he was slain by Vishnu.

One is reminded of the Hebrew story in Genesis, where the ’elohim fear lest man, represented by Adam, should eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and become like unto them. The conception behind these jealousies of divinities is a warning in popular form that while the noblest human duty is to become like the gods — our spiritual parents — yet before we can, we must have brought forth from within ourselves the divinity latent there, lest we bring disharmony and the selfish interests of the human material world into the serene and law-abiding cosmic spheres of the divinities.

Taraka (Sanskrit) Tāraka The daitya or giant-demon whose yoga austerities were so extraordinary that he had obtained all the divine knowledge of yoga-vidya and occult powers. The gods feared his superhuman powers and Skanda or Karttikeya, the god of war, was miraculously born to destroy him.

Tarakajit (Sanskrit) Tārakajit Conqueror of Taraka, name given to the Hindu god of war, Karttikeya, because he conquered Taraka, a daitya whose austerities had made him formidable to the gods — the daityas being those early beings or races who, because of their developing intellectual powers, were found to be identical with the asuras, who were opposed to the more or less passive spiritual forces — devas or suras. In another sense, because of this developing intellectuality, the daityas, somewhat like the Greek titans or giants, were the opponents of the gods of mere ritualistic or scholastic theory, and hence the enemies of puja (ritualistic sacrifices).

Tarakamaya, Taramaya (Sanskrit) Tārakāmaya, Tārāmaya The war in heaven; the struggle between the gods and the asuras for the rescue of Tara or Taraka, the wife of Brihaspati, who had been carried off by Soma. This war may be interpreted in many ways. Spiritually, the gods with Brihaspati as their head represented ritualistic, ceremonial, and exoteric worship, and the asuras were the allies of Soma who was the parent of esoteric wisdom (SD 2:498-9). See also TARA

Taraka-Raja-Yoga (Sanskrit) Tāraka-rāja-yoga A philosophical and secret Brahmanical yoga system; “its real tenets are never given out publicly. It is a purely intellectual and spiritual school of training” (Key 366).

Tarchon (Etruscan) Legendary founder of theurgy among the Etruscans, stated by Blavatsky to have lived far earlier than the siege of Troy.

Targum (Hebrew) Targūm [from the verbal root rāgam to arrange, explain, interpret] Interpretation; paraphrases of books of the Old Testament in Chaldee, or especially Aramaic, made at a time when the Aramaic superseded the Hebrew as a spoken language among the Jews, it being then found that the general mass of people were unable to understand the Hebrew scriptures. The date is given as about the 2nd century BC. The introduction of Targums is ascribed to Ezra by the Jews.

“Some of the Targums are very mystical, the Aramaic (or Targumatic) language being used all through the Zohar and other Kabbalistic works. To distinguish this language from the Hebrew, called the ‘face’ of the sacred tongue, it is referred to as ahorayim, the ‘back part,’ the real meaning of which must be read between the lines, according to certain methods given to students. . . . The Book of Daniel begins in Hebrew, and is fully comprehensible till chap. ii, v. 4, when the Chaldees (the Magician-Initiates) begin speaking to the king in Aramaic — not in Syriac, as mistranslated in the Protestant Bible. Daniel speaks in Hebrew before interpreting the king’s dream to him; but explains the dream itself (chap. vii.) in Aramaic. ‘So in Ezra iv., v., and vi., the words of the kings being there literally quoted, all matters connected therewith are in Aramaic,’ says Isaac Myer in his Qabbalah [p. 53]. The Targumim are of different ages, the latest already showing signs of the Massoretic or vowel-system, which made them still more full of intentional blinds. The precept of the Pirke Aboth (c. i., §I), ‘Make a fence to the Thorah’ (law), has indeed been faithfully followed in the Bible as in the Targumim; and wise is he who would interpret either correctly, unless he is an old Occultist-Kabbalist” (TG 321).

Tartarus, Tartaros (Greek) Son of Aether and Gaia (earth), who by his mother became father of the giants Typhoeus and Echidna. Other names for Tartarus as a deity are Pluto, Hades, Orcus, and Dis — all referring to the underworld. As a place, in the Iliad it was one of the four regions, as far below Hades as heaven or Olympus is above earth, and into which were thrust the titans who rebelled against Olympus. In later times it became synonymous with Hades. In theosophical literature it is sometimes equated with avichi.

With the first appearance of Lemuria, the three polar giants were imprisoned by Kronos in the polar circle, where they were kept in by seas; but they were liberated by Zeus in order to overthrow Kronos, which points to the supersession of Lemuria by Atlantis.

Tashi Lama, Teshu Lama. See PANCHEN RIMPOCHE

Tashi Lhunpo (Tibetan) bKra-sis-lhun-po. The seat of the greatest collegiate monastery in Tibet, containing at one time about 4,000 monks; the residence of the Panchan Rimpoche or Tashi Lama, the spiritual ruler of Tibet. It was founded by Geden-tub-pa, the successor of Tsong-kha-pa. See also PANCHEN RIMPOCHE

Tasichozong (Tibetan) The summer capital of Bhutan; “the residential capital in Bhutan of the ecclesiastical Head of the Bhons — the Dharma Raja. The latter, though professedly a Northern Buddhist, is simply a worshipper of the old demon-gods of the aborigines, the nature-sprites or elementals, worshipped in the land before the introduction of Buddhism” (TG 321).

Tassissudun. See TASICHOZONG

Taste The fourth sense in order of development, corresponding to the element water or apas. See also SENSES

Tat or Djed or Tet (Egyptian) Ṭeṭ [from the verbal root ṭeṭ to establish] The emblem of stability; the pillar found in connection with Osiris in hieroglyphic texts and inscriptions, especially in the scenes depicting what is called the funeral of Osiris, scenes which are one aspect of the initiation cycle held in the Mysteries of ancient Egypt. The hieroglyphic representation of the tat is that of a tapered pillar surmounted by four crossbars, said to represent the branches of a tree, and to be connected with the four cardinal points. It was a favorite form for amulets fashioned out of lapis lazuli and carnelian. “The top part is a regular equilateral cross. This, on its phallic basis, represented the two principles of creation, the male and the female, and related to nature and cosmos; but when the tat stood by itself, crowned with the atf (or atef), the triple crown of Horus — two feathers with the uraeus in front — it represented the septenary man; the cross, or the two cross-pieces, standing for the lower quaternary, and the atf for the higher triad” (TG 322).

Also the name of Osiris in ancient Busiris; in all the chief sanctuaries in Egypt which were dedicated to Osiris, festivals were celebrated during the month Khoiak; and on the last day of that month the tat was set up with elaborate ceremonies.

Tat, Tad (Sanskrit) Tat That; used by Vedic and archaic Hindu writers to describe the unutterable Principle or boundless All, from which all in a universe springs, in contrast to idam (this), the manifested universe. The old sages would ask their disciples, “Kas twam asi?” (who are you?); and then would tell them, “Tat twam asi” (That [the Boundless] you are). The ancient wisdom teaches as one of its fundamental postulates, that we are inseparable parts of the universe, and therefore we have all within us, whether active or latent, that the universe contains.

Tathagata (Sanskrit) Tathāgata [from tathā thus + gata gone; or + agata arrived, come] Thus come or thus gone; a title given to the long serial line of the Buddhas of Compassion as they appear each after his predecessor among mankind; likewise a title of Gautama Buddha, the last of this line of buddhas to have appeared thus far. It is a beautifully exact expression illustrating the common spiritual character of the great ones who have gone before ourselves as well as of those destined to come in the future. As a title of the buddhas, it signifies also “one who has followed the inward way, the inner pathway, the still small path coming down, so to say, from the universal self, passing through the human constitution onward until it disappears again in the heart of being from which we came” (Fund 625).

Tathagata-gupta (Sanskrit) Tathāgata-gupta [from tathāgata thus gone, thus come, a name applied to Buddha + gupta secret, concealed] The secret or concealed tathagata; “the ‘guardian’ protecting Buddhas” (TG 322), used of the nirmanakayas.

Tattva (Sanskrit) Tattva [from tat that] Thatness, the reality behind phenomenal appearance. The tattvas represent the consciousness-, force-, or spirit-side of being, in contrast to the dhatus or bhutas which as elements represent the vehicular or matter-side of being. Hence the tattvas are called the principles of nature, and the dhatus or bhutas the elements of nature. These tattvas and dhatus or bhutas are inseparable and work together constantly, for spirit and matter are fundamentally one. Exoterically the tattvas are usually reckoned as five, but esoterically they are reckoned as seven: adi-tattva (primordial); aupapaduka-tattva (parentless or unevolved); akasa-tattva (aether); taijasa-tattva (fire); vayu-tattva (air); apas-tattva (water); and prithivi-tattva (earth). Each of these tattvas is reflected and active in the human constitution, since man is a copy in miniature of the cosmos.

Tattva-jnanin (Sanskrit) Tattva-jñānin [from tattva thatness, elementary principle + jñānin knower from the verbal root jñā to know] The knower or discriminator of the principles in nature and man.

Tattvatraya (Sanskrit) Tattvatraya [from tattva reality, essential cosmic element + traya threefold, triad] The three primordial elements in the cosmos, according to the Visishtadvaita or modified nondualistic Vedantists. They state that the tattvatraya is the Logos, its light, and mulaprakriti. Mulaprakriti thus becomes their achit; the light from the Logos is their chit; and the Logos itself is their Isvara (supreme lord).

Tau. See ANK

Taurus The bull; second sign of the zodiac, a constellation containing the Pleiades. In astrology a fixed earthy sign, the night house of Venus, corresponding to the throat, neck, and base of the brain. It is the bull among the four sacred animals who are the Maharajas of the four quarters, and presides over the south. Called in Sanskrit Rishabha, dedicated to Yama, the god of the Underworld, it stands in Hindu reckoning for Pranava or Aum (12 Signs of the Zodiac). Frequently it is connected with Logos, Verbum, Vach — for it is another form or aspect of the Third Logos.

Taurus stands for both sun and moon gods, its symbol being sometimes a bull and sometimes a cow, the Third Logos mystically being considered androgyne, differentiation into the two opposites not yet having supervened. Thus Taurus was usually connected with sun gods, such as Osiris; and at others connected with moon goddesses — Isis, Diana, Cybele, etc. — with the moon, and with the far higher Magna Mater (great mother), source of Taurus as the Second Logos, a distinctly feminine aspect.

Its symbol represents the cow horns which are also a symbol of the moon and lunar goddesses. “Ancient mystics saw the ansated cross, in the horns of Taurus (the upper portion of the Hebrew Aleph) pushing away the Dragon, and Christians connected the sign and constellation with Christ. St. Augustine calls it ‘the great City of God,’ and the Egyptians called it the ‘interpreter of the divine voice,’ the Apis-Pacis of Hermonthis” (TG 323).

Designated by the first letter of the alphabet, Taurus is described in many ancient systems as being number one among the signs, because this ascription took place and became static at a time in past history when Taurus opened the spring, and hence was reckoned as the first. Blavatsky suggests that the constellation Taurus was in the first sign of the zodiac at the beginning of kali yuga (3102 BC.), and consequently the equinoctial point fell therein (TG 387).

Associating the Hebrew patriarchs with the signs of the zodiac, Cain presides over Taurus (IU 2:465).

Ta-urt (Egyptian) Ta-urt. One name of the hippopotamus goddess more commonly known as Rert or Rertu; regarded as the consort of Typhon, and closely associated with the beast portrayed in the Judgment scene from The Egyptian Book of the Dead called the Eater of the Dead — the Devourer of the Unjustified. Abstractly, Ta-urt represents not so much the punitive but the retributive aspect of karma, with a special application to the postmortem conditions of the defunct in kama-loka. See also HIPPOPOTAMUS

Taut. See THOTH

Taw, Tau (Hebrew) Taw The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet; sometimes because of similarity of sound interchanged with teth. Its numerical value is 400. In Ezekiel (9:4) the foreheads of the men in Jerusalem who sighed were to be marked “with the signum Thau, as it is translated in the Vulgate” (SD 2:557), and Moses also speaks of marking the lintel and door posts (Ex 12:22).

It likewise signifies a cross which was used in ways closely approximating that of the cross in Christian countries: it was often employed as a mark or subscription, as is done even today by people who cannot write their names. The reason for this was that the old Phoenician alphabet as well as the coins of the Maccabees in Judaea both used the written form of this alphabetic character which was like a cross.

Taygeta or Taygete (Greek) taugete. One of the seven Pleiades, daughters of Atlas, who in one sense represent the seven subraces of Atlantis.

Tchaitya. See CHAITYA

Tchakchur. See CHAKSHU

Tchakra. See CHAKRA

Tchandalas. See CHANDALA

Tchandragupta. See CHANDRAGUPTA

Tchang-chub. See CHANG-CHUB

Tchatur Maharaja. See CHATUR-MAHARAJAS

Tcherno-Bog. See CHERNO BOG

Tchertchen. See CHERCHEN

Tchhanda Riddhi Pada. See CHHANDA-RIDDHI-PADA

Tchigadze. See SHIGATSE

Tchikitsa Vidya Shastra. See CHIKITSA-VIDYA-SASTRA

Tchitta Riddhi Pada. See CHITTA-RIDDHI-PADA

Tchitta Smriti Upasthana. See CHITTA-SMRITI-UPASTHANA

Teachers In theosophical writings, often used to designate masters of wisdom, adepts, mahatmas, or messengers qualified to instruct and guide pupils on the path of wisdom. Teachers are of various grades, belonging to different degrees of different benevolent hierarchies; at the summit are those buddhas and manus who serve as inspirers and light-bringers to the races of mankind. Below these highest come lesser teachers, pertaining to the lesser cycles of time. The mythology of ancient peoples contains reference to divine instructors of various ranks.

The term teachers is applied specially in theosophy to the mahatmas or masters of wisdom, from whom comes the light that guides and aids, but does not govern or control, working through many channels to keep alive mankind’s spiritual intuitions. These masters of wisdom send into the world messengers who have earned the right to labor for mankind, including the sublime duty of teaching. On the other hand, false teachers have always abounded in the world, and the pupil needs to discriminate between the false and the true. If his own motives and aspirations are lofty and pure, he will be satisfied with nothing less than what appeals to these aspirations and motives.

A true teacher is recognizable by the universality of his teachings, which are not circumscribed by sectarian, national, credal, party, or other limitations. The true teacher never constrains the will of his pupil nor exacts unconditional acceptance of any doctrines: he points the way in answer to the pupil’s call, his authority is that of the torchbearer, seeking to evoke and stimulate the pupil’s own spiritual and intellectual strength and inner vision. Teachers always stand ready to answer all who are able to give the right knock; and an aspirant who has the right spirit will find his teacher in due season.

Teachers succeed one another and thus pass on the teachings from age to age; as in the succession of the buddhas and especially of the bodhisattvas in Buddhism; the guruparampara chain in Brahmanism; and even in exoteric life in ancient times, and in far less degree, there were the hierophants in the various Mystery schools, such as in the Eleusinia.

Teba‘ (Hebrew) Ṭeba‘ [from Hebrew verbal root ṭāba‘, Chaldean verbal root ṭĕba‘ to assume shape, become round or spherical] Also tebah. In Chaldean, that which is to be formed or shaped — hence the primary substance of the world, the cosmic element — and also nature, which in late Hebrew “mystically and esoterically is the same as its personified Elohim” (TG 325).

Tebel (Hebrew) Tēbēl [from the verbal root yābal to flow (as of water), glide, go forward as in a solemn procession; or from the verbal root tābal to be fruitful, productive, connected with moisture and heat] Also theivhel, theiohel. The earth, globe, world, especially the inhabited earth. It expresses the idea not only of the earth as a globe in motion, but as flowing forth or as a fruitage from previous manifestations.

Tefnut (Egyptian) Tefnut. [from tef to be moist] Egyptian goddess inseparably connected with her twin brother Shu, being brought forth by the sun god Tem (later known as Ra). Tefnut was the goddess of moisture, of the gentle rain and soft wind. She is represented as a woman wearing upon her head the solar disk, or more often with the head of a lioness. Thus, Tefnut is the clothing or garment of Shu as pradhana is to Brahman or mulaprakriti is to parabrahman.

Tehuti. See THOTH

Teimuraz. See TAHMURATH

Tejas. See TAIJASA

Telchines (Greek) [from thelgo to enchant] A race of ethereal or semi-ethereal beings or genii, said in one legend to be descended from Poseidon, god of the sea — supposed to have lived especially in Crete, Cyprus, and Rhodes. They are represented as cultivators of the soil and ministers to the gods; as sorcerers and envious demons; and as teachers of metallurgy and other useful arts to mankind. They are in one aspect the kabeiroi and titans, in another the Atlanteans. The telchines have been connected mystically because of similar attributes with the Latin Vulcan and even with the Hebrew Tubal-cain.

Telepathy [from Greek tele far off, at a distance + pathos feeling] The transference of thought or feeling from mind to mind independently of ordinary modes of communication. This very interesting and common fact may be noted as not only existing between human beings, and humans and animals, but likewise between animals and insects — the last being one of the commonest phenomena of natural history — and in the plant kingdom. People have always known that they talk to each other through the air, or through air vibrations, and that these strike the ear and are conveyed to the brain. The notion of transference from one mind to another across a distance is a physical conception, and its applicability to minds is questionable. Mind can hardly be regarded as physical, and though our brains are physical and separated by distances, the mind is not synonymous with the brain, for if it were telepathy would be impossible because brain does not physically touch brain in the transference of thought, therefore it is not brains which send and receive except as instruments, but it is minds which touch or interpenetrate along the inner planes.

We live in a common mental atmosphere, taking in and giving out thoughts and feelings, which must often pass from mind to mind, though we may not be aware of the fact. The undoubted fact of our having separate minds does not mean that these minds are closed systems, and not mutually penetrable. The experiments which are made to prove thought transference defeat their object to a great extent, because the mind of the transmitter is not concentrated on the idea to be transmitted, so much as on the idea that he is trying to transfer it. The most conclusive proofs, and curiously enough the most common, are unpremeditated, and actually are daily occurrences.

A thought entertained by one person may pass inwardly through planes of consciousness until it reaches a point where minds are no longer separate, and from thence it may travel outwardly to the brain of another person. It may even be said that what we require is not so much an explanation of thought transference as an explanation of why thoughts are so seldom transferred — why our minds are so separate; and the explanation is the concentration of each individual’s normal daily consciousness upon affairs immediately concerning himself. This clothes the individual in a mental shell of interests, around which rush the radiatory influences emanating from the thinker. Universality of sympathy therefore is the key to successful telepathic communication.

Telesphoros (Greek) [from telos end + phero bring] Bringing to an end, completing; said of the number seven by the Pythagoreans.

Tellurian [from Latin tellus earth] Terrene, pertaining to the earth.

Telugu A language spoken in Southern India, classed by scholars in the Dravidian group — the principal tongue of this group being Tamil. The Dravidians were a pre-Aryan race.

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