Avalokiteshvara and Shiva

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obnoxion
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Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 7:59 pm

Avalokiteshvara and Shiva

Post by obnoxion »

Avalokiteshvara and Christ have abundant correspondence, but it seem that Avalokiteshvara has also been closely linked with Shiva. David B. Gray, in his essay "The Purification of Heruka - On the Transmission of a Controversial Buddhist Tradition to Tibet" (from the book "Tantric Traditions in Transmission and Translation", edited by David B. Gray and Ryan Richard Overbey, Oxford University Press, 2016, pages 232 and 248), writes that "the very figure of Avalokiteshvara, it has been argued, is a Buddhist appropriation and transformation of Shiva. While there has been debate regarding this, it seems to me undeniable that the term ishvara, "lord or god", contained within his name is, to use [K.R.] Norman's calssificaton, an example of a Hindu theological term "taken over by [Buddhist] but used with [a] new [sense]..."
And from the footnote: "these deities were in many ways functionally equivalent or overlapping from an early period".

I do not remember who the writier was (perhaps Aland Danielou) who remarked, if Jesus' life was interpreted in Hindu theological terms, he would have likely been an avatar of Shiva.

Avalokiteshvara is known to be quite a flexible deity, as in Japanese Buddhism he has transformed into the immensely popular female Buddha Kannon or Guanyin.
One day of Brahma has 14 Indras; his life has 54 000 Indras. One day of Vishnu is the lifetime of Brahma. The lifetime of Vishnu is one day of Shiva.
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Nefastos
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Location: Helsinki

Re: Avalokiteshvara and Shiva

Post by Nefastos »

You seem to have posted this just two weeks after we founded in Helsinki the lodge Graal, which on its esoteric side is built much upon this particular idea. (On its exoteric side is the idea of the Rosicrucian Christ in Grail legens.)
obnoxion wrote: Fri Jun 01, 2018 12:03 pmAvalokiteshvara and Christ have abundant correspondence, but it seem that Avalokiteshvara has also been closely linked with Shiva.


Avalokiteshvara really is a hermaphrodite Lucifer-Christos with strong Shaivite attributes. His mantra Aum Mani Padme Hum forms the basis of theosophical esoterical praxis, as outlined in the very beginning of Esoteric Instructions. In the Book of Dzyan 1:6:1 there is also given some ideas about his or her aspects of Vâc the female Logos, and Fohat. She sits at the very center of things it seems, ready to give a hand or give birth in the highest sense.

obnoxion wrote: Fri Jun 01, 2018 12:03 pmI do not remember who the writier was (perhaps Aland Danielou) who remarked, if Jesus' life was interpreted in Hindu theological terms, he would have likely been an avatar of Shiva.


The statement was made by theosophical author Guy de Purucker, in his "Avatâras of Mahâ-Vishnu and Mahâ-Shiva" (from the hefty Fountain-Source of Occultism, a very good book for delving to the deep end of the Blavatskyan doctrine).
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Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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