THE PRAMITS AND THE EXALTED EIGHTFOLD PATH

By Gottfried de Purucker
IN BUDDHIST as well as in modern theosophical literature a great deal has been
written about the glorious virtues or pramits, but unfortunately they have been too
often looked upon as being merely a noble but relatively unattainable code of conduct,
which indeed they are; but they are more than this. They are actually the rules of
thought and action which the would-be chela must follow, in the beginning as best he
can, but later in completeness, so that his entire life becomes governed and enlightened
by them. It is only thus that the disciple can reach what the Lord Buddha called the
other shore
1
the spiritual realms which have to be reached by crossing the stormy
ocean of human existence, and doing so under ones own spiritual and intellectual and
psychical power, with only such help as can be given him in view of his own past
karma.
The idea of going to the other shore is commonly supposed to be typically Oriental,
but this seems unjustified, as many Christian hymns speak of the mystical Jordan and of
reaching the shore beyond, a conception which appears to be more or less identical
with that of Buddhism. This side is the life of the world, the usual or common pursuits
of men. The other shore is simply the life spiritual, involving the expansion in
relatively full power and function of the entire range of mans nature. In other words, to
reach the other shore means living at one with the divinity within, and hence
partaking of the universal life in relatively full self-consciousness. The teaching of all
the great religious and philosophical systems has been to urge upon their followers the
fact that our real goal is to learn the lessons of manifested existence and to graduate
from this experience into the cosmic life.
As the Dhammapada (verse 85) has it:
There are few people who reach the other shore;
The others run wild on this shore.
A short Buddhist writing called the Prajn-Paramit-Hridaya Stra or The Heart or
Essence of the Wisdom of the Passing-Over, closes with a beautiful mantra which runs
as follows in the original Sanskrit:
Gate, gate, pragate, prasamgate, bodhi, svh!
O Wisdom! Gone, gone, gone to the other shore, landed on the other shore, Hail!
Wisdom in this context may be taken as referring to the cosmic buddhi, otherwise
called di-buddhi or primeval wisdom, and also in an individualized sense to the
supreme Silent Watcher of our planetary chain, di-buddha. The one addressed is he
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who has arrived at the other shore, the triumphant pilgrim who has become self-
consciously at one with the god within him and thus has successfully perceived
through the my or illusions of the phenomenal worlds. The highest ones who have
attained this are jvanmuktas, freed monads; those less high belong to the different
grades in the several hierarchies of the Hierarchy of Compassion.
The discipline of the pramits as H.P.B. gave them in The Voice of the Silence is as
follows:
DNA, the key of charity and love immortal.
SLA, the key of Harmony in word and act, the key that counterbalances the
cause and the effect, and leaves no further room for Karmic action.
KSHNTI, patience sweet, that nought can ruffle.
VIRGYA, indifference to pleasure and to pain, illusion conquered, truth alone
perceived.
VRYA, the dauntless energy that fights its way to the supernal TRUTH, out of
the mire of lies terrestrial.
DHYNA, whose golden gate once opened leads the Narjol [Naljor] toward the
realm of Sat eternal and its ceaseless contemplation.
PRAJN, the key to which makes of a man a god, creating him a Bodhisattva, son
of the Dhyanis.
The manner in which these pramits are to be practiced is well illustrated by the
following extract from the Mahyna rddhotpada stra
2
which, however, mentions
only six, although they are given elsewhere as seven and, when more fully enumerated,
as ten:
How should one practice charity (Dna)?
If someone comes and asks for anything, disciples, as far as they are able,
should grant the request ungrudgingly and in a way to benefit them. If
disciples see anyone in danger, they should try every means they have to
rescue him and impart to him a feeling of safety. If any one comes to disciples
desiring instruction in the Dharma, they should as far as they are able and
according to their best judgment, try to enlighten him. And when they are
doing these acts of charity, they should not cherish any desire for recompense,
or gratitude, or merit or advantage, nor any worldly reward. They should seek
to concentrate the mind on those universal benefits and blessings that are for all
alike and, by so doing, will realize within themselves highest perfect Wisdom.
How should one practice virtuous precepts (Sla)?
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Lay disciples, having families, should abstain from killing, stealing, adultery,
lying, duplicity, slander, frivolous talk, covetousness, malice, currying favor,
and false doctrines. Unmarried disciples should, in order to avoid hindrances,
retire from the turmoil of worldly life and, abiding in solitude, should practice
those ways which lead to quietness and moderation and contentment. . . . They
should endeavor by their conduct to avoid all disapproval and blame, and by
their example incite others to forsake evil and practice the good.
How should one practice patient forbearance (Kshnti)?
As one meets with the ills of life he should not shun them nor feel aggrieved.
Patiently bearing evils inflicted by others, he should cherish no resentment. He
should neither be elated because of prosperity, praise, or agreeable
circumstances; nor depressed because of poverty, insult, or hardship. Keeping
his mind concentrated on the deep significance of the Dharma, he should under
all circumstances maintain a quiet and equitable mind.
How should one practice courageous vigor (Vrya)?
In the practice of good deeds one should never become indolent. He should
look upon any mental or physical suffering as the natural following of
unworthy deeds done in previous incarnations, and should firmly resolve that
henceforth he would only do those things which are in keeping with a spiritual
life. Cherishing compassion for all beings, he should never let the thought of
indolence arise, but should ever be indefatigably zealous to benefit all beings. . .
How should one practice meditation (Dhyna)?
Intellectual insight is gained by truthfully understanding that all things follow
the law of causation, but in themselves are transitory and empty of any self-
substance. There are two aspects of Dhyna: the first aspect is an effort to
suppress idle thinking; the second, is a mental concentration in an effort to
realize this emptiness (nyat) of Mind-essence. At first a beginner will have to
practice these separately but as he gains mind control the two will merge into
one. . . .
He should contemplate the fact, that although all things are transitory and
empty yet, nevertheless, on the physical plane they have a relative value to
those who are cherishing false imagination; to these ignorant ones, suffering is
very real -- it always has been and it always will be -- immeasurable and
innumerable sufferings. . . .
Because of all this, there is awakened in the mind of every earnest disciple a
deep compassion for the suffering of all beings that prompts him to dauntless,
earnest zeal and the making of great vows. He resolves to give all he has and all
he is to the emancipation of all beings. . . . After these vows, the sincere disciple
should at all times and as far as his strength and mind permit, practice those
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deeds which are beneficial alike to others and to himself. Whether moving,
standing, sitting or lying, he should assiduously concentrate his mind on what
should be wisely done and wisely left undone. This is the active aspect of
Dhyna.
How can one practice Intuitive Wisdom (Prajn)?
When one by the faithful practice of Dhyna attains to Samdhi, he has passed
beyond discrimination and knowledge, he has realized the perfect oneness of
Mind-essence. With this realization comes an intuitive understanding of the
nature of the universe. . . . he now realizes the perfect Oneness of Essence,
Potentiality, and Activity in Tathgatahood. . . .
Prajn-Paramit is highest, perfect Wisdom; its fruitage comes unseen, without
effort, spontaneously; it merges all seeming differences whether they be evil or
good into one perfect Whole. . . .
Therefore let all disciples who aspire after highest, perfect Wisdom, which is
Prajn-Paramit, assiduously apply themselves to the discipline of the Noble
Path for that alone will lead them to perfect realization of Buddhahood.
In order to understand and spiritually to feel the true nature of prajn, it is necessary
to abandon the this side view, and in spiritual comprehension to go over to the other
shore (pra), or other manner of looking at things. On this side we are involved in a
sphere of consciousness of brain-mind analyses and particulars, which becomes a world
of attachments and lower-plane distinctions. When we achieve this inner reversal, this
shifting of our consciousness upwards to the mystic other shore of being, we then
enter more or less successfully into a world of transcendent realities, from which we can
view things in their original and spiritual oneness, beyond the my of the deceptive
veils of multiplicity; penetrate into the essential nature of these realities and cognize
them as they truly are.
This condition of inner clarity and of accurate spiritual and intellectual
apperception is so different from the familiar operations of our this-side consciousness
in our everyday world of transitory appearances, that untrained minds associate it with
the conception of emptiness, vacuity. Emptiness (nyat, to use the Buddhist term), in
its true metaphysical meaning, however, should not be confounded with nothingness,
implying an absolute negation of real being and thus annihilation. Nor is it to be
understood through the ratiocinative faculties of the brain-mind, but rather by the
direct or immediate perception belonging to the high spiritual-intellectual state called
prajn, which is above the myvic distinctions of being and non-being, of particular
and universal, of the many and the one.
Indeed, this high state is the intuitive knowledge and penetrating insight of the
spirit-mind in man, his buddhi-manas, which is immeasurably more powerful and
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penetrating than is mere intellection. Such intuitive knowledge and insight lie ever
active in the loftiest and most universal recesses of our consciousness. It is through the
gradual awakening of the lower man into self-conscious realization of this spiritual-
intellectual consciousness which in its active manifestations is identical with prjn
that we arise from the lower realms of our consciousness and escape from the
bondage of ignorance and nescience (avidy), and thus become liberated from the
various kinds of both inner and outer pain. This release is the attainment of supreme
enlightenment and of emancipation (mukti). In brief, prajn may perhaps best be
translated as intuition, signifying that instant illumination or full knowledge which
verily is godlike.
In the Prjna-Pramit group of Buddhist scriptures, prajn is regarded as the
directing principle of the other pramits, pointing to them as being the method of
reaching reality. It is compared to the perceiving and understanding eye that surveys
with perfect clearness of vision the horizons of life and designates the path to be
followed by the aspirant. Without prajn, the other pramits would be devoid of one
of their highest elements; it guides their progressive development, somewhat as the
earth provides the fields of sustenance for the growth of vegetation.
All beings in the universe possess prajn, although it is not functioning self-
consciously except when the evolving entities in the course of their evolutionary
pilgrimage have become at one with it. The animals have prajn, including bees and
ants, as instances, but any self-conscious awareness thereof is lacking, because such self-
realization of union with prajn begins only with man at least on this earth. In its first
feeble workings prajn in the human being manifests as aspiration towards
illumination, love and wisdom; blossoms in the bodhisattva, and is in full bloom in the
Buddhas and Christs, which is the state of perfect enlightenment.
The high chela or initiate who has successfully reached the stage where he has
become the pramits, with his consciousness crystal clear and relatively boundless, his
whole being attuned to the spiritual soul of humanity, having given up his self to the
selfless glory of living for all that is, is technically called a bodhisattva one whose
essence (sattva) is of the very nature of wisdom (bodhi). The motive which prompts the
true disciple to realize within himself supreme enlightenment is never personal gain,
however exalted and spiritualized, but the urge to benefit the whole world, to raise all
beings from the chains of ignorance and pain, to arouse within himself a compassionate
heart for all that lives, so that every sentient being may in time attain to perfect
emancipation (Cf. Fo-Mu Prajnparamita, Fas. 14, Chapter On Wise Men).
In the Mahprajnpramit the question is asked of riputra whether the
bodhisattva should pay respect only to other bodhisattvas, and not to all beings
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generally. To which the sage answers that he should in fact revere them with the
same feeling of self-abnegation as he does the Tathgatas. He then goes on to say:
The Bodhisattva should thus awaken a great compassionate feeling towards all
beings and keep his mind completely free from arrogance and self-conceit, and
let him feel in this wise: I will practice all the skillful means in order to make all
sentient beings realize that which is the foremost in themselves, i.e., their
Buddha-nature (buddhata). By realizing this they all become Buddhas, . . .
(Hsuan-chuang, Fas. 387, Chapter xii, On Morality)
Prajn in the individual entity, such as a human being, holds pretty much the same
position that di-buddhi or mahbuddhi does in the universe. One of the axioms of the
esoteric wisdom is that our universe is an entity; hence we can figurate its individual
universal mind or consciousness as a vast ocean of self-conscious buddhi-mnasic
energy points. From this standpoint, prajn may be described as the spiritual individual
consciousness of every member of the hosts of dhyni-chohans or cosmic spirits. Thus
when one has attained prajn-awareness, he is in self-conscious communion with the
buddhi-mnasic mind of the Wondrous Being of our hierarchy.
From the foregoing it should be clear that there are numerous differences in
grandeur of accomplishment as among the members of a hierarchy, for there are
differences in grades of attainment between the chela beginning the path and a
mahatma, followed by still higher beings having an even larger realization of prajn on
the ladder of achievement that extends steadily upwards until the Wondrous Being is
reached. The prajn is the same in all; the differences among individuals lie in their
respective manifestation of it.
There are also differences of another kind, such as that between one who has
attained a relative realization of prajn and who enters nirvana, and another of similar
attainment but who renounces nirvana. Here we have an important distinction based
on cosmic ethics: the one who has won nirvana yet renounces it in order to turn back
and help the world stands far higher ethically than does the one who enters nirvana for
his own bliss. Each has reached a sufficiency of at-onement with prajn to have gained
the nirvanic state, but the one who renounces it has achieved a self-conscious
realization of prajn on a higher buddhic plane than the one who won nirvana and
enters into it.
The key to this mystery lies in the fact that every one of the seven principles in the
human constitution is septenary, and hence buddhi, which is the seat of prajn, is
sevenfold. We thus see that the one entering nirvana has reached what we may define
as kma-buddhi, but has gone no higher in the quality of his realization of prajn;
whereas the other one who renounced nirvana has attained that condition of buddhic
prajn which we may describe as either buddhi-buddhi or manas-buddhi. The buddhas
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and mahabuddhas are those who hold what we may call the atmic state of buddhi
and thus feel themselves absolutely and unqualifiedly self-identified with the universe.
The seven pramits as given contain the gist of the code of conduct embodied in
the fuller enumeration of ten pramits, or the complete ethical decalog of occultism.
The three additional pramits are: adhishthna, upeksh, and prabodha or sambuddhi.
Of these adhishthna, meaning inflexible courage, not merely awaits danger or
difficulty, but when enlightened by intuition or prajn goes forwards and stands up
to it. Its natural place follows vrya or fortitude. The next, upeksh or discrimination,
searches for and finds the right method of applying the pramits, and appropriately
comes after dhyana. Two terms are given for the tenth paramit: prabodha, meaning
awakenment of inner consciousness, bringing knowledge and foreknowledge, thus
opening up glorious visions on the pathway; and sambuddhi, complete or perfect
illumination or vision or self-consciousness of ones identity with the spiritual, the
culmination or crown of all. Otherwise phrased, it is union with buddhi.
Other virtues are occasionally included by other schools of esoteric or quasi-occult
training in the Orient. As examples, satya or truth, and maitra or universal friendliness
or benevolence; but when analyzed these are seen to be already embodied in the ten
pramits. Also it may be mentioned here that in many parts of the world there are
various systems of training, most of them futile, for on careful examination they will be
found to be more or less modifications of hatha-yoga, and, as pointed out, these are
extremely dangerous even at the best, and at the worst will produce insanity or loss of
the soul.
Strength is born from exercise, and it is the exercising of our strength in the tests
and experiences of daily life that in time leads to the treading of the path. Unless the
student follow the inner discipline, which is the continuous and never-failing practice of
the spirit of these ten glorious virtues or pramits as his inflexible rule of thought and
of action from day to day, he will never succeed in his endeavors. It is just this
discipline, this exercising of his will power and of his intelligence and of the love which
should fill his heart, which eventually bring the neophyte to the new or second birth,
which produce the dvija, the twice-born, the initiate, finally to become the master of
life and of death.
The reader may be wondering just what connection the pramits have with the
much more familiar teachings of Buddhism, known respectively as the Four Noble
Truths and their logical corollary the Eightfold Path. The connection is both historical
and intimate, for both contain the same root-ideas, only in the more popular teaching so
phrased as to furnish a code of conduct which the average worldly man is capable of
following, if he desire to avoid the harassing mistakes attendant upon human life, and
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to attain the peace and intellectual detachment which accompany a life well and nobly
lived.
Briefly, the Four High Truths are: first, that the cause of the suffering and heartache
in our lives arises from attachment or thirst trishna; second, that this cause can be
made to cease; third, that the cessation of the causes productive of human sorrow is
brought about by living the life which will free the soul from its attachment to existence;
and the fourth truth, leading to the extinction of the causes of suffering, is verily the
Exalted Eightfold Path, to wit: right belief, right resolve, right speech, right behavior,
right occupation, right effort, right contemplation, right concentration.
Now this course of endeavor was called by the Buddha the Middle Way, because it
involved no useless or fanatical asceticism on the one hand, and no laxity of principle
and of thought and consequent behavior on the other hand. It is a code, as said, that is
within the reach of every man or woman, calling for no special conditions or
circumstances, but able to be practiced by anyone who yearns to better his life, and to
do his part in helping to bring about the surcease of the world-misery surrounding us,
and of which sensitive human hearts everywhere are conscious.
It must not be supposed, however, that the chela neglects the ethical injunctions of
the Eightfold Path, for this would be a misapprehension of their import. In fact, he not
only practices them, but does so with far greater concentration of mind and heart than
the average man, because at the same time he is striving with all his soul to raise
himself to the sublime altitude of the pramits by which he should live.
It is perhaps necessary to weigh somewhat strongly upon this point, because there
is a totally erroneous idea current among some half-baked mystics that it is a part of the
chelas life to ignore normal human relations, to take small account of them, and to
imagine that he is freed from his duties, even of a worldly kind, towards his fellow
men. This last supposition runs directly counter to all the teaching of occultism.
The principle behind the Four High Truths and their eight corollaries is this: if the
root of attachment desire can be cut, the soul thereupon becomes freed, and in
thus liberating itself from the chains of desire which bring about attachment, the cause
of sorrow is made to cease; and the way of cutting the root of attachment is by so living
that gradually the thirst of the soul for the things of matter dies. When this happens, the
individual is free he has become a relatively perfected jvanmukta, a master of life.
Once he has reached this stage of utter detachment, he is a bodhisattva, and thereafter
devotes himself completely to all beings and things, his heart filled with infinite
compassion and his mind illuminated with the light of eternity. Thus it is that as a
bodhisattva he appears again and again on earth, either as a buddha or as a
bodhisattva, or indeed remains in the invisible worlds as a nirmnakya.
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The common idea regarding the bodhisattva, that he has only one more incarnation
to undergo before he becomes a buddha, is correct as far as it goes, but as thus
expressed is inadequate. As a matter of fact, the ideal both of esoteric theosophy and
esoteric Buddhism is the bodhisattva, even more, perhaps, than the buddha, for the
reason that the bodhisattva is one whose whole being and objective, whose whole work,
is the doing of good unto all beings, and the bringing of them safely to the other shore;
whereas the buddha, while the same thing in an extended degree, nevertheless, by the
very fact of his buddhahood in the present stage of spiritual unfoldment of the human
race, is on the threshold of nirvana, and usually enters therein. It is, of course, quite
possible for a buddha to refuse the nirvana and to remain on earth as a bodhisattva or a
nirmnakya; and in this last case, as a Buddha of Compassion he is at once a buddha
by right and a bodhisattva by choice.
Too much stress cannot be laid upon the great need of understanding the inner
significance of the bodhisattva doctrine, embodying as it does the spirit of occult
teaching running throughout the cycle of initiatory training as well as in the nobler
schools of the Mahyna. It is at once seen why in northern Buddhism the bodhisattva
is so greatly honored and occupies so lofty a position in the reverence of human hearts.
For the Buddhas of Compassion are such because they themselves embody this ideal
when they renounce the spiritually selfish bliss of nirvanic buddhahood in order to
remain in the world to work for it. Even the humblest and least educated can aspire
towards this ideal.
In future aeons one must choose whether he will become one of the Buddhas of
Compassion or one of the Pratyeka-Buddhas. When the choice comes, it will come as
the karmic resultant of lives previously lived, for it results from the bent of ones
character, the spiritual faculties aroused, the will made to be alert, responsive to
command: all these will govern and in fact make the choice when the time for choosing
arrives. Therefore the training starts now: becoming great in small things, one learns to
become great in great things.
As a final thought, one must not be heavy in living the life which the High
Eightfold Path, or indeed the pramits, enjoin. He should joy in so doing. For I
sincerely believe that everyone who practices these noble rules to some extent at least
will be enormously bettered by them. Nor can we be oblivious of how greatly such
consistent practice will increase the will power, strengthen the mind, enlarge the
sympathies of the heart, and bring about a glorious illumination of soul, all of which in
their final stages produce the mahatma the true bodhisattva.
__________

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From Fountain-Source of Occultism by G. de Purucker.
Copyright 1974 by Theosophical University Press.

Endnotes:

1
Pramita and pragata (or its equivalent pragmin) are Sanskrit compounds denoting one who has reached the
other shore; pramit (the feminine form) is used for the transcendental virtues or attributes which one must
cultivate in order to reach that shore. There is a shade of difference in meaning to be noted here: pramita carries the
idea of having crossed over and therefore arrived, while pragata (or pragmin) implies departure from this
end and thus gone in order safely to reach the other shore.
Another word of frequent use in Buddhist writings which also embodies both subtle distinctions of the above term is
Tathgata, a title given to Gautama Buddha. This is a Sanskrit compound that can be divided in two fashions: tath-
gata, thus gone, that is, departed for and reached the other shore; and tath-agata, thus arrived or come, the
significance of the term Tathgata being one who has both departed for and arrived at the other shore, as his
predecessor-Buddhas have done.
2
Often translated as The Awakening of Faith in the Mahyna, but this very inadequately conveys the
significance of the original Sanskrit. rddha means certainty or confidence based on an unfoldment of inner
experiences, the proof of which lies both within and without the self, and implying here a continued process of inner
unfoldment, a connotation which is utterly lacking in the word faith. As to utpda, this carries the same idea of
continuance and progressive unfoldment, an awakening or rising towards an awareness or realization of wisdom,
culminating in the mystic renunciation of the fruits of emancipation and the attainment of buddhahood. This
scripture belongs to the Prajn-Pramit family of writings, and is usually credited to Avaghosha, a notable
Buddhist scholar who lived during the latter half of the first centure A.D., and whose outstanding work is the
Mahlamkara or Book of Great Glory.