- Crazy wisdom
-
Practices
Part of a series on Tibetan Buddhism
History Timeline · Related-topics Schools Nyingma · Kagyu · Sakya · Gelug · Bön · Jonang Key concepts Three marks of existence · Skandha · Cosmology · Saṃsāra · Rebirth · Bodhisattva · Dharma · Dependent origination · Karma Major figures Gautama Buddha · Padmasambhava · Je Tsongkhapa · Dalai Lama · Panchen Lama · Lama · Karmapa Lama · Rinpoche · Geshe · Terton · Tulku Buddhahood · Avalokiteśvara · Four stages of enlightenment · Tantric yoga · Paramitas · Meditation · Laity Changzhug · Drepung · Dzogchen · Ganden · Jokhang · Kumbum · Labrang · Mindroling · Namgyal · Narthang · Nechung · Pabonka · Palcho · Ralung · Ramoche · Sakya · Sanga · Sera · Shalu · Tashilhunpo · Tsurphu · Yerpa Chotrul Duchen · Dajyur · Losar · Monlam · Sho Dun Texts Kangyur · Tengyur · Tibetan canon · Mahayana sutras · Nyingma Gyubum Sand mandala · Thangka · Ashtamangala · Tree of physiology Outline · Comparative studies · Culture · List of topics · Portal
Crazy wisdom, also known as holy madness, is a manifestation of certain spiritual adepts where they behave in unconventional, outrageous, or unexpected fashion. It is considered to be a manifestation of spiritual accomplishment evident in such Dharmic Traditions as Sanatana Dharma, Tantra, Vajrayana, Zen amongst other traditions such as Sufi, Bonpo and Taoism for example and is often evident in human cultural spiritual universals such as shamanism. Crazy wisdom is also a modality of communication, in which the adept employs esoteric and seemingly unspiritual methods to awaken an aspirant's consciousness.[1]
Contents
Nomenclature, orthography and etymology
'Crazy wisdom' shares a semantic field with: sacred fool, divine madman & madwoman, village idiot, divine ecstasy, and the Tarot archetype of The Fool, etc.[citation needed]
Avadhuta
Feuerstein (1991: p. 105) frames how the term 'Avadhuta' (Sanskrit) came to be associated with the mad or eccentric holiness or 'crazy wisdom' of some antinomian paramahamsa who were often 'skyclad' or 'naked' (Sanskrit: digambara):
"The appellation "avadhuta," more than any other, came to be associated with the apparently crazy modes of behaviour of some paramahamsas, who dramatize the reversal of social norms, a behaviour characteristic of their spontaneous lifestyle. Their frequent nakedness is perhaps the most symbolic expression of this reversal."[3]
Feuerstein (1991: p. 69) equates the Avadhuta as a 'sacred fool':
"The crazy wisdom message and method are understandably offensive to both the secular and the conventional religious establishments. Hence crazy adepts have generally been suppressed. This was not the case in traditional Tibet and India, where the "holy fool" or "saintly madman" [and madwoman] has long been recognized as a legitimate figure in the compass of spiritual aspiration and realization. In India, the avadhuta is one who, in his [or her] God-intoxication, has "cast off" all concerns and conventional standards."[4]
The root and basis of crazy wisdom
From a particular Buddhadharma spiritual lexicon and perspective, Feuerstein (1991: p. 70) implies nonduality in his equating the essence of Samsara and Nirvana as the root of crazy wisdom:
"Crazy wisdom is the articulation in life of the realization that the phenomenal world (samsara) and the transcendental Reality (nirvana) share the same essence."[5]
Generally, the difference between Sanatana Dharma and Buddhadharma conceptions of 'Samsara' and 'samsara' respectively are the former which is a proper noun denoting a relative apparent locality and the latter is an interiority or state of mind, the two are resolvable when understood from a nondual perspective.
Feuerstein (1991: p. 70) then enters the spiritual lexicon of Advaita Vedanta with what may in an etic Anthropological discourse be proffered as its culturally relative memes, archetypes, literary motifs and cultural tokens of 'Atman', 'Brahman', 'Paramatman' and 'Satcitananda' (which Feuerstein glosses to the contraction of 'Being-Consciousness' with bliss implied or transcended) to identify the root of crazy wisdom:
"Seen from the perspective of the unillumined mind, operating on the basis of a sharp separation between subject and object, perfect enlightenment is a paradoxical condition. The enlightened adept exists as the ultimate Being-Consciousness but appears to inhabit a particular body-mind. In the nondualist terms of the Indian teaching known as advaita vedanta, enlightenment is the fulfillment of the two truths: the innermost self (atman) is identical with the transcendental Self (parama-atman); and the ultimate Ground (brahman) is identical with the cosmos in all its manifestations, including the self." [6]
Crazy wise adepts
Feuerstein (1991: p. 69) lists Han-shan (fl. 9th century) the Taoist and Zen poet, herbalist and mountain recluse (who as a pointed aside, was held in such regard by the Dharma inspired poetic beatniks of the Beat Generation) as one of the crazy-wise:
"Han-shan, the legendary Chinese adept with a Cheshire-cat grin, lived alone in the most desolate mountain areas gathering roots and herbs. When people would try to talk with him about Zen, he would only laugh hysterically."[7]
Feuerstein (1991: p. 69) also lists Ikkyu (15th century), a Zen master, famed for the crazy-wisdom of sporting a skeleton around town and the pithy Sufi storyteller Mulla Nasruddin (fl. 13th century) as one of the crazy-wise:
"Among the Sufi, some of the best teaching stories feature Mulla Nasruddin, the holy fool whose unreasonable behavior reflect the deepest truths."[8]
Christianity has the blessed St Isadora, a sterling example of a female exponent of crazy wisdom.[9]
Crazy wisdom and divine madness approaching a human cultural universal
McDaniel (1989: p. 7) in her work on the divine madness of the medieval bhakti saints in Bengal, mentions the Greek tradition of Plato's Phaedrus:
"Divine madness is not unique to Bengal, or even to India. It has been explored in various traditions: in both Eastern Orthodox and Western Christianity, among the Hasids of eastern Europe, among the Sufis, in possession and trance dancers around the world. Plato distinguished two types of mania in the Phaedrus: one arising from human disease, and the other from a divine state, "which releases us from our customary habits." He notes four sorts of divine madness sent by the gods: the mantic, from Apollo, which brings divination; the telestic, from Dionysus, which brings possession trance (as a result of ritual); the poetic, from the Muses, which brings enthusiasm and poetic furor; and the erotic, from Eros and Aphrodite, which brings frenzied love. He states, "In reality, our greatest blessings come to us by way of madness, which indeed is a divine gift."[10]
The bhakti divine madness may show itself in a total absorption in the divine, complete renunciation and surrender to divinity and the participation in the deity and divine pastime rather than its aping or imitation.[11] Though the participation in the divine is generally favoured in Vaishnava bhakti discourse throughout the sampradayas rather than imitation of the divine 'play' (Sanskrit: lila), there is the important anomaly of the Vaishnava-Sahajiya sect.[12] The divine madness may be seen in the biography, hagiography and poetry of the Alvars, the Mahasiddhas of Buddhism and Hinduism, and it has parallels in others religions, such as the Fools for Christ in Christianity, and the Sufis in Islam.[13][14] In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition it is known as yeshe chölwa, and is held to be one of the manifestations of a siddha[15] or a mahasiddha. Teachers such as the eighty four mahasiddhas, Marpa, Milarepa and Drukpa Kunley (also known as the Divine Madman) are associated with this type of behavior.[16]
Notes
- ^ The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice By Georg Feuerstein; p25
- ^ Simmer-Brown, Judith (2001). Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism. Shambhala Publications. ISBN 1-57062-720-7. Source: [1] (accessed: Thursday February 11, 2010), P.392
- ^ Feuerstein, Georg (1991). 'Holy Madness'. In Yoga Journal May/June 1991. With calligraphy by Robin Spaan. Source: [2] (accessed: Thursday February 11, 2010), p.105
- ^ Feuerstein, Georg (1991). 'Holy Madness'. In Yoga Journal May/June 1991. With calligraphy by Robin Spaan. Source: [3] (accessed: Thursday February 11, 2010), p.105
- ^ Feuerstein, Georg (1991). 'Holy Madness'. In Yoga Journal May/June 1991. With calligraphy by Robin Spaan. Source: [4] (accessed: Thursday February 11, 2010), p.70
- ^ Feuerstein, Georg (1991). 'Holy Madness'. In Yoga Journal May/June 1991. With calligraphy by Robin Spaan. Source: [5] (accessed: Thursday February 11, 2010), p.70
- ^ Feuerstein, Georg (1991). 'Holy Madness'. In Yoga Journal May/June 1991. With calligraphy by Robin Spaan. Source: [6] (accessed: Thursday February 11, 2010), p.69
- ^ Feuerstein, Georg (1991). 'Holy Madness'. In Yoga Journal May/June 1991. With calligraphy by Robin Spaan. Source: [7] (accessed: Thursday February 11, 2010), p.69
- ^ Feuerstein, Georg (1991). 'Holy Madness'. In Yoga Journal May/June 1991. With calligraphy by Robin Spaan. Source: [8] (accessed: Thursday February 11, 2010), p.69
- ^ McDaniel, June (1989). The madness of the saints: ecstatic religion in Bengal. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-55723-5, 9780226557236 Source: [9] (accessed: Thursday March 11, 2010), p.7
- ^ McDaniel, June (1989). The madness of the saints: ecstatic religion in Bengal. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-55723-5, 9780226557236 Source: [10] (accessed: Thursday March 11, 2010), p.7
- ^ Dimock, Edward C., Jr. (1966). "The Place of the Hidden Moon: Erotic Mysticism in the Vaisnava-Sahajiya cult of Bengal", University of Chicago Press, 1966.
- ^ Rational Mysticism: Dispatches from the Border Between Science and Spirituality By John Horgan; p53
- ^ The Best Buddhist Writing 2009 By Melvin McLeod; p158-165
- ^ "Chögyam Trungpa as a Siddha" by Reginald Ray, in Recalling Chögyam Trungpa By Fabrice Midal; p204
- ^ Mad and Divine: Spirit and Psyche in the Modern World By Sudhir Kakar; p41
The Holy Adi Shankracharya also described that an enlightened man may act like a Jadvat(like a inert thing), a Balvat(like a child), an Unmat(like a manic)or a Pissachvat(ghost).
References
Categories:
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
