Of course such an explanation – a jumbled transference of telepathic thoughts – is entirely unacceptable to a scholarly audience. It is but one more example of Blavatsky's Asian Weltanschauung, where telepathy is a perfectly normal siddhi (occult ability) resulting from intense yogic practice. No doubt HPB's appropriations above would be explained by her in the same manner. The problem is that such a thesis is utterly unverifiable, and worse, unfalsifiable, to the mere worldling, and hence not subject to scholarly investigation and judgment. I merely state here the objective fact that Blavatsky's writings contain the words and ideas of other Western writers, unacknowledged, and that these appropriations sometimes are made to appear as emanating from a hidden or occult source like Tibetan Buddhist Tantras.
What then are we to make of Blavatsky? She was not like her colonialist, materialist, and missionary peers. As an avowed Buddhist, HPB claimed to be in touch with the living tradition, and she saw the Buddha and the lamas who upheld his tradition in Tibet as the pinnacle of human possibility, and not as the 'niggers' and 'fakirs' her European peers perceived. For this, she was an object of Christian spite and scholarly scorn.
Despite her appropriations from Western works on Buddhism (and even despite her acknowledgement that not infrequently she personally composed letters ascribed to Mahatmas),[115] there is enough evidence, gathered carefully and methodically, to demonstrate that Blavatsky had access to Tibetan Buddhist sources which no other Westerner during her time had. Her works are by no means merely strings of plagiarisms, but rather very cogent arguments, supplemented by masses of data, that her readers should believe Buddhist claims that there is a perennial philosophy, in the possession of Adepts, which explains the origins of the world and leads to salvation from it.
Thus far has the diachronic comparative method taken us. The next chapters will study Blavatsky and Buddhism in a more thematic way, comparing and contrasting the teachings of Theosophy to modern translations of Buddhist works and current studies in the field of Buddhist scholarship. Chapter Three examines the concept of the Absolute in both Blavatsky's writings and in several schools of Mahayana Buddhism, while Chapter Four compares the creation story given by Blavatsky's "Stanzas of Dzyan" (see Appendix II) with the cosmogenesis outlined in the Kalachakra Tantra and related systems.
Appendix I
1817:
Morrison, Rev. Robert. "Account of Foe. Tr. from the San-Kiao-Yuen-liew, "The Rise and Progress of the Three Sects." (Horae Sinicae, new ed. London)
1820:
Koros, Alexander Csoma de. "Analysis of the Kah-gyur, etc." (AR)
1821:
Koros, Alexander Csoma de. "Abrege des matieres du Tandjour." (AMG)
1824:
Clough, Reverend Benjamin. A compendious Pali Grammar, with a copious vocabulary. (Colombo)
Klaproth, Julius Heinrich. "Vie de Bouddha d'apres le livres mongols." (JA)
1826:
Schroeter, Friedrich Christian Gotthelf. A dictionary of the Bhotanta or Boutan language. (Serampore)[Trans. of Francesco Orazio della Penna's 1731 Tibetan Dictionary]
1829:
Bitschurin, Iakynth. (Hyacinthe). "Description du Tubet" (In French, from Russian, from Chinese)
1832:
Adelung, Fr. Historical Sketch of Sanskrit Literature. With copious bibliographical notices of Sanskrit works and translations. (From German)
Koros, Alexander Csoma de. "Translation of a Tibetan Fragment." (JASB)
Wilson, Horace Hayman. "Abstract of the Contents of the Dul-va, or First Portion of the Kah-gyur, from the Analysis of Mr. Alexander Csoma de Koros. (JASB Vol. 1)
Wilson, Horace Hayman. "Analysis of the Kah-gyur." (JASB)
1833:
Bitschurin, Iakynth. (Hyacinthe). History of Tibet and Kukunora. (In Russian, translated from Chinese)
Koros, Alexander Csoma de. "Origin of the Shakya Race. Tr. from the La or the 26th vol. of the Do Class in the Kagyur…" (JASB)
Upham, Edward. The Mahavansa, the Raja-ratnacari, and the Raja-vali. Forming the sacred and historical books of Ceylon. (From Sinhalese) (London)
1834:
Clough, Reverend Benjamin. "The Ritual of the Buddhist Priesthood. Translated from the original Pali… Karmawakya."
*Hodgson, Brian Houghton. "Notice of Adi-Buddha and of the Seven Mortal Buddhas." (JASB vol. 3, p. 215)
Koros, Alexander Csoma de. A Grammar of the Tibetan Language in English. (Calcutta, London)
Koros, Alexander Csoma de. A Dictionary, Tibetan and English. (Calcutta, London)
1835:
Koros,Alexander Csoma de. "Analaysis of a Tibetan Medical Work." (JASB)
1836:
Abel-Remusat, Jean Pierre. Foe Koue Ki, ou Relations des royaumes bouddhiques. Voyage dans la Tartarie, dans l'afghanistan et dan l'Inde, execute a la fin du IVe siecle par Chy Fa Hian. Tr. du chinois et commente par Abel Remusat. d'Eckstein, Baron. "Narasinha Oupanichat." (Journal Asiatique)
Koros, Alexander Csoma de. "Analysis of the Dulva, a Portion of the Tibetan Work entitled the Kah-gyur." (AR)
Koros, Alexander Csoma de. "Notices on the Life of Shakya, extracted from Tibetan Authorities." (AR)
*Koros, Alexander Csoma de. "Analysis of the Sher-chin, Phal-chhen, Dkon-seks, Do-de, Nyang-das and Gyut. Being divisions 2 to 7 of the Tibetan work entitled Kah-gyur." (AR)
Koros, Alexander Csoma de. "Abstract of the Contents of the Bstan-gyur." (AR)
Koros, Alexander Csoma de. "Interpretation of the Tibetan Inscription on a Bhotian Banner taken in Assam." (JASB)
Kowalewsky. "Mongol Chrestomathy." (In Russian.) (Kasan)
Lenz, R. "Analyse du Lalita-vistara-pourana, l'un des principaux ouvrages sacres des Bouddhistes de l'Asie Centrale, contenant la vie de leur prophete, et ecrit en Sanscrit." (Bull. Scient. de l'Acad. de St. Petersbourg, Vol. I.)
Turnour, Hon. George. The First Twenty Chapters of the Mahawanso, and a Prefactory Essay on Pali Buddhistical Literature. (Colombo)
Turnour, Hon. George. "Examination of Some Points of Buddhist Chronology." (JASB)
1837:
Gogerly, Reverend Daniel John. "The Pansiya-panas-Jataka-pota." (The Friend) (Colombo)
Schmidt, Isaac Jacob. The Diamond Sutra. (English, from the Tibetan) [? Not in Hanayama]
Turnour, Hon. George. The Mahawanso. Vol. I. Containing the first 38 chapters. (Colombo)