Interpreting Across Mystical Boundaries: An Analysis of Samādhi in the Trika-Kaula Tradition
January 1, 2005 Jeffrey S. Lidke 9 citations
Abhinavagupta's fourfold path of mystical practice (upāya-catuṣṭayam) in the eleventh-century Trika-Kaula system collapses the Western distinction between introvertive and extrovertive mystical experience, challenging W. T. Stace's Cartesian model that privileges inner mental states. In early stages, the adept pursues an introvertive experience with eyes closed (nimīlana-samādhi) by harnessing a regressive power (visarga-śakti). Later, this power is inverted to yield an extrovertive experience with eyes open (unmīlana-samādhi). At the culmination (bhairavīmudrā), inner self and outer world are united in a singular continuum of consciousness, a 'no-path' stage where the distinction collapses entirely.