Introduction to the Metaphysics of the Secret Doctrine 1/3

Parabrahm, Kosmos, Be-Ness, Space, Motion, The Great Breath

The Secret Doctrine presents an extensive scheme of spiritual evolution, from the universe to the planet earth, including humanity and all life on it. The metaphysical aspect, Cosmogenesis, is particularly intricate. The following posts aim to give a basic presentation of the basic concepts derived from the introductory chapters.

One could begin by positing a cosmological presentation in terms of a basic duality of Spirit and Matter, Heaven and Earth in mythology, Purusha and Prakriti in Indian terms.

For instance, this duality is elaborated in at least five basic ways:

Parabrahm	Mulaprakriti
Spirit	Matter
Absolute Divine Spirit	Absolute Divine Substance
Divine Thought	Primordial Substance
Cosmic Ideation	Cosmic Substance

Moreover, certain complexities emerge rather quickly, this spirit-matter duality takes on subtle distinctions as all forms of primordial substance are of a quite spiritual, abstract nature in themselves and are never conceived as separate from divine thought. And as we shall see, the form of primal matter has at least five different aspects. Moreover, the presentation aims at being dynamic and holistic and so we are given some basic sketches of the interaction of spirit and matter in the transformation and creation process of the universe.

Therefore, pains are taken to avoid a hard dualism, therefore the paradoxical unity of the two principles are stressed regularly. The unity of Parabrahm and Mulaprakriti and the corresponding unity of Cosmic Ideation and Cosmic Substance are fundamental paradoxical notions: ‘’The manifested Spirit; Absolute, Divine Spirit is one with absolute Divine Substance: Parabrahm and Mulaprakriti are one in essence. Therefore, Cosmic Ideation and Cosmic Substance in their primal character are one also’’ (Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine I, 337).

Hence, we get a glimpse of matter and spirit dynamically interacting in a sevenfold process where matter is perceived as various forms of energy. A fundamental point that we need to keep in mind, and which is often pointed out, is that Cosmic Substance and Cosmic Ideation are two facets of the one Absolute Existence: ‘’In modern language, the latter would be better named cosmic ideation — Spirit; the former, cosmic substance, the latter. These, the Alpha and the Omega of Being, are but the two facets of the one Absolute Existence’’ (SD I, 326).

Since the SD aims to explain the creation and evolution of the universe and solar system, various terms are presented to explain Parabrahm from the perspective of a manifesting universe; and so despite being an ineffable, abstract principle, paradoxical, beyond comprehension  and yet encompasses everything, much effort is spent on attempting to explain the concept and so various terms are proposed to explain different aspects. In dealing in metaphysics, the terms are very fluid and intuitive. We’ll try to present the essential terms and explanations in order of ontological priority.

1-Parabrahm

A short definition is given as follows :

Parabrahm (Sk.). “Beyond Brahmâ”, literally. The Supreme Infinite Brahma, “Absolute”—the attributeless, the secondless reality. The impersonal and nameless universal Principle (Theosophical Glossary).

The Hidden Deity or Unrevealed Deity:

In various traditions, there is a notion of a Hidden Deity; Tsi-Tai (China), Great Extreme (Confucious), Anu (Near East), En-Soph (Kabbalah) are some examples (SD I, 356-57).

A- Kosmos

a- The collective, infinite, eternal Kosmos in its totality

Parabrahm is, in short, the collective aggregate of Kosmos in its infinity and eternity, the “that” and “this” to which distributive aggregates can not be applied.* (SD I, 6)

Kosmos (Gr.). The Universe, as distinguished from the world, which may mean our globe or earth (Theosophical Glossary).

b- All-inclusive Kosmos, infinite cosmic space in its highest spiritual sense (SD I, 6).

B-Be-Ness

Be-ness. as the term Sat is applied solely to the absolute Principle, the universal, unknown, and ever unknowable Presence, which philosophical Pantheism postulates in Kosmos, calling it the basic root of Kosmos. It is, as said, absolute Be-ness, not Being, the one secondless, undivided, and indivisible All—the root of all Nature visible and invisible, objective and subjective, to be sensed by the highest spiritual intuition, but’ never to be fully comprehended (Theosophical Glossary).

a- The term Be-Ness is coined to denote the nature of pure abstraction, a rootless root, with no relation to finite being.  (SD I, 14).

b- From Be-Ness, the metaphysical concepts of Space, Motion and the Great breath follow from this (SD I, 14).

C-Space

a-As the Absolute All, the description for this term is similar to that of Kosmos.

Space is neither a “limitless void,” nor a “conditioned fulness,” but both: being, on the plane of absolute abstraction, the ever-incognisable Deity, which is void only to finite minds,* and on that of mayavic perception, the Plenum, the absolute Container of all that is, whether manifested or unmanifested: it is, therefore, that absolute all (SDI, 8)

b- Space is called the Seven-Skinned Eternal Mother-Father: To denote the holistic, multi-modal nature of Parabrahm as Space as the One Reality present in seven levels of being (SD I, 9).

c-Space can be included in a trinity of terms (similar to the trinity of  Space, Motion, Great Breath) along with the Germ in the Root and the Great Breath, what ever was, ever is, and ever will be (SD I, 9).

D-Motion

a-In terms of positing an abstract absolute principle from manifestation, motion is considered to be the next highest principle. It is important to note that these explanations deal with an Abstract concept as well as a corresponding manifested concept, Noumenal and Phenomenal.

Intra-Cosmic motion is eternal and ceaseless; cosmic motion (the visible, or that which is subject to perception) is finite and periodical. As an eternal abstraction it is the EVER-PRESENT; (SD I, 3).

b-The principle of universal motion as an expression of the Unrevealed Deity is considered  as a living Fire with Light, Heat, Moisture as the cause of all natural phenomena (SD I, 3).

E-Great Breath

From this principle of simple motion, the binary notion of the Great breath, as found, for example, in the simple aspect of breathing, becomes the third aspect of Parabrahm.

a-The second principle of the Secret Doctrine describes it as the universal law of periodicity as found in the alternation of day and night, life and death, sleeping and waking (SD I, 17).

b-It is described as one absolute attribute of Kosmos, Space and Motion (SD I, 2).

c-The idea of a cosmic out-breathing and inhalation correspond to the Indian concepts of Manvatara and Pralaya, considered as a macrocosmic in-breathing and out-breathing process (SD I, 4).

d- The Second Principle of the Secret Doctrine describes this notion in the context of the eternity of the Universe, with recurrent periods of creation and destruction (SD I, 4).

“With regard to its body or Cosmic organization, though it cannot be said that it had a first, or will ever have a last construction, yet at each new Manvantara, its organization may be regarded as the first and the last of its kind, as it evolutes every time on a higher plane . . . . “ (SD I, 3).

F-Various Other Terms

Various other terms are used to describe it, such as the One-unknown ever present God in Nature to try and explain its abstract nature.

a- Some terminology from western philosophy are evoked: The Unknowable, the Causeles Cause, the Eternal, the Unknowable (SD I, 4).

b- Other terms are given to distinguish it from a concept of First Cause: Abstract All, the “Causeless One Cause,” the “Rootless Root, the One Reality, the one life (2) (SD I, 15).

Part 2 

Geshe Langri Tangpa’s Eight Verses of Training the Mind

One of Tibetan Buddhism’s most original practices aimed at developing empathy, altruism, compassion and equanimity is known as lojong, or mind training. It’s simple and practical bodhicitta nature has made it a popular teaching among students in Western cultures.  

Lojong mind training practice was developed over a 300-year period between 900 and 1200 CE, as part of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism. Atiśa (982–1054 CE), a Bengali meditation master, is generally regarded as the originator of the practice. The fundamental work is a set of 59 aphorisms formulated in Tibet in the 12th century by Chekawa Yeshe Dorje entitled the "7 Points of Lojong".  

The Eight Verses for Training the Mind is one of the most important texts from the lojong canon, written by Geshe Langri Tangpa (1054–1123), an important figure in the lineage of the Kadampa and Gelug schools of Tibetan Buddhism and disciple of Potowa Rinchen Sal. His Holiness the Dalai Lama refers to this work as one of the main sources of his own inspiration and includes it in his daily meditations.  

1.       By thinking of all sentient beings
As more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel
For accomplishing the highest aim,
I will always hold them dear.

2.      Whenever I’m in the company of others,
I will regard myself as the lowest among all,
And from the depths of my heart
Cherish others as supreme.

3.      In my every action, I will watch my mind,
And the moment destructive emotions arise,
I will confront them strongly and avert them,
Since they will hurt both me and others.

4.      Whenever I see ill-natured beings,
Or those overwhelmed by heavy misdeeds or suffering,
I will cherish them as something rare,
As though I’d found a priceless treasure.

5.      Whenever someone out of envy
Does me wrong by attacking or belittling me,
I will take defeat upon myself,
And give the victory to others.

6.      Even when someone I have helped,
Or in whom I have placed great hopes
Mistreats me very unjustly,
I will view that person as a true spiritual teacher.

7.      In brief, directly or indirectly,
I will offer help and happiness to all my mothers,*
And secretly take upon myself
All their hurt and suffering.

8.     I will learn to keep all these practices
Untainted by thoughts of the eight worldly concerns.
May I recognize all things as like illusions,
And, without attachment, gain freedom from bondage.

*The term mother is based on the notion that since all sentient beings have been through the reincarnation process countless times, everyone has effectively been the mother of everyone else, and so should regard each other accordingly.

The Mahatma Letters on Tolerance

Who are these mysterious Mahatmas, Adepts, Brothers, Sisters...Much creative speculation has been written about them and they have many imitators - why not read the original texts? One thing that can be said, is that tolerance seems to be a primary concern of theirs:

1-We refuse no one. ‘’Spheres of usefulness’’ can be found everywhere. (Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, Series 2, p.125)

2-Ever turn away your gaze from the imperfections of your neighbour and centre rather your attention upon your own shortcomings in order to correct them and become wiser. (LMW, 2, p. 158)

3-Show not the disparity between claim and action in another man but, whether he be brother or neighbour, rather help him in his arduous walk in life. (LMW, 2, p. 158)

4-Do not be too severe on the merits of demerits of one who seeks admission among your ranks, as the truth about the actual state of the inner man can only be known to and dealt with justly by KARMA alone. (LMW, 2, p. 159)

5-Do not indulge in unbrotherly comparisons between the task accomplished by yourself and the work left undone by your neighbour or brother, in the field of Theosophy, as none is held to weed out a larger plot of ground than his strength and capacity will permit him. (LMW, 2, p. 159)

6-Those who try in their walk of life, to follow their inner light, will never be found judging far less condemning those weaker than themselves. (Some Words on Daily Life, Blavatsky, CW 7, pp. 173-175)

7-Make Theosophy a living force in your lives and through your example those class and caste distinctions, which for so long have bred hatred and misery, shall at no distant time come to be but distinctions of function in the common service of the nation-family and of the World-Brotherhood. (Blavatsky, CW 7, pp. 173-175)

8-Theosophy has to fight intolerance, prejudice, ignorance and selfishness, hidden under the mantle of hypocrisy. It has to throw all the light it can from the torch of Truth, with which its servants are entrusted. It must do this without fear or hesitation, dreading neither reproof nor condemnation. (Blavatsky, CW 7, pp. 173-175)

9-Theosophy, therefore, expects and demands from the Fellows of the Society a great mutual toleration and charity for each other’s shortcomings, ungrudging mutual help in the search for truths in every department of nature-moral and physical. And this ethical standard must be unflinchingly applied to daily life. (Blavatsky, CW 7, pp. 173-175)

10-In such a great work as this movement no one should expect to find his associates all congenial, intuitive, prudent or courageous. One of the first proofs of self-mastery is when one shows that he can be kind and forbearing and genial with companions of the most dissimilar characters and temperaments. One of the strongest signs of retrogression when one shows that he expects others to like what he likes and act as he acts.  (Letter to Hartmann, #10, Blavatsky CW 8 p, 449)

11-Europe is a large place but the world is bigger yet. The sun of Theosophy must shine for all, not for a part. There is more of this movement that you have yet had an inkling of, and the work of the T.S. is linked in with similar work that is secretly going on in all parts of the world. (Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, Barker, L. 47)

12-As it was our wish then, to signify to you that one could be both an active and useful member of the Society without inscribing himself our follower or co-religionist, so it is now. (ML, L. 87)

Christian Mysticism: The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence

Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (c. 1614 – 12 February 1691) served as a lay brother in a Carmelite monastery in Paris. Christians commonly remember him for the intimacy he expressed concerning his relationship to God as recorded in a book compiled after his death, the classic Christian text, The Practice of the Presence of God.

The passage below explains a simple philosophy of life, a kind of mysticism of daily life, quite similar in spirit to the type of yoga practice explained in the Bhagavad Gita:

8. 8. Meditating with the mind engaged in the Yoga of constant practice, not passing over to any thing else, one goes to the Supreme Purusha, the Resplendent, O son of Pritha. 

Practice consists in the repetition of one and the same idea, uninterrupted by any other thought, with reference to Me, the sole object of your thought. Such a practice is itself said to be Yoga. With the mind thus solely engaged in Yoga, not passing over to any other object, the Yogin who meditates according to the teaching of the scripture and of the teacher—of the sastra and acharya—reaches the Purusha, the Transcendental Being in the Solar Orb (Sankaracharya. Sastry, Alladi Mahadeva. Transl. Bhagavad Gita with the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya. Madras. Samata Books. 1897/1979).

The Means of Acquiring God’s Presence 

1.The first means of acquiring the presence of God is  a new life, received by salvation through the blood  of Christ.

2.The second is faithfully practicing God’s presence.  This must always be done gently, humbly, and lovingly,  without giving way to anxiety or problems.

3.Next, the soul’s eyes must be kept on God, particularly when something is being done in the outside world.  Since much time and effort are needed to perfect this practice, one should not be discouraged by failure.  Although the habit is difficult to form, it is a source of divine pleasure once it is learned. It is proper that the heart—which is the first to live and which dominates all the other parts of the body— should be the first and the last to love God. The heart is the beginning and the end of all our spiritual and bodily actions and, generally speaking, of everything we do in our lives. It is, therefore, the heart whose attention we must carefully focus on God. 

4.Then, in the beginning of this practice, it would not be wrong to offer short phrases that are inspired by love,  such as “Lord, I am all Yours,” “God of love, I love You  with all my heart,” or “Lord, use me according to Your  will.” However, remember to keep the mind from wandering or returning to the world. Hold your attention on God alone by exercising your will to remain in His  presence. 

5.Finally, although this exercise may be difficult at first  to maintain, it has marvelous effects on the soul when  it is faithfully practiced. It draws the graces of the Lord down in abundance and shows the soul how to see God’s presence everywhere with a pure and loving vision, which is the holiest, firmest, easiest, and the most  effective attitude for prayer.  (Spiritual Maxims of Brother Lawrence)

Theosophical Basics: The Esoteric Spiritual Path

In the Golden Age of Theosophy, we were very fortunate to have a generous amount of quality literature being released. Below is a list of texts that can be considered classic guide books for the esoteric spiritual path, sometimes called occultism. I think every one of these texts has some valuable practical insights to offer, as well as having distinctive, original voices. Moreover, Theosophists were the first to publish popular editions of two key texts of Eastern philosophy, the Baghavad Gita and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, which have gone on to become quintessential works for spiritual guidance in the West.

 

Mabel Collins - Light on the Path

https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/lightpat/lightpat.htm

Mabel Collins - Through the Gates of Gold

https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/gategold/gategold.htm

Mabel Collins - Idyll of the White Lotus & Commentary, Subba Row

http://hpb.narod.ru/IdyllLotus.htm

H. P. Blavatsky – The Voice of the silence

https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/voice/voice.htm

H.P. Blavatsky - Practical Occultism

http://www.blavatsky.net/index.php/practical-occultism

William Q Judge - Letters that have Helped Me

https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/lthhm/lthhm-hp.htm

Godolphin Mitford - The Elixir of Life

http://www.katinkahesselink.net/elixir.htm

Al-Ghazāli - On the Duties of Brotherhood/Sisterhood

Al-Ghazāli - Extracts from On the Duties of Brotherhood from Part 2, chapter 15 of the Ihyā  (The Revival of the Religious Sciences), translation by Muhtar Holland. Al-Ghazâlî (c.1056–1111) was one of the most prominent and influential philosophers, theologians, jurists, and mystics of Sunni Islam.

Know that the contract of brotherhood is a bond between two persons, like the contract of marriage between two spouses. For just as marriage gives rise to certain duties which must be fulfilled when it is entered into, so does the contract of brotherhood confer upon your brother a certain right touching your property, your person, your tongue and your heart – by way of forgiveness, prayer, sincerity, loyalty, relief and considerateness. In all this, it comprises eight duties.

The First Duty: Material Assistance

The first duty is the material one.

First degree : Some need befalls him when you have more than you require to satisfy your own, so you give him spontaneously, not obliging him to ask. To oblige him to ask is the ultimate shortcoming in brotherly duty.

Second degree: You place your bother on the same footing as yourself. You are content to have as partner in your property and to treat him like yourself, to the point of letting him share it equally.

Third degree: You prefer your brother to yourself and set his need before your own.

Self-sacrifice is one of the fruits of this degree.

The Second Duty: Personal Aid

The second duty is to render personal aid in the satisfaction of needs, attending to them without waiting to be asked, and giving them priority over private needs.  First degree: Attending to the need when asked and when in plenty, though with joy and cheerfulness, showing pleasure and gratitude. If a man does not manifest compassion towards his brother in the same degree as to himself, then there is no goodness in it. In short, you brother’s need ought to be like your own, or even more important than your own.

The Third Duty: Holding One's Tongue

The third duty concerns the tongue, which should sometimes be silent and at other times speak out. As for silence, the tongue should not mention a brother’s faults in his absence or his presence. Rather should you feign ignorance. You should not contradict him when he talks, nor dispute nor argue with him.  OF course you should not hide any praise you may hear, for the pleasure in it is received directly from the conveyer of the compliment as well as indirectly from the original source. Concealment where would mean envy.  The noble believer always keeps present in himself the good qualities of his brother, so that his heart may be the source of honour, affection and respect. As for the hypocrite of low character, he is always noticing misdeeds and faults.

The Fourth Duty: Speaking Out

You should use the tongue to express affection to your brother, and to enquire agreeably about his circumstances. Thus you should indicate by word and deed that you disapprove of all circumstances that are disagreeable to him, and use your tongue to let him know that you share his joy in all conditions that give him pleasure. For brotherhood means participating together in joy and sadness.  What is even more potent in attracting affection is defending him in his absence whenever he is abused or his honour impugned, explicitly or by innuendo. Through concord, sincerity comes to completion; and he who is not sincere in his brotherhood is a hypocrite. This duty to use the tongue also embraces instruction and advice. For you brother’s need of knowledge is no less than his need of money. When it is a matter of a shortcoming in his duty towards you, what is required of you is patience, forgiveness, pardon, and turning a blind eye. To interfere in this case has nothing to do with advice at all.

The Fifth Duty: Forgiveness

Thus fulfillment  of the contract of brotherhood is obligatory, once it has been concluded. This is our response to the question about initiating brotherhood with the immoral, for he has no prior right. If he does have a prior connexion through kinship it is certainly not proper to break with him; one should rather try and improve him. It has been said that you should seek seventy excuses for your brother’s misdeed, and if your heart will accept none of them you should turn the blame upon yourself, saying t your heart: How hard you are! Your brother pleads seventy excuses, yet you will not accept him. You are the one at fault, not your brother!

The Sixth Duty: Prayer

The sixth duty is to pray for your brother, during his life and after his death, that he may have all he might wish for himself, his family and his dependents. You should pray for him as you pray for yourself, making no distinction at all between  you and him. For in reality your prayer for him is a a prayer for yourself.

The Seventh Duty: Loyalty and Sincerity

The meaning  of loyalty is steadfastness in love and maintaining it to the death with your brother, and after his death with his children and his fellows. For love is for the sake of the Other Life. If it is severe before death the work is in vain and the effort wasted.

The Eighth Duty: Informality

You should not discomfort your brother with things that are awkward for him. Rather should you ease his heart of its cares and needs, and spare him  having to assume any of your burdens You should not ask him for help with money or influence. You should not discomfort him with having to be polite, to go into your situation and attend to your rights. No, the sole object of your love should be God (Exalted is he1), being blessed by your brother’s prayer, enjoying his company, receiving assistance from him in your religion, drawing night to God (Exalted be He!) through attending to his rights and bearing his provision.

The Doctrine of the Logos - A comparative study

The doctrine of the Logos is fundamental in Theosophical metaphysics and one could say that it is an esoteric concept found in many different mystical traditions and, as shown in Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled, is related to the Trinity. Therefore an esoteric understanding of the Logos and the Trinity are part of Theosophical metaphysics. Below are a few texts that aim to sketch out a groundwork for a comparative study, beginning with Philo of Alexandria, a key purveyor of the Logos doctrine:

Whatever we can know or say about God, whether through what Scripture tells us, or through our reason, belongs within the intelligible world. It is not only the Powers that belong there, but there too is located the Divine Logos, Divine Reason. The multi-faceted capacities of God, which we can know through our reason, are summarizable in the Divine Logos. … (Samuel Sandmel, Philo of Alexandria - An introduction, New York Oxford University Press, 1979, 94)

Jewish Scripture
Obviously, it has some Greek ancestry, for at the least the word, and some aspects of the idea, are known to be even earlier than Plato. The term is especially prominent, however, in Stoic thought, serving there as the reason which is in-dwelling in the universe and thereby available to all thinking men. (...)* There is also a Jewish ancestry to logos, found in the idea of wisdom. A passage, 1 Kings 3:5-12, tells that Solomon prayed to God for gifts, and inasmuch as he did not pray for long life or wealth but only for wisdom, God granted him wisdom. That is to say, wisdom is a gift from God. Various passages in Scripture, such a Job, chapter 28, describe how impossible it is for men to acquire wisdom by their own efforts, but it can be acquired only as God’s gift. So fully associated is wisdom with God that it was present at creation and available to him as he fashioned the word (Proverbs 8:22-32). That God bestows it makes wisdom kindred to God’s revelation, and in a sense Torah, ‘’divine teaching,’’ and hokma, ‘’wisdom,’’ are synonymous. The presence in Scripture of the Book of Proverbs, a book of wisdom, from a human attribute into a divine capacity which rare men come to possess. Moreover, there are passages in Proverbs, such as chapter 8, wherein wisdom is personified; she builds a house, she beckons to people.

Hokma-Sophia and Torah-Logos
When Greek and Jewish thought met, after the conquest by Alexander the Great in 323, the inter-penetration of ideas brought it about that Hebrew hokma was equated with the Greek Sophia and Sophia with both Torah and Logos. There took place, before Philo’s time, a Hellenistic Jewish amalgam in which Torah-Logos were already intertwined with each other. Such an amalgam is found in the Wisdom of Solomon. (Sandmel, 98-99)

Sanskrit Vach-Latin Vox
The burnt offering was accompanied, as we have already said, by prayer, a hymn interpretive of the symbols, a hymn of praise (stouti), adding a spiritual to the material offering. This had been taught by Vach (the latin Vox), the sacred ‘’speech,’’ the ‘’Word,’’ the ‘’first of speaking beings,’’ the ‘’treasure of prayer,’’ whom one of the hymns of the fourth mandala of the Rig Veda celebrates in these magnificent words:-‘’I am queen and mistress of riches, I am wise… He who is born, who breathes, who hears, feeds with me on this sacred food. He who knows me not is lost. Listen then to me, for I speak words worthy of belief. I speak good things for the gods, and for the children of manu (men). Whom I love I make terrible, pious, wise, bright. … I traverse heaven and earth. I exist in all worlds, and extend towards the heavens. Like the wind, I breathe in all worlds. My greatness extends beyond this world, and reaches even beyond heaven itself.’’(…)

Vach, or Saravasti, the Goddess of Speech, the Sakti, or female form of Brahma, to whom frequent hymns are addressed in the Rig Veda, seems to have been worshipped as an audible manifestation of the Deity, corresponding to the Avalokitesvara, or Kwan Yin, the Sakti of Amitabha, of the later Buddhists-‘’the manifested voice (of the Deity).’’ (See the translation of The Confessional Services of the Great Compassionate Kwan Yin,  by Rec. S. Beal. Journ. R.A.S. Vol. ii., part ii. (New Series))

The Honover of the Zend Avesta seems to have had much the same character as Vach, but to have been considered the ‘’Word,’’ or command, of the Deity employed in calling creation into existence, and was therefore the ‘’Creating Word,’’ or the ‘’Word Creator.’’

The Wisdom (Chochmah) of Solomon, as the idea is first presented in the 8^th and 9^th chapters of the Book of Proverbs, and afterwards more completely developed in the book called ‘’The Wisdom of Solomon,’’ appears to be an attempt to define an intermediate, or mediating power between God and man- a divine teacher and instructor to lead man to God, or an attempt to personify the action of the Deity in the moral world.

The Memra, or Word, of the Jews-an expression first employed in the Targum of Onkelos-is one of the phrases so commonly substituted by the Jews for the name of God in all that related to the relations of the Deity with man.

The Logos of the Greek and later Hebrew philosophy was used in a double sense: one as Reason, ‘’the immanent word,’’ logos endiatheros; the other, ‘’the enunciative word’’-the Word, properly so called, logos prophorikos. The one prepared men’s minds for the revelation of the Holy Spirit, the other for the manifestation of the Son of God.(…)

‘’GLORY BE TO THE MANIFESTED WORD’’ may be read over the doors of nearly all the Buddhist temples in China and Japan. This Buddhist ascription of praise to Kwan-yin is Nmamo Kwan-shai-yin Pusah,i.e., ‘’Glory of the Bodhisatwa Kwan-shai-yin.’’ Now shai-yin is the phrase which the first translators of the Gospel of St. John into Chinese designed to employ as equivalent to the Logos of the Evangelist; and the word kwan, although commonly rendered in the active voice as ‘’he or she who beholds,’’ is really the equivalent of the Sansrit Avalokita, that is, ‘’the manifested.’’ The whole phrase, therefore, (…) is, ‘’Glory be to the manifested Word or voice, Bodhisatwa,’’ where Bodhisatwa implies a Supreme Being in a human form.

The connection of the Wisdom (Chochmah) of Solomon with this worship of Vach and Honover is remarkable and interesting, especially when it is remembered that Solomon’s fleets were in direct communication with the East, and when a comparison is made of the hymn in the text with the 8^th and 9^th chapters of Proverbs; though, as might be expected, the doctrine in the latter is purer, and bears evidences of the acquaintance of the writer with divine revelation. In these passages Wisdom is anterior to Creation, and witnesses, but takes no part in the act. Her ‘’delights were with the sons of men’’; her office to guide and direct mankind to choose the better path.  (A Manual of the Ancient History of the East, Volume 2, François Lenormant, Elisabeth Chevallier, 1871. pp.15-16)

In Islamic traditions, the term used is kalimah, meaning “word”, derived from the root klm, from which is also derived kallama (he spoke) and kalām (speech, speaking). All of these terms are used with respect to divine speech in the Qur’an.

In Sunni Islam, the concept of the logos has been given many different names by the denomination's metaphysicians, mystics, and philosophers, including ʿaql ("Intellect"), al-insān al-kāmil ("Universal Man"), kalimat Allāh ("Word of God"), haqīqa muḥammadiyya ("The Muhammadan Reality"), and nūr muḥammadī ("The Muhammadan Light").

https://www.al-islam.org/jesus-kalimat-allah-word-god-dr-muhammad-legenhausen/jesus-kalimat-allah-word-god

In particular Ibn Arabi, developed a philosophy of the Logos, similar to that of Philo’s concepts of the Logos as Divine Reason, the Primal Man, and the Messenger of God, esoteric concepts that are compatible with Theosophical concepts of the Logos:

He refers to the Logos (kalimah) as the Reality of Realities (Haqiqatu'l  Haqa'iq - in contrast to this the Sufi Hallaj used the similiar term "Reality of Reality" (Haqiqatu'l Haqiqah) to refer to God Himself [p.68 n.2]), the Reality of Mohammed, the Spirit of  Mohammed, the First Intellect, the Most Mighty Spirit, the Most Exalted Pen (i.e. the Pen which God uses to inscribe the destiny of all things), the Throne (of God), the Perfect Man, the Real  Adam, the Origin of the Universe, the Real who is the Instrument  of Creation, the Pole (Qutb, on which all Creation revolves), the Intermediary (between God and Creation), the Sphere of Life, the  Servant of the All-embracing One, and so on [Affifi, Mystical Philosophy, p.66 note].

http://www.kheper.net/topics/Islamic_esotericism/Ibn_Arabi-Logos.htm

* The Stoic use of the Logos can be said to be derived from Heraclitus, the Pre-Socratic philosopher and earliest known person to use the term. 

 

See also Theosophical Basics: Sacred Sound and Mantra