The Cosmic Person in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam - Part 10

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Dear All,

 

We have come to the final Part, Part 10 in this fantastic chapter on " The Cosmic

Person in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam " . We ended Part 9 with:

 

(P.146) " According to Ibn al Arabi this archetypal man sees beyond the " God

created in belief " as the Sufis call it. Sufis have a phrase, " God who is

created in belief. " In fact we all create an image of God. We need some image by

means of which to focus our attention on God so we form images and concepts of

God. But the perfect man is the one who does not stop at the image but sees

through the image to the reality beyond. In other words, he sees beyond the God

created in belief to the undifferentiated truth, 'al haqq', the absolute

Reality. "

 

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

Christian Faith), Pg. 146

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0

 

Do enjoy Part 10!

 

regards to all,

 

violet

 

 

The Cosmic Person in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam - Part 10

 

(P.146) Every religion demands that we pass beyond all images, all forms, all

concepts, to the inconceivable ineffable reality. The perfect man reflects this

ineffable reality as in a mirror and embodies the spirit of Mohammed, which is

the source of all prophecy. This is the point where Islam opens up to other

traditions. (P.147) Some Sufis hold that all religious leaders, Jesus, Moses,

Krishna, Buddha and Zarathustra, were all prophets before Mohammed and they all

originated from the same source of prophecy, which was embodied in Mohammed who

is the seal of the prophets. The spirit of Mohammed is thus seen as the source

of all prophecy because Mohammed has realized the one truth, just as Jesus, the

Buddha and Krishna have.

 

From all this we see how there is a common tradition that the divine Reality,

seeking to know itself, to reflect itself in another, created this world. For

the Sufis it is important that this world is not an illusion. There is a problem

here, which will be examined in the next chapter, that the created world can

very easily come to be seen as an illusion, as 'maya', in which case it has to

be discarded. But in the deeper tradition, this world exists in the Absolute. I

think this understanding is present even in Shankara although it is not always

clear in his teaching. It is very clear in Hinduism as a whole, in Mahayana

Buddhism and in Islam that this world exists in the Absolute. We say that

'nirvana' and 'samsara' are ultimately the same. So we do not lose this world,

but rather we see the total reality of this world in that absolute oneness. That

is the unitive vision. Here 'al haqq', the divine reality, reflects itself and

is immanent in the whole creation.

 

It is important to understand that the appearance of the world is not an

illusion but is an aspect of the reality itself. It is part of the perfection of

being that there is imperfection in it because reality embraces both the whole,

the total being, and all possibilities in the whole. In God, in the Supreme, all

reality is totally present but there are all sorts of particular realities

contained potentially in the divine being, and the world as we see it is the

manifestation of these particular realities, all of which are imperfect in

themselves. A finite world is an imperfect world. All things are in God in their

fullness and are perfect, but here they are manifested separately and are

therefore imperfect. (P.148) But this is part of the perfection of the reality,

to be able to manifest all these possibilities of being, all these infinite

possibilities as finite beings. So reality embraces both the whole in its total

unity and all the possibilities in the whole which are partial and incomplete.

The perfect man is the one in whom the divine consciousness is manifest, and who

embraces all these partial beings in their unity; he gathers up this whole

created world, all these imperfect forms, into the perfect unity of the divine

being, and is thus the mediator between the world and God.

 

From all of this it can be seen that there is not so much a uniform as a unitive

vision of reality, common to all the great traditions. Later we will see how

Christianity is related to this universal tradition of wisdom.

 

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

Christian Faith), Pgs. 146-148

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0