The Cosmic Person in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam - Part 6

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Dear All,

 

We concluded Part 5 with the following:

 

(P.136) " 'Sunyata' however is not only immanent; it is also transcendent, for it

is the absolute, beyond thought, beyond the senses, beyond all phenomena. Early

Buddhism had maintained, in its doctrine of 'anatta', that the soul ('atman') is

unreal but that the elements ('skandas') are real, whereas in the Mahayana

teaching not only the soul but also the elements are unreal. This again comes

very close to one of the main positions of modern science, which says that our

senses do not give us the truth of reality; they only provide an appearance of

reality. Similarly, this view holds that science does not give the final truth

of reality. No scientific language is ever adequate to reality. What science

provides is a certain conceptual framework within which we speak of and work

with reality, but science can never lead to reality itself. Neither sense nor

reason have access to reality, and the thesis of Nagarjuna was very similar in

that neither sense nor reason is valid by itself. The only way we can know

reality is by 'prajna', wisdom. 'Prajna' is pure intuition such that, rather

than knowing the reality in an external way, we become the reality. (P.137) We

become that which is, and realise the One. This is akin to the 'advaita'

doctrine of Shankara where the way to know 'Brahman' is by becoming 'brahman'.

Here in the Buddhist path we only know the one reality by becoming that reality.

This means that we transcend our empirical self, our body and mind. In

transcending the thinking mind and attaining total transcendence we experience

the one reality, the 'sunyata', for 'sunyata' is the absolute Beyond. Nagarjuna

has been compared to Kant in his critique of the power of reason, but he goes

beyond Kant in recognising a power of mystical intuition. It is fascinating to

see how the three great thinkers, Shankara in Vedanta, Nagarjuna in Buddhism,

and as we shall see, Ibn al Arabi in Islam, all arrive at basically the same

theory of reality. This is why this teaching is called the perennial philosophy,

for it relates to the wisdom which emerged in each of the different great

traditions. "

 

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

Christian Faith), Pgs. 136-137

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

 

Here now is Part 6.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

The Cosmic Person in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam - Part 6

 

(P. 137) In Nagarjuna's understanding of 'sunyata', the universe viewed as a

whole is the Absolute, while viewed as a process it is the phenomenal world.

This means that reality is always there but that we see that reality through our

senses and through our reason. When we perceive reality mediated through the

senses and through reason it is only partially real. There is a sense in which

what we perceive is unreal. The point is that it is the one reality which is

present in all the world around us and when we come to the ultimate 'prajna' we

see the same reality as it really is. Neither the senses nor reason convey it,

but in 'prajna' we know reality and become that reality; we are one with the

whole creation, the whole universe and with its source, the One beyond. This is

what is meant when in the 'Madhyamika' it is said that ultimately 'nirvana' and

'samsara' are the same. 'Samsara' is the world as it is experienced, the world

of change and becoming. The Buddha's teaching was concerned to show how to go

beyond the world of change and becoming to that unchanging reality which is

beyond. (P.137) 'Madhyamika' says that when we ultimately reach 'sunyata', the

goal, then we discover that the whole of this universe which we perceived as

changing and becoming is found in its total, timeless reality in that ultimate,

in that void. The whole universe is in the void and the void is in the whole

universe. In this sense it is truly said that 'nirvana' and 'samsara' are the

same.

 

The identity of 'nirvana' and 'samsara' is sometimes illustrated by saying that

when one first looks at a tree, one sees the tree as it appears to one's senses.

Then one reflects on it and one realises that the tree which appears to one's

senses is not the real tree, so now one no longer sees the tree. But then at a

later stage one sees the tree as it really is. In other words, one first sees

the appearance of reality, then one rejects appearance and finally one

rediscovers the tree in its reality, not as an isolated object of sense or

reason but as a part of the cosmic whole. Everything is part of this infinite

transcendent wholeness which embraces the entire universe and at the same time

goes beyond it.

 

Now we come to consider the 'tathagata'. It is strange in a way that the

importance of the Buddha as a person should be introduced, and yet one can see

how natural it was. The basic conception is of the transcendent reality,

'sunyata', the void, and of the whole cosmos as present within that reality. The

Buddha was the one who discovered this reality. Because of this he became known

as the 'tathagata'. 'Tatha' is " that " or " thatness " , and 'gata' means " gone " so

the 'tathagata' is the one who has " gone to that " , the one who has gone to the

reality, who knows the reality, who has realized the truth. Because of this the

Buddha is seen as a mediator between the infinite, transcendent void and the

phenomenal world. He opens the phenomenal world to the void and he reveals the

void in the phenomenal world. In this way he is the one who makes the world

known and therefore is the Buddha, the enlightened one.

 

(P.139) It is fascinating to see how this personal aspect of reality comes into

the otherwise rather impersonal doctrine of Buddhism at this point, the

'tathagata' being conceived as the Absolute manifesting as a person. A very

similar process happens, as we saw, in Hinduism. There 'brahman' is the Absolute

and that 'brahman' manifests as 'purusha', the cosmic Person. Here in Buddhism

'sunyata', the absolute void, is manifested as the 'tathagata', the person of

the Buddha. In this he comes to be an object of worship and adoration. There was

no real worship in Hinayana Buddhism. The Hinayana Buddhist meditates on the

Buddha, imitates him and takes refuge in him but he does not worship, whereas in

Mahayana Buddhism the Buddha is identified with Sunyata, the Absolute but at the

same time is revealed as infinite compassion in the form of Avalokiteshvara and

as wisdom in the form of Manjusri, together with the other " dhyani Buddhas " , who

manifest different aspects of the Buddha nature. The Buddha is in this sense

conceived as omniscient. He has awakened and realised 'prajna', the supreme

wisdom. He is identified with 'prajna' so that he is wisdom itself. As

omniscient, he knows everything in the world but he also has great concern and

compassion for the world and for all humanity. Tradition has it that when the

Buddha realized 'nirvana' he thought first of simply passing away permanently

into that state, but then he felt that what he must do was to go and preach to

the world the message of the 'dharma'. So out of 'karuna', compassion, he makes

this knowledge known.

 

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

Christian Faith), Pgs. 137-139

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0