Interpreting Across Mystical Boundaries: An Analysis of Samādhi in the Trika-Kaula Tradition
Jeffrey S. Lidke
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Keywords | Consciousness Aesthetics Theology Epistemology Eurasian exchange networks |
| Citations | 9 |
| Key points | Argues that Abhinavagupta's system inverts and collapses Stace's introvertive/extrovertive dichotomy, culminating in a unified state (bhairavīmudrā) where inner and outer are one. |
Abstract
The following analysis of Abhinavagupta’s system of mystical practice (termed the fourfold path or upāya-catuṣṭayam) aims to illustrate the ways in which the Western discourse of duality, because of its fundamental acceptance of a mind/body split, is an unsuccessful heuristic model for understanding non-Western mystical traditions. Specifically, I examine the hermeneutical limitations one encounters when applying W. T. Stace’s model of comparative mysticism, which gives a Cartesian privilege to the ‘introvertive’ mystical experience of mental inwardness over its ‘extrovertive’ counterpart, to Abhinavagupta’s eleventh-century Trika-Kaula system. Abhinavagupta’s own discourse on mystical states of consciousness inverts Stace’s model and ultimately collapses the distinction between introvertive and extrovertive. In the preparatory stages of Trika-Kaula practice, the adept harnesses an inward, regressive power (visarga-śakti) in pursuit of an introvertive mystical experience with eyes closed (nimīlana-samādhi ). In the later stages, however, the same regressive power is inverted to reveal its progressive side and the Tantric thereby attains an extrovertive experience with eyes opened (unmīlana-samādhi ). At the culmination of his or her practice the Tantric attains a state of consciousness in which the inner and outer become united in the singular continuum of consciousness. At this ‘no-path’ stage of transcendent experience (bhairavīmudrā) the Self within and the world without are one.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 3
- ‘Physicalisation’: A Pedagogy of Body-Mind Cultivation for Liberation in Modern Yoga and Meditation Methods Asian Medicine 2008
- Modern Transformations of sādhanā as Art, Study, and Awareness: Religious Experience and Hindu Tantric Practice Religions April 9, 2019
- A Day in the Life of an Aesthetic Tāntrika: From Synaesthetic Garden to Lucid Dreaming and Spaciousness Religions March 14, 2018