All about mysticism - Times Of India

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All about mysticism

Times Of India

 

Taoism, Zen philosophy and Buddhism talk about a direct, non-sensory

and transcendental perception of reality. They hint at an immediate

and direct intimation — even if it is only a glimmer — of the self

and the divine, without the human mind creeping into the equation.

 

The stories and sayings of Zen masters aim to tease, confound and

stun the mind into a sudden stillness. In that strange and sudden

stillness, there is an epiphany and revelation. It is a deeper

awakening than beyond the very structure of the mind.

 

Consider this celebrated Zen question, laden with meaning: What was

your original face, the one you had before your parents gave birth to

you? See another Zen poser: You can make the sound of two hands

clapping. Now what is the sound of one hand? Read this Zen poem:

Leaves falling/ Lie on one another;/ The rain beats the rain.

 

Each of these, rain beating the rain, your original face before you

were born, or the sound of one hand, is not an equation or a

relationship that can be conceptually pieced together by the human

mind.

 

Therefore, none of these may have any deep significance for the human

mind. But as a direct and transcendental perception beyond the mind,

each of these is profound. Each is insightful beyond words, beyond

any set of symbols.

 

As Chuang Tsu pointed out, " If one asks what is Tao and another

answers, then neither of them knows it " . As Lao Tsu put it, " He who

knows does not speak/ He who speaks does not know " . Tao, or the

essential nature of reality, is beyond the realm of the atom. It is

all about the ambience of the atman, not the atom.

 

 

Seeking to understand and comprehend the nature of the divine through

the mind is like trying to figure out the nuances of solid geometry

through the theorems of plane geometry. It is like trying to

understand the intricacies of the theory of relativity through

Newtonian physics. Einstein explained that the universe is a four-

dimensional space-time construct which is finite but unbounded.

 

Trying to visualise a four-dimensional space-time universe that is

finite, but yet unbounded, is impossible for those of us who have

been brought up on Newtonian physics. We are used to thinking on

spatial terms. Therefore, the two attributes of being finite, and

being unbounded or boundary-less, seem to be mutually irreconcilable.

How can something be finite, and yet have nothing around it or

surrounding it? If the universe is not infinite, then there must be

something else outside of the universe. But according to Relativity

theory the universe is finite. Yet it is boundary-less.

 

Like the sensing of this time dimension, spirituality is the mystical

and direct experiencing of a higher dimensional reality.

 

Lama Govinda offers this explanation: " An experience of higher

dimensionality is achieved by experiencing of different centres and

levels of consciousness. Hence the indescribability of certain

experiences of meditation on the plane of three-dimensional

consciousness " .

 

Questions posed by Zen masters are hence often unconventional. The

very exercise of finding answers leads one to evolve to higher levels

of consciousness. Taoism, Buddhism and Zen thought are profound

expressions of mystic spirituality.

 

All about mysticism

Times Of India

http://spirituality.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1138616.cms