The voice of silence
The Voice of the Silence (Original title: The Voice of the Silence ) is a book by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky . It was written in Fontainebleau and first published in London in 1889 .
construction
The work, the full title of which is The Voice of Silence and Other Selected Fragments from the "Book of Golden Teachings" , consists of the three parts
- The voice of silence
- The two ways
- The seven gates
The text without a preface and appendices comprises 75 small-format pages.
Emergence
Blavatsky emphasized in the preface that it is not her own work, but translations of parts of the "Book of Golden Teachings". During her stay in Tibet , she learned them by heart and therefore only had to write them down. The English original text is heavily interspersed with Sanskrit and Tibetan terms, which make it much more difficult to read. For this reason, attempts have been made and will be attempted to Germanize these terms in some translations and the original terms are shown in footnotes .
links
Written entirely in the tradition of Eastern philosophies , the work shows numerous parallels to Hinduism . Something similar can be found in the Vedas , and above all in the Upanishads , but also in the Bhagavad Gita . There is also agreement on Buddhism . Here the eminent Zen scholar Dr. Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki wrote the book as a real Mahayana (The Middle Way, August 1965, p. 90) and wrote about it: "Without a doubt, Helena Blavatsky was initiated into the deeper sides of the Mahayana teachings and then published what she thought was wise ... " (Eastern Buddhist, old series, 5: 377) . The Dalai Lama , traditionally friendly to the teachings of theosophy , provided the Satteldorf translation with a foreword in 1997 as an expression of his agreement.
content
The work assumes knowledge in connection with the terms karma , reincarnation , chakra and Kundalini , and is difficult to understand without this background.
The voice of silence
This first part describes the "path" that a disciple has to go. The stations on this path correspond to working on oneself by eliminating vices and vices and overcoming the Maya . After overcoming himself, there is no more path for the disciple. Eventually the consciousness of all individuality is lost and the disciple attains samadhi , he is one with the universe.
The two ways
When unity is achieved, there are two options to choose from. One choice is to overcome the wheel of rebirth forever. The second choice is to return of your own free will to help others along the way. The second, inexpressibly more difficult way, is the nobler one.
The seven gates
Even before unity can be achieved, seven virtues of perfection must be mastered: the willingness to constantly give oneself away, balance, imperturbability, dispassion, strength, immersion and wisdom.
literature
- Gertrud Engel (translator): The Voice of Silence and other selected fragments from the Book of Golden Teachings. Ring-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1935.
- Franz Hartmann (transl.): The voice of silence, the two ways, the seven gates. Ullrich-Verlag, Calw 1976.
- Norbert Lauppert, Fritz Kutschera (translator): The voice of silence and other selected fragments from the "Book of Golden Teachings". Adyar-Verlag, Graz 1982, ISBN 3-85005-068-8 .
- Hank Troemel (translator): The voice of silence, excerpts from the book of golden rules. Adyar, Theosophical Publishing Society, Satteldorf 1997, ISBN 3-927837-62-8 .
- Judith M. Tyberg: The language of the gods - Sanskrit as the key to the teachings of the mysteries. Verlag Esoterische Philosophie, Hannover 2012, ISBN 978-3-924849-66-5 . (This book devotes 44 pages specifically to the detailed translation, explanation and spelling of the Sanskrit terms used in The Voice of Silence )