David Reigle

David Reigle (August 22, 1952 in Danville, Pennsylvania, US) is an American author and an independent scholar of the Sanskrit scriptures of India and their Tibetan translations. He has published research on the sourcebooks accepted in Theosophy.

Rembrandt Scholar at the Lectern

1500-1200 BCE Rigveda, manuscript page sample, Sanskrit, Devanagari

Quotes

• Theosophy is the modern name given by H. P. Blavatsky to what is described by her as the once universal but now hidden Wisdom-Religion, the parent source of all known religions. This original Wisdom-Religion had been preserved intact out of the reach of the many conflicting sects, who each thought that their piece of it was the only truth.
• When the Theosophical Society was founded by Blavatsky and others in 1875, she was asked about this Wisdom-Religion by William Q. Judge, one of the co-founders...  Her reply indicates that while pre-Vedic Buddhism is a correct designation for the Wisdom-Religion, she considered that it might best be thought of as esoteric Buddhism.
• Now that so many of the Northern Buddhist scriptures have become available, the opportunities to study and interpret them in light of Theosophy as sourcebooks of the Wisdom-Religion are very great indeed.
  • Theosophy and Buddhism Studies in the Wisdom Tradition by David Reigle , in   Fohat, A Quarterly Publication of Edmonton Theosophical Society, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 14-17, 22-23] (Spring 2000)
• One of the most defining teachings of the Bailey writings is that on the five initiations, given in her first book, Initiation, Human and Solar, (1922), used throughout her writings, and given its final elaboration in her last book, The Rays and the Initiations, (1960)
• While the idea of initiation is not new, these teachings on the initiations are not found in the earlier Theosophical writings of Blavatsky, but are considered by many to have originated with Bailey.
• One of the most defining teachings of Tibetan Buddhism is the teaching of the path to Buddhahood in terms of five... is taught in the Abhisamayalankara, the single most widely studied book in Tibet. This book is said to have been received from the future Buddha, Maitreya... It was memorized by the monks of virtually all the monasteries; and most of the great Tibetan teachers wrote commentaries on it...
  • On the Alleged Tibetan Source of Alice Bailey's Writings in Fohat, vol. I, no. 1, pp. 9-11 (Spring 1997)

• There exists, however, among the writings of the East, a classic text on meditation which gets to the heart of the matter, stating clearly and concisely just what meditation is. This text is held by tradition to contain the very essence of the science of meditation, received from the ancient Indian sages, and distilled through long ages of meditation experience. It has stood the test of time, and although it is now preserved in the Hindu tradition, its teachings on meditation are so universal that they have been taken over into the Buddhist tradition as well.
• Put simply, it states that: meditation is the fixing of the mind on an object and holding it there. What then results after prolonged practice is the merging of the mind with this object, whatever it may be... The beauty of this is that it can be practiced all day every day, in whatever one may be doing. When washing the dishes, think only of washing the dishes; when working at your job, think only of your job, and so on.
• The mantra vehicle is the most common name in Tibet for the path of meditation practice following the “Books of Kiu-te,” or the Tibetan Buddhist Tantras. This is also referred to as the quick path...
  • Meditation: What Is It? The High Country Theosophist, vol. 12, no. 11 (Nov. 1997)