Selection from Theosophy's Sacred Teachings: “The Voice of the Silence,” Fragment I & II, Part 1 of 2

“The Voice of the Silence” presents excerpts of a sacred Tibetan Buddhist text that Madame Blavatsky encountered in the East, titled “The Book of the Golden Precepts.” Translating these fragments herself from Tibetan to English, she encourages readers to practice spiritually for selfless goals, in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings. Kill thy desires. Silence thy thoughts. And of these modes of Truth: Have thou not passed through passed through knowledge of all misery – Truth the first? Have thou not conquered the Maras’ King at T si, the portal of assembling – Truth the second? Have thou not sin at the third gate destroyed and Truth the third attained? Have not thou entered [Tao], “the Path” that leads to knowledge – the fourth Truth? Thou Have become the (inner Heavenly) Light, thou Have become the (inner Heavenly) Sound, thou are thy Master and thy God.