The Book of Dzyan is reputedly an ancient text, of Tibetan origin, and possibly connected with an esoteric branch of Lamaism. It was the basis for Theosophy, the movement founded by Helena Blavatsky in 1875. References to the book also exist in the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, and have been expanded upon by other writers who have worked within the Cthulhu mythos. Other related archivesBlavatsky, Cthulhu mythos, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Lamaism, Theosophy, Tibetan

Read more here: » Book of Dzyan: Encyclopedia - Book of Dzyan

Book of Dzyan (probably from Sanskrit dhyana intense spiritual meditation, wisdom, divine knowledge)

An archaic work of enormous antiquity upon which Blavatsky based her Secret Doctrine. Dzyan has been variously spelled or transliterated, and under this form is a derivative of the Tibetan. Dzyan, dzen, or ch'an is the general term for the esoteric schools and their literature.

Blavatsky describes the Book of Dzyan, saying: "An Archaic Manuscript -- a collection of palm leaves made impermeable to water, fire, and air, by some specific unknown process -- is before the writer's eye. On the first page is an immaculate white disk within a dull black ground. On the following page, the same disk, but with a central point" (SD 1:1).

"The 'very old Book' is the original work from which the many volumes of Kiu-ti were complied. Not only this latter and the Siphrah Dzeniouta but even the Sepher Jezirah, the work attributed by the Hebrew Kabbalists to their Patriarch Abraham (!), the book of Shu-king, China's primitive Bible, the sacred volumes of the Egyptian Thoth-Hermes, the Puranas in India, and the Chaldean Book of Numbers and the Pentateuch itself, are all derived from that one small parent volume.

Tradition says, that it was taken down in Senzar, 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; for there was a time when its language (the Sen-zar) was known to the Initiates of every nation, when the forefathers of the Toltec understood it as easily as the inhabitants of the lost Atlantis, who inherited it, in their turn, from the sages of the 3rd Race, the Manushis, who learnt it direct from the Devas of the 2nd and 1st Races. . . . The old book, having described Cosmic Evolution and explained the origin of everything on earth, including physical man, after giving the true history of the races from the First down to the Fifth (our) race, goes no further" (SD 1:xliii).

See also STANZAS OF DZYAN.

(See also: Book of Dzyan, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

DZYAN

A corruption of Sanskrit Dhyana, "meditation" > Chinese Ch'an, Japanese Zen. The word, however, has entirely different meanings in each language. The Book of Dzyan or Stanzas of Dzyan is one of the 90 treatises of the Buddhist and Pre-Buddhist "Book of the Golden Precepts" written in Senzar, the ancient, sacred precursor to Sanskrit, which HPB partially translated in Tibet. The Book of Klu-Te is apparently another esoteric Tibetan work. These incredibly ancient books comprise most of HPB's sources for her Secret Doctrine.

Major Keyhoe states that in The Book of Dzyan there is an account of beings who arrive on earth from the sky in metal ships, build rival cities, then destroy one another with nuclear missiles.

(See also: DZYAN, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

The Secret Doctrine, the Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy, a book originally published as two volumes in 1888, is Helena P. Blavatsky magnum opus. The first volume is named Cosmogenesis, the second Anthropogenesis. It was an influential example of the revival of interest in esoteric and occult ideas in the modern age, in particular because of its claim to reconcile ancient eastern wisdom with modern science. Blavatsky claimed that its contents had been revealed to her by 'mahatmas' who had retained knowledge ...

Including:

• The Secret Doctrine - Volume One
• The Secret Doctrine - Volume Two
• The Secret Doctrine - Volume Three and Four
• The Secret Doctrine - Study of the Secret Doctrine
• The Secret Doctrine - Quotations
• The Secret Doctrine - Writings about The Secret Doctrine

Read more here: » The Secret Doctrine: Encyclopedia - The Secret Doctrine

Cthulhu mythos is the term coined by the writer August Derleth to describe the shared themes, characters, and elements in the works of H.P. Lovecraft, his protegés, and writers influenced by him. Together, they form the mythos that authors, writing in the Lovecraftian milieu, have used—and continue to use—to craft their stories.[1] Although this mythology is sometimes called the Lovecraft Mythos—most notably by the Love ...

Including:

• Cthulhu mythos - Lovecraft and the mythos
• Cthulhu mythos - Cosmicism
• Cthulhu mythos - Imaginary New England setting
• Cthulhu mythos - Lovecraft's pantheon
• Cthulhu mythos - Cthulhuian pseudobiblia
• Cthulhu mythos - Structure of the mythos
• Cthulhu mythos - Derleth's involvement
• Cthulhu mythos - Derleth's elemental theory
• Cthulhu mythos - Conclusion
• Cthulhu mythos - Elements of the mythos
• Cthulhu mythos - Beings
• Cthulhu mythos - Cults in the mythos
• Cthulhu mythos - Arcane literature and other media
• Cthulhu mythos - Fictional locations
• Cthulhu mythos - Non-fictional elements of the mythos

Read more here: » Cthulhu mythos: Encyclopedia - Cthulhu mythos

The second half of the book describes the origins of humanity through an account of "Root Races" dating back millions of years. The first root race was according to her "ethereal", the second root race lived in Hyperborea. The third root race lived according to her in Lemuria and the fourth root race in Atlantis. According to Blavatsky, the present fifth root race, the so-called Aryans, is approximately one million years old. It overlapped the fourth root race and the very first beginnings of the fifth root race were approximately in ...

See also:

The Secret Doctrine, The Secret Doctrine - Volume One, The Secret Doctrine - Volume Two, The Secret Doctrine - Volume Three and Four, The Secret Doctrine - Study of the Secret Doctrine, The Secret Doctrine - Quotations, The Secret Doctrine - Writings about The Secret Doctrine

Read more here: » The Secret Doctrine: Encyclopedia II - The Secret Doctrine - Volume Two

Dzyan (Senzar) Closely similar to the Tibetan dzin (learning, knowledge). Although Blavatsky states that dzyan is "a corruption of the Sanskrit Dhyan and Jnana . . . Wisdom, divine knowledge" (TG 107), there is also a Chinese equivalent dan or jan-na, which in "modern Chinese and Tibetan phonetics ch'an, is the general term for the esoteric schools, and their literature.

In the old books, the word Janna is defined as 'to reform one's self by meditation and knowledge,' a second inner birth. Hence Dzan, Djan phonetically, the 'Book of Dzyan'" (SD 1:xx). This term then is connected directly with the ancient mystery-language called Senzar, with Tibetan and Chinese mystical Buddhism mostly of the Mahayana schools, and thirdly with the Sanskrit dhyana of which indeed it was probably originally a corruption.

(See also: Dzyan, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Stanzas of Dzyan Archaic verses of philosophical and cosmogonical content drawn from the Book of Dzyan, which form the basis of The Secret Doctrine. They present the esoteric teachings in regard to cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis, and are the ancient heritage of humanity as preserved by the brotherhood of mahatmas.

Every race and nation has drawn from this source through the medium of its initiated or inspired teachers and saviors. Only portions of the original verses are given in The Secret Doctrine, and Blavatsky's presentation there represents the first time that they have been set down in a modern European language; her endeavor always was to represent the meaning rather than to give a merely literal rendering of the words: "it must be left to the intuition and the higher faculties of the reader to grasp, as far as he can, the meaning of the allegorical phrases used. Indeed it must be remembered that all these Stanzas appeal to the inner faculties rather than to the ordinary comprehension of the physical brain" (SD 1:21).

Especially is this the case when the Stanzas refer to events and conditions of cosmic or human life of which mankind today has virtually lost all memory, except for the scattered fragments of archaic writings which have reached us out of the darkness of prehistory. Only deep meditation and contemplation upon the mystical symbols used will awaken the faculty to comprehend them:

"The history of cosmic evolution, as traced in the Stanzas, is, so to say, the abstract algebraical formula of that Evolution. . . . .

"The Stanzas, therefore, give an abstract formula which can be applied, mutatis mutandis, to all evolution: to that of our tiny earth, to that of the chain of planets of which that earth forms one, to the solar Universe to which that chain belongs, and so on, in an ascending scale, till the mind reels and is exhausted in the effort.

"The seven Stanzas given in this volume represent the seven terms of this abstract formula. They refer to, and describe the seven great stages of the evolutionary process, which are spoken of in the Puranas as the 'Seven Creations,' and in the Bible as the 'Days' of Creation" (SD 1:20-1).

These archaic stanzas are written preeminently in symbolic language, with the intention of giving, perhaps, a sevenfold meaning; "as there are seven keys of interpretation to every symbol and allegory, that which may not fit a meaning, say from the psychological or astronomical aspect, will be found quite correct from the physical or metaphysical" (SD 2:22n).

See also BOOK OF DZYAN

(See also: Stanzas of Dzyan, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Lemuria entered the lexicon of the Occult through the works of Madame Blavatsky, who claimed in the 1880s to have been shown an ancient, pre-Atlantean Book of Dzyan by the Mahatmas. Within Blavatsky's complex cosmology, Lemuria was occupied by a "Third Root Race," which was sexually hermaphroditical, mentally undeveloped and spiritually more pure than the current "Fifth Root Race." After the subsequent creation of mammals, Mme Blavatsky revealed to her readers, some Lemurians turned to bestiality. The gods, aghast at the behavior of these "mindless" men, sank Lemuria into the ocean and created ...

See also:

Lemuria continent, Lemuria continent - Scientific Origins, Lemuria continent - Mme Blavatsky's Lemuria, Lemuria continent - Lemuria and Mount Shasta, Lemuria continent - The Madrid Codex, Lemuria continent - Kumari Kandam and Lemuria, Lemuria continent - Lemuria's reptilian beings

Read more here: » Lemuria continent: Encyclopedia II - Lemuria continent - Mme Blavatsky's Lemuria

Shu-king (Chinese) Also Shoo King, Shu Ching. Popularly known as the Canon, or Book of History; one of the Four Shu Books compiled by Confucius from documents which were ancient in his day.

Blavatsky refers to this work as "China's primitive Bible" compiled from the Book of Dzyan (SD 1:xliii), remarking that it is full of reminiscences about the fourth root-race and the giants of bygone times (SD 2:280-1).

(See also: Shu-king, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Though living modern Lemurs are only found in Madagascar and several surrounding islands, the biogeography of extinct lemurs extending from Pakistan to Malaya inspired the name Lemuria, which was coined in 1864 by the geologist Philip Sclater in an article "The Mammals of Madagascar" in The Quarterly Journal of Science. Puzzled by the presence of fossil lemurs in both Madagascar and India, but not in Africa nor the Middle East, Sclater proposed that Madagascar and India had once been part of a ...

See also:

Lemuria continent, Lemuria continent - Scientific Origins, Lemuria continent - Mme Blavatsky's Lemuria, Lemuria continent - Lemuria and Mount Shasta, Lemuria continent - The Madrid Codex, Lemuria continent - Kumari Kandam and Lemuria, Lemuria continent - Lemuria's reptilian beings

Read more here: » Lemuria continent: Encyclopedia II - Lemuria continent - Scientific Origins

Himavat, Himavan (Sanskrit) The snowy; a name of the Himalaya range, especially the personified aspect, mythologically considered as the husband of Mena or Menaka, whose eldest daughter was Himavatsuta -- the Ganges. Also used as an adjective, snow-clad.

The mountain range is known as Himavan-mekhala (the snowy mountain belt or girdle). In the esoteric commentaries on the Book of Dzyan this chain of mountains is represented as a belt that encircles the earth -- whether above or below water (SD 2:401).

(See also: Himavat, Himavan, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Siphra' Di-tseni`utha' (Chaldean) "Their counting or telling of the concealed mysteries," the Book of Secrets or Mysteries; one of the principal books of the Zohar (Light); the secrets or mysteries dealt with are those relating to cosmogony and to the inhabitants of those worlds, thus forming the basis of the Hebrew Qabbalah. The work opens with the statement: "The book of the concealed mystery is the book of the equilibrium of balance," and proceeds to expound this thesis in Qabbalistic terminology.

Blavatsky calls it "the most ancient Hebrew document on occult learning" (SD 1:xlii), although the language used is largely Chaldean, and states that it was compiled from the very ancient Book of Dzyan through the archaic Chaldean Qabbalah.

(See also: Siphra' Di-tseni`utha', Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

In reptilian conspiracy literature, a sunken Pacific continent (usually styled as Lemuria or Mu) is sometimes posited as the homeland of a reptilian race of creatures, often identified with Dragons or Nagas. Various bits of myth and folklore are assembled in support, such as the Cambodian Naga traditions. Modern claims of Australian aborigines sighting "dinosaur-like" creatures are also often viewed as evidence. The earliest attestation of such notions in modern literature seems to have occurred in the works of H. ...

See also:

Lemuria continent, Lemuria continent - Scientific Origins, Lemuria continent - Mme Blavatsky's Lemuria, Lemuria continent - Lemuria and Mount Shasta, Lemuria continent - The Madrid Codex, Lemuria continent - Kumari Kandam and Lemuria, Lemuria continent - Lemuria's reptilian beings

Read more here: » Lemuria continent: Encyclopedia II - Lemuria continent - Lemuria's reptilian beings

Himavat, Himavan (Sanskrit) The snowy; a name of the Himalaya range, especially the personified aspect, mythologically considered as the husband of Mena or Menaka, whose eldest daughter was Himavatsuta -- the Ganges. Also used as an adjective, snow-clad.

The mountain range is known as Himavan-mekhala (the snowy mountain belt or girdle). In the esoteric commentaries on the Book of Dzyan this chain of mountains is represented as a belt that encircles the earth -- whether above or below water (SD 2:401).

(See also: Himalayas, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

In 1894, Frederick Spencer Oliver published A Dweller on Two Planets, which claimed that survivors from a sunken continent called Lemuria were living in or on Mount Shasta in northern California. The Lemurians lived in a complex of tunnels beneath the mountain and occasionally were seen walking the surface dressed in white robes. This belief has been repeated by such individuals as the cultist Guy Warren Ballard in the 1930s who formed the I AM Foundation. It is also repeated by followers of the Ascended Masters and the Great W ...

See also:

Lemuria continent, Lemuria continent - Scientific Origins, Lemuria continent - Mme Blavatsky's Lemuria, Lemuria continent - Lemuria and Mount Shasta, Lemuria continent - The Madrid Codex, Lemuria continent - Kumari Kandam and Lemuria, Lemuria continent - Lemuria's reptilian beings

Read more here: » Lemuria continent: Encyclopedia II - Lemuria continent - Lemuria and Mount Shasta

Senzar The name given to the ancient mystery-language unknown to modern philologists, that was known to all initiates of the inhabited and civilized world; the secret sacerdotal language or mystery-speech of the adepts of whatever class belonging to or owing allegiance to the chief esoteric brotherhood, "still used and studied unto this day in the secret communities of the Eastern adepts, and called by them -- according to the locality -- Zend-zar and Brahma or Deva-Bashya" (BCW 4:518n).

In this language, besides its common use as a universal means of intercommunication, were written the secret works preserving the history of the archaic continents and races, as well as prophecies of the future. It was used in the secret commentaries and stanzas forming the basis for The Secret Doctrine, wherein they are called the Stanzas of Dzyan or the Book of Dzyan.

"Tradition says, that it was taken down in Senzar, 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; for there was a time when its language (the Sen-zar) was known to the Initiates of every nation, when the forefathers of the Toltec understood it as easily as the inhabitants of lost Atlantis, who inherited it, in their turn, from the sages of the 3rd Race, the Manushis, who learnt it direct from the Devas of the 2nd and 1st Races" (SD 1:xliii).

As to the mode of writing this mystery-speech, "The sacerdotal language (Senzar), besides an alphabet of its own, may be rendered in several modes of writing in cypher characters, which partake more of the nature of ideographs than of syllables" (VS vii).

(See also: Senzar, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Kumari Kandam has often been compared and identified with Lemuria. According to Tamil Tradition, the Dravidians originally came from a submerged island Kumarikhandam in the south of India. The Epics Shilappadikaram and Manimekhalai describe the submerged city of Puhar. At Mahabalipuram, near Chennai, submerged ruins have been found in the ocean. Also in Ayyavazhi mythology, the Akilattirattu Ammanai tells about a sunken land at about 152 miles either south or south-east to Kanyakumari, with 16008 streets .It also claims that the Center of Origin of Human bein ...

See also:

Lemuria continent, Lemuria continent - Scientific Origins, Lemuria continent - Mme Blavatsky's Lemuria, Lemuria continent - Lemuria and Mount Shasta, Lemuria continent - The Madrid Codex, Lemuria continent - Kumari Kandam and Lemuria, Lemuria continent - Lemuria's reptilian beings

Read more here: » Lemuria continent: Encyclopedia II - Lemuria continent - Kumari Kandam and Lemuria

Water of Life The Book of Dzyan says that light is cold flame, flame is fire, and fire produces heat, which yields the water of life in the great mother; Blavatsky explained that all these are, on our plane, the progeny of electricity -- which is perhaps the most important physical manifestation of the cosmic jiva or life, emanating from fohat, or vice versa.

Also a synonym for Chaos, the great cosmic deep, as in the opening verses of Genesis, when the soul of the 'Elohim or hierarchy of dhyani-chohans moved through and over the waters.

Again, in myth and folktales, a magic liquid that cures all illnesses, brings the dead to life, or gives immortality. For example, in the Babylonian myth of Ishtar and Tammuz, the goddess descends to the underworld seeking the water of life to restore Tammuz to life.

See also AB-E-HAYAT

(See also: Water of Life, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

In his essay "The Lovecraft Mythos", S. T. Joshi defines four key elements in Lovecraft's mythos: (1) the fundamental principle of cosmicism, (2) an imaginary New England setting, (3) recurring "pseudomythological" entities, and (4) works of arcane literature. Joshi points out, however, that Lovecraft never fully realized his mythos at any time in his career, but instead developed it gradually, adding elements to it with each story he wrote.[5]See also:

Cthulhu mythos, Cthulhu mythos - Lovecraft and the mythos, Cthulhu mythos - Cosmicism, Cthulhu mythos - Imaginary New England setting, Cthulhu mythos - Lovecraft's pantheon, Cthulhu mythos - Cthulhuian pseudobiblia, Cthulhu mythos - Structure of the mythos, Cthulhu mythos - Derleth's involvement, Cthulhu mythos - Derleth's elemental theory, Cthulhu mythos - Conclusion, Cthulhu mythos - Elements of the mythos, Cthulhu mythos - Beings, Cthulhu mythos - Cults in the mythos, Cthulhu mythos - Arcane literature and other media, Cthulhu mythos - Fictional locations, Cthulhu mythos - Non-fictional elements of the mythos

Read more here: » Cthulhu mythos: Encyclopedia II - Cthulhu mythos - Lovecraft and the mythos