ABSTRACT
The Buddha was a man, by name Gautama Siddhartha, but his place in the spiritual history of mankind is shown by the title which he earned and by which he is known to the world. He became, by effort intensely applied for countless incarnations, Buddha, the Enlightened One, or Sambuddha, the SelfEnlightened One. In the esoteric tradition there are grades of spiritual achievement, and a hierarchy of those who on earth have attained liberation from the Wheel of Becoming. These self-perfected men, pilgrims who have reached the Goal of Nirvana, are known to mankind by many names; Buddhists call them Arhats and Bodhisattvas. But whether described as Rishis, Mahatmas, the Brothers, the Masters, or by their Buddhist names, their spiritual status is inconceivably higher than our own; yet they, according to the timeless and unwritten records of the East, acknowledge the Buddha as cthe Patron of the Adepts', their Master and Lord.
