TULKUS, AVATÂRS and other high spiritual teachers by Clive Bellgrove
Tulku is a Tibetan word which, in one rendering, means Bodhisattva; and in another rendering means “Transference”. In Tibetan teachings the word has very wide and comprehensive meanings, closely paralleling the Hindu-Brahamanic word AVATÂRA. AVATÂRA means a passing down of celestial energy, in other words the overshadowing or illuminating of some human being. But an Avatara is a synthetic entity, composed of a divine being, who uses an intermediate “soul” loaned by a Buddha, and functioning in a physical body prepared and made available willingly for use; and this body is usually that of an unborn child. In all the records of the ancient races of mankind, and in many of their traditional religious or philosophical teachings, there are countless references to either God or Gods who make appearances or perform acts and impart teachings of high spiritual nature, but usually conforming to the degree to which the race or nation concerned is capable of receiving and understanding the teachings so given. Some two thousand years ago, perhaps rather less, the young Christian church adopted the religious books of the Israelites; which books, together with the so-called Gospels and various letters which form the New Testament, make up what is familiarly known as the Bible. In Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, it is said that “God created the heaven and the earth”; and in the opening verses of the Gospel according to John, in the New Testament, it is said that “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” Then in Genesis 3.8 we read “And they (Adam and Eve) heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden (of
Eden) in the cool of the day…….” This is but one of many references in ancient literatures to the supposed fact of God or Gods manifesting on Earth, walking, talking and performing many and various acts, sometimes for the benefit and sometimes to the detriment of human beings. It seems reasonable to question how it would be possible for a God who created an Earth out of, or from himself, to be later to manifest physically and walk on the surface of that Earth. Similarly, so with the Gods and goddesses of
Olympus; with those of ancient
Egypt, with the Hindu Gods of India, and every other area where the supposed activities of divine beings on physical Earth are recorded. On one hand, the enquiring mind is faced with impossibilities; and this is one of the reasons why many people discard completely all conception of Gods. On the other hand some enquiring minds sense that there must be an explanation of these age old traditions, as to what really occurs; and some of these enquirers and searchers find acceptable answers. These answers belong to a realm of esoteric teaching which for ages was reserved exclusively for highly trained people engaged in the search for spiritual teachings and development; but in this present day and age, as we know, a vast amount of high and formerly secret teaching is being given out in our Theosophical literature because, in my personal view, it is the only antidote to the greatly increasing materialism of the world of thought of the present day. What, then, is the explanation of this idea that Gods manifest on Earth? The words TULKU and AVATÂRA, when understood, cover as much ground as we are likely to be able to cope with. Not all Tulkus are Avataras, and vice versa. There are apparently grades of Avataras, but they are all headed by a divine being; there are many types of Tulkus and few appear to be derived from divinities. It would be impossible in a short paper to survey each and every type hinted at in our literature. In the ancient Indian religious book, the Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna, says: “Whenever there is a decline of virtue in the world, I incarnate a portion of myself.” A PORTION OF HIMSELF. The process appears to be this: Upon the Earth there is somewhere an unborn child, derived from “a pure and fortunate family” the incoming entity of which volunteers to make that body available for the prospective Avatara; the Buddha provides the intermediate soul, and the ray from the divinity blends with the intermediate part and comes into manifestation in the proffered physical body, and performs his responsibilities as the Avatara. There is not the slightest compulsion in any part of this process, but all is achieved voluntarily and willingly. With an Avatara, such an overshadowing by a divinity may last an entire lifetime, as is said to have occurred with Jesus. The process is not unlike using a telephone. A voice speaks through the handset, and the recipient of the message can discuss and talk back to the speaker. But the speaker is not IN the telephone handset, nor in the instrument, nor in the Telephone Exchange, but is an entity speaking through the established system. Thus the receiver of the message infilled, whether for a lifetime or for shorter periods, with the ray of a “God”, is like the handset of a telephone; he hears the message, can perhaps discuss it, but will hand it on to the others AS HE HAS HEARD IT. Occasionally, it seems that it is possible for the recipient to incorrectly hear or to translate the message heard, and therefore relay an incorrect message. By such means God, or the Gods, have always been able to communicate with human beings, without themselves actually manifesting physically on the face of the Earth. Which, if one thinks about it sufficiently, one sees to be impossible; for if spirit could manifest in matter, it would cease for the time being at least to be spirit. TULKU is an aspect of this mystery, for mystery it is. There can be a succession of Tulkus, each one passing on to his successor the responsibilities of the work to be done. We have the instance of the Hermetic Chain of Teachers consisting of the many entities collected under the name of Hermes Mercurius Tresmigistus of ancient times. There are the former Tashi or Panchen Lamas, and the Dalai Lamas of Tibet; possibly also the line of Zoroasters of ancient
Persia. There is also the line of 100 year Messengers established by Tsong-ka-pa, who was both a Bodhisattva and a Tulku, and who was the very highest of the Nirmanakayas. So far as is known, all the earlier lines of Tulkus have ended. Perhaps the work they came to do has been completed; or it is possible that the intended work could not be achieved and it became fruitless to spend more energy in the effort. But the line of 100 year Messengers established by Tsong-kha-pa continues, as we understand. There have been many individual Teachers of great eminence, who clearly have been illuminated by vastly greater spiritual entities than themselves. Prince Siddhartha eventually was illumined by his own inner Buddhi becoming known as the Buddha of history. Pythagoras was in a position to establish the Sanctuary of Apollo at
Delphi, where a succession of Pythonesses were able to give the answers of the “God” to enquirers who put questions to them. It is said that Mahomet was an Avatara of a “lesser kind”, but with clearly his own particular work to do. The Old Testament of the Bible does not appear to give any indication of a line of Tulkus, though there are many individuals, the Prophets and the Patriarchs etc., who must have been illumined by some high spiritual entity, perhaps their own Higher Selves. Any human being who is greatly inspired receives his inspiration from realms which to us are invisible and beyond our everyday knowledge and understanding. It is said that Shakespeare was “brushed by the wing of a Nirmanakaya”; and a Nirmanakaya is a spiritual being more highly evolved than even the Brothers of Compassion; and even of the latter we know very little. Mozart must have been inspired by some great entity, perhaps his own Higher Self, to have been able to produce so much wonderful music.The architects of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, of Stonehenge, of the Glastonbury Zodiac and other such marvels of mathematical precision; the builders of the Periclean Age of ancient Greece, of the Ankor Wat of Cambodia; the writers of books such as the Vedas, the Sybilline Books, the Popul Vuh, all the Hermetic literature, and a host of other incomparably wonderful secret books of the past, must all have been inspired by great spiritual entities. In our own day and age we possess writings such as The Secret Doctrine and the Mahatma Letters. A wealth of teaching, so much of it previously secret, has been given to the world through the writings of H.P. Blavatsky, who unquestionably was a Tulku, acting as such on many occasions, but at other times merely her normal self. Every human being who listens to his Conscience, his Intuition, or is Inspired, is, for those moments in time, acting as Tulku to some high entity, almost certainly his own Higher Self. It is well to understand that, while all Avataras have a divine source, not all Tulkus necessarily are derived from sources of high spirituality. Humanity is surrounded by many invisible entities not all of them good. One’s life is moulded by the inclination of one’s thoughts: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Dark entities are able to use the Tulku process. There have been many individuals in history, both ancient and modern, who as a result of great powers of rhetoric and other such means have brought terrible suffering and great destruction to large sections of the human race; they appear to have acted as Tulkus to powerful dark forces. Again, in the relatively modest range of activity known as Hypnotism, the hypnotist and his subject are acting in a condition of Tulku, where the consciousness of the latter is, often without permission, pushed aside completely, the vacuum being filled by the consciousness of the hypnotist who can, if unethical, cause the subject to carry out this will whatever it may be. This is dark magic. Perhaps this paper will help us to understand the meaning of the old saying that sometimes we “entertain angels unawares.” Above us, above every human being, is his Higher Self, which is the “light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” Throughout our evolution from the first dawning of consciousness we have been open to be imbued with that light, or we have been attracted to the shade cast by that light. The vast mass of humanity is unaware of these two sides to their nature, and few realize their spiritual potential; for with the least evolved as well as the highest, the Higher Self is with us “even unto the end of the world.” When a Mahatma wishes to give a message to the world, he may appear as a Mayavi-Rupa, which is a form of Tulku; or he may send a ray of himself into the body, willingly provided, of a neophyte-messenger, for a period of a lifetime, or for shorter periods of time. H.P.B. frequently imbodied the very life of her Teacher; but when his influence was withdrawn she became again the everyday Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. When the Tashi and Dalai Lamas transferred their incarnation from one body that had just died to another, invariably the body chosen was of an infant who was just on the point of death. When the assumption was completed the body of the child revived and usually lived many years, though there are instances where the incarnation of one or other of these Lamas lasted only into youth or young manhood. In the writings of travellers in
Tibet there are many references to Tulkus and Living Buddhas, but it would be well to be guarded about such statements. As the two lines of Tulkus with the Tashi and the Dalai Lamas became established, it became the ambition of many of the great and powerful monasteries in
Tibet to have, also, their own Tulkus of Buddhas; and it is not unreasonable to suppose that these were mere inventions, and not actualities. Great spiritual entities are continually endeavouring to impart to human beings high ethical altruistic teachings, the doctrine of Universal Brotherhood, and the latent divinity in every human being, In their ceaseless work they use intermediaries, some of very high development, some of intermediate development, and others of still less development, though these latter are nevertheless, from our standpoint, illuminated messengers. Among these we can include H.P. Blavatsky, Damodar, W.Q. Judge and others; all of whom are motivated by compassion for their fellow men. They work ceaselessly, and without reward of any kind, so often without even appreciation for their efforts. We will do ourselves a great service if we recall the compassion that has motivated the great ones, of whatever degree, who with such intensity have sent or brought into the world the vast amount of teaching over the past hundred years, which we are free and at liberty to study and discuss openly; if we understand and appreciate the self-sacrifice and dedication of each and every one of them; and if we in return not only study and endeavour to live those high teachings, but also in quiet moments feel some gratitude to them for all their efforts on our behalf.
This is the text of a lecture given by the author at a public meeting of the Theosophical Society (Pasadena) in Melbourne, Australia. The ideas expressed in all our public meetings are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the TS (Pasadena).