The Cosmic Person in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam - Part 1

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Dear All,

 

In the last chapter, we concluded with the words of:

 

(P.126) " This then is the place of Christ in the perspective of the New

Testament. (P.127) He is not precisely God but the Word of God, the Image of

God, the Self-revelation, the Self-manifestation of God, who is reflected in the

whole creation and who brings the whole creation back to God. The nearest the

New Testament can come to saying that Jesus is God is to say in the Prologue to

St John's Gospel that the Word who " became flesh " in Jesus was God ('theos')

with, or in relation to, God ('pros ton theon'). This places Jesus immediately

" with God " , or better perhaps " in relation to " God, and it is from this that all

the later theology of the Trinity derives. It is, therefore, perfectly correct

to say that Jesus is God, but always with the qualification that he is " God from

God " , that is, he receives the Godhead from the Father, which is what

characterises him as the Son; and furthermore he is not simply God, but God in

man and man in God. He is the " Word made flesh " . In this view the Son comes

forth eternally from the Father. And this process is not merely a temporal

process but an eternal reality. The Son comes forth eternally from the Father as

his Self-manifestation, his Self-expression, and manifests God in the whole

creation, drawing everything in time and space into the fullness of the divine

being. Seen in this perspective Jesus does not appear as an isolated phenomenon,

a sudden appearance of God on earth. He is the fulfilment of the whole plan of

creation, drawing the manifold of creation back to unity, drawing all humanity

back to God, to that fullness of being for which it was created. In this

perspective also Jesus can be seen in relation to those other forms of the

Primordial Person, the Universal Man, which are found in the traditions of

Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. "

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs. 126-127

 

Here now, is " The Cosmic Person in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam " .

 

Enjoy!

 

violet

 

 

The Cosmic Person in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam - Part 1

 

(P.128) In the last chapter we traced the New Testament understanding of Jesus

as the Son of Man. We saw that he is the primordial Man, the cosmic Person of

whom St Paul wrote that " in him all things consist " . (Colossians 1:16-17)

Through this understanding Jesus can be seen to be related to a vast tradition.

The idea of the cosmic Son of Man is found in Persia, Babylonia and Egypt and it

has its counterpart in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. This chapter will focus on

how the figure appears in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam and later we will follow

that through to see both how Jesus relates to these figures and what is

distinctive about him.

 

Starting with Hinduism we begin with the famous 'Purusha Shukta' in the Rig

Veda. The passage speaks of the cosmic Man or cosmic Person in whom the whole

world is to be found. It says, " This purusha is all that has been and all that

will be, the Lord of immortality. " 'Purusha' literally means " man " and here it

is the primeval Person, the primordial Man, in whom the whole creation exists.

" So mighty is his greatness, nay, greater than this is Purusha. All creatures

are one-fourth of him; three-fourths are eternal in heaven. " (Rig Veda 10:90)

The image is a little crude but its meaning is clear. He is immanent one-fourth

in this whole creation, while he is three-fourths transcendent beyond. That is

the figure of the cosmic Man who both manifests in the creation but also totally

transcends it.

 

(P.129) Then there is the very interesting concept that this 'purusha', this

cosmic Person, was sacrificed at the beginning of the world. " The gods prepared

the sacrifice with the 'purusha' as their offering " . (Rig Veda 10:90) So the

primeval man is sacrificed and the world comes into being through the sacrifice

of this 'purusha'. The whole creation comes forth from him and from him human

beings also arise. In the Hindu tradition the four 'varnas' or classes of men,

come forth from the 'purusha' and form the " limbs " of the primordial man. The

'brahmins' come from his mouth, the 'kshatrias' or ruling class, from his arms,

the 'vaisyas' or merchants and farmers from his thighs and the 'shudras' or

workers from his feet. That was the basis of the caste system in India, and its

being thought to have come forth from primordial man in the beginning, indicates

that these functions belong to the fundamental structure of human society.

Further, the belief in Hinduism that the cosmic man was sacrificed at the

beginning of the world links the Hindu tradition in this respect to the

Christian concept in the Apocalypse of St John, of " the lamb who was slain

before the foundation of the world. " (Revelation 13:8)

 

At the next stage the cosmic Person appears in the Upanishads. In the earliest

of these, the 'Brihadaranyaka Upanishad', it is said, " In the beginning this was

the Atman in the form of Purusha. " (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1:4:1) This means

that this whole creation was originally the 'atman', the Spirit, in the form of

the cosmic Person. So the whole universe, matter, life and man, all forms one

original Person, the macrocosm. Within this the human person is the microcosm,

the small form of the macrocosm. This concept of the Spirit in the shape and

form of a person undergoes a continuous development. The text goes on to speak

of this person as " the person of light, consisting of knowledge. "

(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:3:7) This means that this being is conscious, or

rather is consciousness. There is 'achit', the unconscious universe, and 'chit',

consciousness. The cosmic Person integrates 'achit' and 'chit', for he is the

conscious being in whom the unconscious and conscious are held together in

unity. (P.130) In the 'Katha Upanishad', as we have seen, the 'purusha' is

mentioned as the summit of all creation and there is a path of ascent to

'purusha'.

 

Beginning with the world of the senses and with outer objects you move to the

'manas', the world of the mind. This is the level of rational consciousness.

Then you move to the level of the 'buddhi', or intellect, which transcends the

ordinary mind and the reason. From the 'buddhi', you ascend to the 'mahat' which

is the cosmic order, the level of the gods and the angels. Next you go to the

'avyakta', the unmanifest, the " ground " of creation; and then the text says,

" Beyond the Avyakta is Purusha; beyond Purusha there is nothing. " (Katha

Upanishad 3:11) So the understanding is that the cosmic Person is the Supreme

Being in the universe and it is he who gathers the whole universe into unity.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith)

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

Pgs. 128-130