Mysticism

I

Introduction

Mysticism, an immediate, direct, intuitive knowledge of God or of ultimate reality attained through personal religious experience. Wide variations are found in both the form and the intensity of mystical experience. The authenticity of any such experience, however, is not dependent on the form, but solely on the quality of life that follows the experience. The mystical life is characterized by enhanced vitality, productivity, serenity, and joy as the inner and outward aspects harmonize in union with the Divine. Elaborate philosophical theories have been developed in an attempt to explain the phenomena of mysticism, including its manifestation in some ostensibly secular, atheistic creeds.

II

Hindu Mysticism

Hinduism has perhaps the oldest tradition of mysticism. In Hindu philosophy, and particularly in the metaphysical system known as the Vedanta, the self or atman in a person is identified with the supreme self, or Brahman, of the universe. The apparent separateness and individuality of beings and events are held to be an illusion (Sanskrit maya), or convention of thought and feeling. This illusion can be dispelled through the realization of the essential oneness of atman and Brahman. When the religious initiate has overcome the beginningless ignorance (Sanskrit avidya) upon which depends the apparent separability of subject and object, of self and not-self, a mystical state of liberation, or moksha, is attained. The Hindu philosophy of Yoga incorporates perhaps the most complete and rigorous discipline ever designed to transcend the sense of personal identity and to clear the way for an experience of union with the divine self. Mysticism has traditionally been the province of the sadhus, who sometimes go to extremes of asceticism in the course of their devotions, for example by standing for years on one leg or eschewing clothing. Such pursuits are held to be a necessary corollary of the spiritual struggle to achieve mystic liberation.

III

Buddhist Mysticism

Developing out of Hindu traditions and building on Hindu concepts, Buddhism perpetuates the mystical strain of Hinduism. The historical Buddha himself practised Yoga for years, before abandoning it for a more moderate regime, and Buddhism can be seen as a reform movement opposing the severest excesses of traditional Hindu mysticism. Buddhism can properly be styled a purely mystical religion, since its sole purpose is to enable all its practitioners to achieve mystical transcendence in the state of nirvana, either in their present incarnation or in a future one. Buddhism has no secular clergy in the Christian sense, only monks and nuns, who strive to achieve enlightenment through spiritual exercise and right living, thus shedding the burden of karma which keeps them in the world of perpetual reincarnation.

Though all Buddhism is mystical in emphasis, some sects are notably more so than others. This condition partly arose out of traditional Buddhist emphasis on the transmission of doctrine in voluminous sutras and on elaborate metaphysics, whereas mystical experience is often felt to transcend language and rational distinctions. The Zen school of Buddhism, which firsty arose in China in the 6th century ad, partly as a result of cross-fertilization with Daoism, and later spread to Japan and other countries, concentrates on immediate realization of the voidness of things by the demolition of conceptual structures. Zen teaching thus often uses apparently meaningless riddles (koans) or even blows in order to break the mould of the recipient's mind and free them for nirvana in the present life. Esoteric Buddhism, especially Buddhist Tantra, also developed a mystical discipline in which masters lead disciples to enlightenment by rigorous physical and mental exercises, creation and contemplation of mystic designs or mandalas, and the communication of secret truths through gestures and postures known as mudras.

IV

Chinese Mysticism

In China, Confucianism, which dominated Chinese life almost from its beginnings until the 20th century, is formalistic and antimystical, but Daoism, as expounded by its traditional founder, the Chinese philosopher Laozi (Lao-Tzu), has a strong mystical emphasis. Daoism emphasized the relativity and fallibility of the rational distinctions developed through thought and language in order to understand and control the world, and advocated their removal to restore the mind to undifferentiated unity with the universe, a condition called the “Uncut Block”. A Daoist adept would thus achieve mystical harmony with the way of things, possessing a mirror-like heart which would spontaneously reflect the universal order. The Daoist sage Zhuangzi (3rd century bc) compared such a state in his ecstatic writing to that of a swimmer able to navigate torrents like a fish or a skilled cook able to dice up an ox with perfect ease. Daoism thus developed organized monasteries and a tradition of genuine mystical contemplation, but in contact with early Chinese chemical science it also spawned pseudo-mystical alchemists who sought elixirs of immortality rather than union with the Infinite.