A. P. Sinnett’s Esoteric Buddhism

Record summary

A. P. Sinnett’s Esoteric Buddhism, published in 1883 after his association with Theosophical circles in India, systematized teachings attributed to the Mahatmas. It describes cosmic evolution, hidden masters and a universe populated by stages of intelligent life, themes later compared with extraterrestrial-contact narratives. The work is valuable for examining how nineteenth-century colonial and occult discourse framed nonordinary intelligences. It does not document an aircraft or observed object, and its content depends on disputed correspondence and the author’s interpretive synthesis rather than independently corroborated field evidence.