Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
OF CONSCIOUSNESS
EDITED BY ELI FRANCO
In collaboration with Dagmar Eigner
STERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
PHILOSOPHISCH-HISTORISCHE KLASSE
SITZUNGSBERICHTE, 794. BAND
BEITRGE ZUR KULTUR- UND GEISTESGESCHICHTE ASIENS
NR. 65
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt und ist ausschlielich zum persnlichen Gebrauch bestimmt; jede anderweitige Nutzung bedarf der vorherigen
schriftlichen Besttigung durch den Rechtsinhaber. Eine ber den persnlichen Gebrauch hinausgehende Nutzung (insbesondere die weitere Vervielfltigung oder ffentliche Zugnglichmachung) verstt gegen das
Urheberrecht und ist untersagt.
STERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
PHILOSOPHISCH-HISTORISCHE KLASSE
SITZUNGSBERICHTE, 794. BAND
Yogic Perception, Meditation and Altered
States of Consciouness
Edited by Eli Franco
In collaboration with Dagmar Eigner
Vorgelegt von w. M. ERNST STEINKELLNER
in der Sitzung am 13. Mrz 2009
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data.
A Catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.
Die verwendete Papiersorte ist aus chlorfrei gebleichtem Zellstoff hergestellt,
frei von surebildenden Bestandteilen und alterungsbestndig.
Alle Rechte vorbehalten
ISBN 978-3-7001-6648-1
Copyright 2009 by
sterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Wien
Druck und Bindung: Brsedruck Ges.m.b.H., A-1230 Wien
Printed and bound in Austria
http://hw.oeaw.ac.at/6648-1
http://verlag.oeaw.ac.at
Contents
Eli Franco
Introduction ................................................................................ 1
Part I: Yogic Perception in the South Asian
and Tibetan Traditions
Larry McCrea
Just Like Us, Just Like Now: The Tactical Implications
of the Mms Rejection of Yogic Perception ...................... 55
John Taber
Yoga and our Epistemic Predicament ...................................... 71
Eli Franco
Meditation and Metaphysics: On their Mutual Relationship
in South Asian Buddhism ........................................................ 93
Anne MacDonald
Knowing Nothing: Candrakrti and Yogic Perception .......... 133
Vincent Eltschinger
On the Career and the Cognition of Yogins ........................... 169
Dorji Wangchuk
A Relativity Theory of the Purity and Validity
of Perception in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism ............................... 215
Orna Almogi
The Materiality and Immanence of Gnosis
in Some rNying-ma Tantric Sources ..................................... 241
Philipp Andr Maas
The So-called Yoga of Suppression
in the Ptajala Yogastra ................................................... 263
vi
Marcus Schmcker
Yogic Perception According to the Later
Tradition of the Viidvaita Vednta .................................. 283
Marion Rastelli
Perceiving God and Becoming Like Him:
Yogic Perception and Its Implications
in the Viuitic Tradition of Pcartra ................................. 299
Part II: Meditation and Altered States of Consciousness
from an Interdisciplinary Perspective
Karl Baier
Meditation and Contemplation
in High to Late Medieval Europe .......................................... 321
Diana Riboli
Shamans and Transformation
in Nepal and Peninsular Malaysia ......................................... 347
Dagmar Eigner
Transformation of Consciousness
through Suffering, Devotion, and Meditation ........................ 369
John R. Baker
Psychedelics, Culture, and Consciousness:
Insights from the Biocultural Perspective .............................. 389
Shulamith Kreitler
Altered States of Consciousness
as Structural Variations of the Cognitive System .................. 407
Renaud van Quekelberghe
Mindfulness and Psychotherapy:
The Revival of Indian Meditative Traditions within
Modern Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Medicine .............. 435
ONTENTS C
vii
Michael DelMonte
Empty Thy Mind and Come to Thy Senses:
A De-constructive Path to Inner Peace .................................. 449
Contributors ................................................................................... 481
ONTENTS C
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
EL I F R A N C O
Introduction
1
The present volume has its origin in a research project funded by the
Austrian Science Fund (FWF) from 2002 to 2004 (Project Nr. P14861)
on the concept of para- and supra-normal perception in the Buddhist
epistemological tradition. The project was conceived as part of the vast
project The epistemological-logical tradition in India and Tibet, initi-
ated by Ernst Steinkellner and directed by him for more than twenty
years. The topic of para- and supra-normal perception, or extrasensory
perception, constitutes a hitherto neglected theme in the study of Bud-
dhist philosophy of religion, despite its considerable importance inas-
much as it concerns the very basis and foundation of the Buddhist reli-
gious tradition, namely, the core insights of the historical Buddha.
2
In
the classical period of Buddhist philosophy, these insights were classi-
fied and interpreted by the Buddhist tradition as examples of yogic per-
ception. It is this notion of yogic perception, its theoretical conceptions
and presuppositions, the arguments for and against it, its cultural and
religious varieties, and its epistemological implications that form the
central topic of the ongoing project and, to a large extent, of this vol-
ume.
1
I would like to thank Prof. Dagmar Eigner for co-organizing the conference that was
the starting point for this volume, especially for helping shape its interdisciplinary
character, as seen in the chapters on psychology and shamanism in this volume's
second half. I am also indebted to Anne MacDonald and Philipp Maas, who kindly
read the introduction and made pertinent and very helpful remarks.
2
This statement is not meant to express a position in the ongoing debate about the
historicity of the Buddha and information about him found in the Buddhist texts.
Paradoxical as it may sound, the more we know about the Buddhist canons, the less
we know about the Buddha as a historical person. Rather the statement concerns the
way the Buddha was (and still is) perceived by the Buddhist tradition and how the
Buddhist tradition argued for the reliability of the teachings that are attributed to the
Buddha.
2 ELI FRANCO
The belief in meditation
3
as a source for extrasensory percep-
tion seems to have always been present in South Asian civilization.
Some scholars trace the ideals of asceticism and the practice of yoga all
the way back to the Indus Valley Civilization. Needless to say, in view
of the absence of probative evidence, this must remain a matter of opin-
ion and speculation.
4
However, clear references to meditation can al-
ready be found in the late Vedic literature, for instance, in the Muaka
Upaniad, which states that the Self, or soul, cannot be apprehended by
ordinary sensory means. Muaka 3.1.8 declares that the Self can be
perceived neither by means of the eye (or better, by the faculty of sight),
nor by speech, nor by other sense faculties (deva), nor by austerities
(tapas), nor by ritual action (karman). Rather, the partless Self is seen
by the meditating man
5
when he (or his mind) has become pure through
the lucidity of his knowledge.
6
While in the initial historical stages the practice of meditation
may have developed within the context of ritual and world-affirming
values, it increasingly came to be associated with the ramaa milieu.
The word ramaa is derived from the root ram, meaning to strive, to
make an effort, or more specifically to perform austerities. Accord-
ingly, the word ramaa refers to an ascetic or religious mendicant in
general. The expression ramaa milieu or ramaa movement
3
The term meditation is used in a wide variety of ways. I follow David Fontana,
who suggests that the common features among the various forms and traditions of
meditation may be reduced to three: concentration, tranquility and insight; see
David Fontana, Meditation. In: Max Velmans and Susan Schneider (eds.), The
Blackwell Companion to Consciousness. Oxford 2007: 154-162, at p. 154. Antoine
Lutz et al., however, explicitly reject any attempt to define meditation in general as
involving unverifiable hypotheses and trivializing diverse practices; see Antoine
Lutz et al., Meditation and the Neuroscience of Consciousness: an Introduction.
In: Philip David Zelazo et al. (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness.
Cambridge 2007: 499-551, on p. 500.
4
It is notable that unlike the case of the practice of austerities (tapas and similar
terms) there are no clear correspondences to yoga and meditative practice in other
ancient Indo-European cultures. However, even if the practice of yoga and medita-
tion are genuine South Asian developments, it is not necessarily the case that they
are related to the Indus Valley Civilization.
5
The masculine form is used here; it is clear that the Upaniadic authors were not
thinking, as a rule, of women gaining access to this privileged knowledge.
6
See Patrick Olivelle, The Early Upaniads. New York 1998: 450: na caku ghya-
te, npi vc, nnyair devais tapas karma v / jnaprasdena viuddhasattva
tatas tu ta payate nikala dhyyamna //.
I NTRODUCTI ON 3
refers to ascetics living, mostly celibately, on the fringes of or com-
pletely outside society, some of them loosely associated in small
groups, others more tightly organized into religious orders. Many reli-
gious movements emerged from the ramaa milieu, not the least Bud-
dhism and Jainism, as well as innumerable religio-philosophical move-
ments and sects that did not survive to the present day or did not assume
a dominant role.
The ramaa milieu had a profound influence on South Asian
civilization as a whole, spreading its characteristic values of world ne-
gation, world renunciation and liberation from rebirth far beyond the
ascetic circles and into the mainstream of society, especially its brah-
manic elite. The most typical and fundamental concepts of Indian reli-
gious philosophy originated in this ascetic milieu or were propagated by
it: the view that the world is governed by a process of rebirth (sasra)
and is fundamentally frustrating and painful; the tenet that moral actions
(karman) determine the form of rebirth; the idea that escape or libera-
tion (nirva, moka and similar expressions) from rebirth is the ulti-
mate ideal and highest good for living beings; the tenet that liberation is
attainable by cognitive means, namely, by means of a special insight;
the belief that such insight is only possible when one renounces all
worldly ties (wealth or material possessions, family, etc.); the practice
of non-violence (ahis) and various forms of austerities (tapas) as
the means for gaining control over the sense faculties and desires (kma
and similar expressions), to mention the most conspicuous notions. Of
course, these tenets and ideals are blended in various manners. Bud-
dhism, for instance, emphasizes the elimination of desires at the ex-
pense of the obliteration of karma.
7
In Jainism it is the other way
around.
8
With the notable exceptions of Mms orthodoxy
9
and mate-
rialistic-skeptic heterodoxy,
10
Indian religious philosophy has been writ-
7
Note that karma is not mentioned in the four noble truths of Buddhism; it is also not
included in the twelve members of dependent origination, although later Buddhist
interpreters claim that it is included in saskra (volitional impulses).
8
Next to these two dominating models of liberation, namely through the eradication
of desires or of karma, one can add for the later period, with its spread of theistic
movements, the notion of liberation through devotion to God and by divine grace.
On yogic perception in the Vaiava tradition, see the papers by Marcus Schmcker
and Marion Rastelli in this volume.
9
See the contributions by Lawrence McCrea and John Taber in this volume.
10
See Eli Franco, Perception, Knowledge and Disbelief. Repr. Delhi 1994.
4 ELI FRANCO
ten for the most part from the point of view of the renouncer or in ac-
ceptance of the values of the renouncer, even though the authors of phi-
losophical works themselves were not always renouncers. Religio-
philosophical works, such as the Bhagavadgt, that repudiate renuncia-
tion and propagate the life of action within society are the exception
rather than the rule.
What is common to most of the ascetic movements is the be-
lief that liberation can be attained through knowledge, through a fun-
damental extrasensory insight into the ultimate nature of reality, which
is sometimes even equated with omniscience (sarvajatva).
11
Theoreti-
cally one can discern two models regarding the attainment of this in-
sight. Either the capacity for such extrasensory perception is innate to
the soul or the mind, and can be automatically attained by removal of
the obstacles (impurities, karma) that prevent the soul or the mind from
exercising its innate cognitive capacity, or this capacity for the liberat-
ing insight, or even omniscience, is not inherent in the soul or mind, but
can be attained by means of spiritual cultivation and refinement. In gen-
eral, the former model seems to be predominant in South Asian relig-
ions. A typical example is the Jaina theory that knowledge or cognition
(jna) is the innate nature (svabhva) of the soul and that the soul will,
under the proper conditions, cognize everything that is knowable
(sarva jeyam).
12
As Jaini puts it, [t]he amount of karma destroyed
correlates directly with the gain in purity of the soul and increase in the
range of knowledge. Therefore, a total destruction of the forces of
karma, together with the causes of their accumulation, must inevitably
result in perfect purity, which would automatically usher in the state of
11
The logical outcome of this belief is that the ultimate cause of bondage to this world
is ignorance or error. This is especially emphasized in SkhyaYoga, Vednta and
Buddhism.
12
Everything that is knowable means the infinite number of souls (jva), the infinitely
infinite (anantnanta) amount of matter (pudgala), the principle of motion (dharma)
and rest (adharma), space (ka), time (kla) and the infinite number of transfor-
mations (paryya) through which they all pass. See Padmanabh Jaini, On Sarva-
jatva (Omniscience) of Mahvra and the Buddha. In: Collected Papers on Bud-
dhist Studies. Ed. Padmanabh Jaini. Repr. Delhi 2001: 97-123, on p. 101.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
I NTRODUCTI ON 5
`omniscience.`
13
Consequently, according to the Jainas every liberated
soul is omniscient.
14
A similar belief can be encountered in Canonical Buddhism.
Here we find the simile of gold ore and the mind. Gold ore is defiled
with iron, copper, tin, lead, and silver, but when it is purified it shines
with its natural luster. Similarly, when the mind is emancipated from
the five defilements, it becomes supple, pliant, lustrous, firm, and be-
comes rightly concentrated for the destruction of the defiling im-
pulses.
15
Another simile compares cognition to a pure crystal which
takes on the color of an object touching it; in the same manner cognition
is defiled by desire, etc. Thus, the defilements are considered to be only
adventitious to cognition, while its true nature is luminous.
However, this view was rejected by some of the major schools
of Conservative Buddhism, notably the Theravda and the Sarvsti-
vda.
16
According to them, cognition is not naturally or originally pure,
for it is defiled by passion and karma. If an originally pure and lumi-
nous cognition could be tainted by adventitious defilements, one might
also assume that defilements could become pure by the association with
pure cognition. Thus, in Theravda and Sarvstivda it is assumed that
when the connection with desires has been severed, an impure cognition
ceases and gives rise to a new cognition that is free from obstacles.
17
Even if the mind is not luminous and pure by nature, it neverthe-
less has been considered to have a latent capacity for paranormal per-
ception. This capacity is cultivated in a negative way, not directly by
increasing the faculty of perceiving, but by eliminating the obstacles to
13
See Jaini, ibid., p. 102.
14
Buddhists, on the other hand, often distinguished between the perfect enlightenment
of the Buddha, which was also equated with omniscience, and the lesser enlighten-
ment of the Arhat, the disciple who differs from the Buddha inasmuch as he/she can
reach enlightenment only with the help of the Buddha or the Buddha`s teachings. Of
course, this lesser enlightenment also consists in an extrasensory perception.
15
Aguttara Nikya III 16-17, quoted in K.N. Jayatilleke, Early Buddhist Theory of
Knowledge. London 1963: 423.
16
See tienne Lamotte, L'Enseignement de Vimalakrti : Vimalakrtinirdea. Louvain
1962: 53; Andr Bareau, Les sectes bouddhiques du petit vhicule. Paris 1955: 67-
68, no. 44.
17
See Louis de la Valle Poussin, LAbhidharmakoa de Vasubandhu. Paris/Louvain
1923-1931. Vol. 6: 288.
6 ELI FRANCO
paranormal perception.
18
The five obstacles (paca-nivaraa) are cov-
etousness (abhijjh), ill-will (vypda), sloth and torpor (thina-middha),
restlessness and worry (uddhacca-kukkucca), and skeptical doubt
(vicikicch). A mind that has become free from these obstacles develops
further by means of practice of tranquility (amatha-bhvan) and con-
centration.
The attainment of extrasensory perception is usually associated
with dhyna (Pali: jhna) meditation.
19
While dwelling in the state of
the fourth dhyna one attains what is usually termed abhi (Sanskrit:
abhij), an early and common Pali term that is the closest equivalent to
extrasensory perception. Abhi is usually said to have six compo-
nents:
20
(1) the knowledge of magical powers (such as making the earth
shake, multiplying oneself, passing through walls, flying, diving into
the earth as if it were water, walking on water, touching the sun and the
moon with one`s hand, etc.), (2) clairaudience (divine sense of hear-
ing), (3) telepathy or the knowledge of other minds, (4) recollection of
previous lives, (5) clairvoyance (divine sense of sight), and (6)
knowledge of the destruction of the defilements.
21
These six capacities have close equivalents in the Ptajala
Yoga tradition.
22
A substantial number of aphorisms in the Yogastra
18
An analogy to this type of indirect approach may be found in the Buddhist path; in
this context it is not required that one knows what the Self is, but rather that the em-
pirical constituents of a person are not the Self.
19
For a brief description, see my contribution to this volume.
20
For a classical study on this topic, based mainly on the Pali canon, see Sigurd
Lindquist, Siddhi und Abhi. Eine Studie ber die klassischen Wunder des Yoga.
Uppsala 1935. For a useful general survey, see tienne Lamotte, Le trait de la
grande vertu de sagesse de Ngrjuna (Mahprajpramitstra) avec une tude
sur la Vacuit. Vol. IV. Louvain 1976: 1813-1817. See also the first section of Anne
MacDonald`s paper in this volume.
21
To these six, Jayatilleke (ibid. 439-441) adds another four: another type of telepathic
knowledge and the threefold knowledge (tisso vijj) attained in enlightenment. The
historical relation between the abhis and the threefold knowledge is not entirely
clear. It seems that the latter are included in or elaborated into the former. However,
the first five abhis are considered to be mundane, that is, attainable also by non-
Buddhist yogis.
22
I distinguish here between yoga and Yoga: yoga is a technique of gaining control
over the body, senses and mind in order to attain a liberating insight. It is a tech-
nique or a method and as such is not connected to any philosophy or religion in par-
ticular; thus we have Buddhist yoga, Jaina yoga, Vednta yoga, and so on; Yoga
(capitalized), on the other hand, is used here as the name of a particular philosophi-
I NTRODUCTI ON 7
(hereafter YS) deal with the supranormal attainments or perfections
(siddhi) of the yogi who has reached an advanced state of meditation.
Among these attainmentswhich have been a cause of great embar-
rassment to Yoga scholars and practitioners alike
23
one also finds spe-
cial forms of knowledge, such as the recollection of past lives, by con-
centrating on traces left by past experience in these lives (YS 3.18),
knowledge of other minds (YS 3.19), knowledge of the time of one`s
own death and that of others (YS 3.22), knowledge of subtle and con-
cealed objects (YS 3.25), knowledge of remote cosmic regions, such as
the world of Brahma and Prajpati, by meditating on the sun, and
knowledge of the arrangement and movement of the stars by meditating
on the moon and the pole star, respectively (YS 3.26-27), knowledge of
one`s body by concentrating on the navel (YS 3.29), as well as super-
natural sight, hearing, smelling, etc. (YS 3.36). However, yogis do not
only attain such extraordinary forms of knowledge, but also miraculous
powers such as the ability to become invisible (YS 3.21) or strong like
an elephant (YS 3.24), to fly through the air (YS 3.42), to become as
small as an atom, to levitate, to become as large as a mountain or a city,
to stretch one`s body to the point of being able to touch the moon with
one`s finger tips, to dive into the earth as if it were water, to control
material things by causing them to be produced and destroyed, or by
rearranging their parts, and to fulfill one`s wishes (YS 3.45 and com-
mentaries thereon).
The similarity between the siddhis of Yoga and the iddhis and
abhis of Conservative Buddhism is not the only point of resem-
cal tradition, closely affiliated with Skhya, whose foundational text is the Yoga-
stra of Patajali; thus one also refers to it as Ptajala Yoga. On this tradition,
though not specifically on the siddhis, see Philipp Maas` contribution to this vol-
ume.
23
On the embarrassed reactions to the descriptions of the siddhis by modern scholars,
see Yohanan Grinshpon, Silence Unheard: Deathly Otherness in Ptajala-yoga.
Albany 2002: 32-35. It is indeed surprising how often the siddhis are only cursorily
mentioned and neither enumerated nor described (not even by Grinshpon himself or
by Mircea Eliade in his voluminous Yoga, Immortality and Freedom); for an excep-
tion, see Alain Danielou, Yoga. The Method of Re-Integration. Repr. London 1973:
149-157. Danielou lists and describes forty-six attainments: eight physical attain-
ments, thirty subsidiary attainments and eight spiritual attainments. Critical and
skeptical responses to claims of yogic attainments, especially to claims of extraordi-
nary knowledge, were also voiced from within the South Asian tradition. The two
contributions by McCrea and Taber in this volume reproduce these voices well.
8 ELI FRANCO
blance between the two traditions. It is probably not generally well
known to what extent Buddhist scholasticism, especially of the Sarvs-
tivda School, had a decisive influence on the author(s) of the Yogas-
tra. A long list of similarities between the stras and various Buddhist
doctrines was compiled by Louis de La Valle Poussin.
24
It suffices to
mention a few of them: the four types of concentration (samdhi),
which correspond to the four levels of dhyna (see YS 1.17); the defini-
tion of God (vara) in YS 1.25 as the one in which the seed of omnis-
cience reaches the highest degree (niratiaya sarvajabjam), a defini-
tion that can only be understood in light of Buddhist Mahyna teach-
ings (of Yogcra and Tathgatagarbha); the four brahmavihras in YS
1.33; the threefold division of knowledge/wisdom (praj) into knowl-
edge that holds the truth in contradistinction to knowledge which
arises from study (ruta) or reasoning (anumna) in YS 1.48-49; the
interpretation of the doctrine of karma (YS 2.12-13, 31, 34, 4.7); the
division of suffering into three kinds in YS 2.15 (parima-tpa-
saskra-dukha), which is clearly of Buddhist origin; the theory of the
existence of three times (past, present and future) in YS 3.13 and 4.12,
which is a reflection of the corresponding Sarvstivda theory; the doc-
trine of knowledge of other minds (paracittajna) as knowing only
whether the cognition of another person is good or bad, but without
knowing the object of the cognition (YS 3.20-21); the four perfections
of the body (kyasampad YS 3.46); and, of course, the five types of
siddhi (YS 4.1), which are either innate, produced by the use of herbs,
by uttering magical syllables (mantra), from the practice of austerities
(tapas), or through the practice of meditation/concentration (samdhi).
Such claims of extraordinary knowledge and supernatural bodily
capacities were presumably not made, at least for the most part, by the
persons to whom they are attributed, the Buddha,
25
the Jina or other
24
See Louis de La Valle Poussin, Le Bouddhisme et le Yoga de Patajali. M-
langes chinois et bouddhiques 5 (19361937): 223-242. The direction of the influ-
ence is not always clear, but for the most part one can assume a Buddhist influence
on Yoga; Maas dates the Ptajala Yogastra, which includes the stras as well as
the earliest commentary, to a time span reaching from 325 to 425 CE (see p. 268 be-
low), a period in which Buddhism was philosophically dominant in South Asia. In-
dividual stras, however, may be of considerably earlier date.
25
In canonical Buddhism the stance towards omniscience is ambiguous. The Buddha
is reported to have said that actual omniscience, that is, knowing all things at once,
is impossible; thus other religions, notably Jainism, are criticized on this account.
I NTRODUCTI ON 9
accomplished yogis, but by their pious followers.
26
They are primarily
due, I assume, to the natural propensity to aggrandize one`s teachers,
and even more so, the mythical founder of one`s tradition. Yet the cru-
cial question remains: Is meditation a suitable means for gaining knowl-
edge, especially knowledge that is not attainable otherwise? Some are
of the opinion that in India all philosophical theories arose directly or
indirectly from meditative experiences. Sweeping formulations such as
In India philosophy is the rational interpretation of mystical experi-
ence (Constantin Regamey) are plainly absurd, but even more careful
formulations are highly problematic, as I argue in my paper in the pre-
sent volume. One has to distinguish here between theory and practice:
In theory, the Buddha, the Jina and many others, although certainly not
all founders of traditions,
27
gained their deep insights into the nature of
reality while absorbed in meditation, but in practice we see that also in
India metaphysical theories were conceived and developedis this
really surprising?by philosophers philosophizing. The same is true in
the case of the Tibetan tradition. As Dorji Wangchuk points out in his
paper in this volume, new philosophical theories in Tibet were mainly
created in an attempt to resolve contradictions and inconsistencies
found in the heterogeneous Buddhist scriptures.
For the traditional practicing yogis, such as the followers of the
Buddha and the Jina, the question of gaining new knowledge through
meditation usually does not arise, at least not theoretically. For them
there is nothing new to discover in the course of their meditation; the
objective of meditation is to gain deeper understanding of the truths
handed down by the tradition. The threefold sequence of study, reflec-
tion and meditation that is prescribed for Buddhist practitioners, briefly
described by Vincent Eltschinger in this volume, means that one studies
However, potential omniscience, i.e., that there is no part of reality that one cannot
grasp, is admitted. See Jayatilleke [as in n. 15]: 203-204. After the second century
CE, omniscience came to be regarded as an essential property of being a Buddha.
On the various terms used to designate the omniscience of the Buddha with special
reference to the Yogcra tradition, see Paul Griffiths, Omniscience in the
Mahynastrlakra and its Commentaries. Indo-Iranian Journal 33 (1990): 85-
120, especially pp. 88-89.
26
Grinshpon, ibid.: 60, however, suggests that the doctrine of siddhis may be based on
near-death experiences.
27
Notable exceptions are traditions like the Skhya, Yoga or Nyya, which attribute
their beginnings to the original visions of certain Rishis.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
10 ELI FRANCO
the teachings of the Buddha, reflects on them with rational means, and
then meditates on these same teachings. Similar procedures are well
known in the Hindu traditions and are closely associated with Yoga and
Vednta. Although it is assumed that the knowledge attained in medita-
tion is deeper and more certain than the knowledge attained by rational
means, it is not really a different knowledge. Moreover, the teachings
provide the structure and/or the basis for the interpretation of experi-
ences in meditation. Accordingly, there is not much room for new
experiences. Indeed, it would have been presumptuous for a traditional
yogi to claim that s/he had attained new knowledge. And in addition, if
a yogi would have claimed that he had discovered something new that is
at odds with what was discovered by the founder of his tradition (the
Buddha, etc.), he would have risked being ostracized as a heretic by his
community.
28
In other words, the traditional view about the results of medita-
tion can be summarized with the phrase: You should not get out what
you did not put in. What one gets out should conform, at least in its
broad outlines, to previously established teachings. And this conception
is hardly surprising in the context of a traditional society that believes
that perfect knowledge was already attained in the past and may only
have diminished in the present.
The perspective changes, of course, when one considers the
great founders of traditions like Buddhism. By definition, a Buddha is
someone who reaches enlightenment by himself; unlike the later Bud-
dhist disciples, a Buddha does not have another Buddha to guide him. In
his case, meditation must impart new knowledge, be it only newly dis-
covered long forgotten knowledge.
29
Consequently, the Buddha`s claim
to knowledge cannot be grounded in any tradition. Therefore, the ques-
tion arises: Can the original insights of the meditating Buddha be veri-
fied by independent means? We may be caught here in the Mms
dilemma, ably represented by McCrea and Taber in their contributions
below: If these insights cannot be verified, why should they be ac-
28
Accordingly, when defining yogic perception, the Buddhist philosophers limit the
scope of such perception to the teachings of the Buddha; on this point, see my paper
below p. 122.
29
According to the Buddhist tradition, there were an infinite number of Buddhas in the
past, each discovering the Buddhist teachings anew. Similar notions are found in the
Hindu tradition, for knowledge disappears partly or completely during cosmic disso-
lution and has to be regained after each new creation.
I NTRODUCTI ON 11
cepted? If they can be verified, we do not need them; whatever they tell
us can be known from other sources.
From a modern perspective, most of us, I assume, would adopt
the position of the Mmsakas: Theories about the world gained from
meditative practice are either uncertain or superfluous. For most of us,
the external world is whatever the natural sciences say it is.
30
And if a
theory realized in the course of meditation happens to agree with what
they say, this is interesting and all the better, and if it does not, all the
worsefor the theory, not for the natural sciences.
Incredulity towards the veracity of meditative visions was also
felt within the Buddhist tradition. To repeat an example given by
Wangchuk in his contribution, how is one to make sense of statements
that in just a single atom there exist Buddha fields corresponding in
number to the total number of atoms in the universe? The most elabo-
rate attempt to establish the validity of the teaching of the Buddha was
undertaken by the Buddhist philosopher Dharmakrti (ca. 600-660?) and
his followers. According to them, the teachings of the Buddha can be
divided into a main part and secondary parts; the main part, which is
identified as the four noble truths and the doctrine of Non-Self (ant-
man), is independently verifiable, in principle by anybody, by means of
perception and inference.
31
Visions of the Buddha fields and other mira-
cles
32
would presumably have to be relegated to the secondary and non-
essential parts of the Buddha`s teachings, be interpreted as only didacti-
cally useful, or not be accepted at all as being a genuine part of the
teaching. The fact that certain teachings are secondary does not imply
that they are false, but only that they need not be independently estab-
lished and defended against external criticism. Dharmakrti did believe
in the possibility of extrasensory perception, but such perception, he
30
Or, in fact, after Popper and Kuhn not even that; physical theories are no longer
considered to be true, but only approximations (that lead periodically to para-
digmatic changes) to a reality, which can never be known.
31
There are an increasing number of studies on this topic; for a relatively recent dis-
cussion, see John Dunne, Foundation of Dharmakrtis Philosophy. Somerville
2004: 223-252.
32
On the complex and ambivalent stance towards miracles in Buddhism, see Phyllis
Granoff, The Ambiguity of Miracles. Buddhist Understandings of Supernatural
Power. East and West 46 (1996): 79-96. For a remarkable study of miracles em-
ployed by the Buddha to convert various beings, which combines Buddhist philol-
ogy with art history, see Monika Zin, Mitleid und Wunderkraft. Wiesbaden 2006.
12 ELI FRANCO
thought, could only be utilized towards relatively minor aims such as
the neutralization of the poison of snakes, not towards soteriological
aims.
33
Although Dharmakrti was arguably the most important Bud-
dhist philosopher of South Asia, it is hard to say whether this opinion
was widely accepted in Buddhist circles. It was obviously formulated in
a period when Buddhism was under pressure from powerful philosophi-
cal criticism and suffering from dwindling political support.
Due to the encounter of Tibetan Buddhism with Western civili-
zation in the second half of the 20
th
century, this Buddhist tradition
seems to be slowly undergoing the process of coming to terms with
natural sciences that the Catholic Church has been going through during
the last centuries.
34
Certain statements of the Dalai Lama, at least when
addressing a Western audience,
35
indicate remarkable openness and
readiness to accept the world view of modern physics
36
at the expense
of Buddhist cosmology.
37
Similar processes are occurring in Theravda
33
See Eltschinger, Dharmakrti sur les mantra et la perception du supra-sensible.
Vienna 2001: 109-114.
34
That this process is far from being completed is clear from recent debates on intelli-
gent design.
35
See Thupten Jinpa, Science as an Ally or a Rival Philosophy? Tibetan Buddhist
Thinkers` Engagement with Modern Science. In: B. Allan Wallace (ed.), Buddhism
and Science. New York 2003: 71-85, p. 79: Unfortunately, so far no written work
in Tibetan from the Dalai Lama has been published that articulates his views on the
potential areas of engagement between Buddhist thought and science.
36
One of the main purposes of the Mind and Life conferences is to provide a high-
level tutorial for the Dalai Lama in quantum mechanics. We are told, for instance,
that (http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/3186) the Dalai Lama did not have
a problem with photons having both particle and wave-like properties, but was re-
luctant to accept that individual quantum events are random. For example, he re-
fused to accept that we cannot know which path a photon takes in a two-path quan-
tum interference experiment. It is also remarkable that the Dalai Lama is now re-
portedly supporting the study of physics being part of the instruction at all Buddhist
monasteries. See also Arthur Zajonc (ed.), The New Physics and Cosmology. Dia-
logues with the Dalai Lama. Oxford 2004.
37
See http://www.dalailama.com/page.163.htm: I [viz., the Dalai Lama] have often
remarked to my Buddhist colleagues that the empirically verified insights of modern
cosmology and astronomy must compel us now to modify, or in some cases reject,
many aspects of traditional cosmology as found in ancient Buddhist texts. Further-
more (ibid): [I]n the Buddhist investigation of reality, at least in principle, empiri-
cal evidence should triumph over scriptural authority, no matter how deeply vener-
ated a scripture may be. See also The Dalai Lama, The Way to Freedom. San Fran-
cisco 1994: 73, quoted in Donald S. Lopez Jr., Prisoners of Shangri-La. Chicago
I NTRODUCTI ON 13
Buddhism and in Japanese Buddhism, though in a less conspicuous
manner, for other Buddhist traditions lack a central authoritative figure
like the Dalai Lama. It is not difficult to notice that Buddhism (espe-
cially, but not only Tibetan Buddhism) is repositioning itself as a ra-
tional and empirical cognitive science, a science of the mind based on
introspection and meditation, supplemented by altruistic ethics. Cos-
mology, if mentioned at all, is relegated to the background, and just as
in Dharmakrti`s argument, presented as unessential. Typical for this
trend is Matthieu Ricard, who has become one of the most prominent
figures representing Tibetan Buddhism in intercultural and interdisci-
plinary dialogues. According to Ricard, Buddhism is different from all
other religions because it does not require an act of faith, and it could
better be designated a science of the mind than a religion.
38
A most extreme, almost belligerent form of this discourse, pe-
culiar and displaying a surprising ignorance of the Buddhist tradition,
1999: 186: The purpose of the Buddha coming to this world was not to measure the
circumference of the world and the distance between the earth and the moon, but
rather to teach the Dharma, to liberate sentient beings, to relieve sentient beings of
their sufferings. Dharmakrti`s statement (Pramavrttika 2.33) that the Buddha`s
absolute knowledge of the number of insects on the earth is of no use to us has not
lost its relevance.
38
See Wolf Singer, Matthieu Ricard, and Susanne Wasmuth, Hirnforschung und
Meditation. Ein Dialog. Frankfurt am Main 2008:10: [Buddhismus] erfordert
keine Glaubensakte. Man knnte den Buddhismus vielmehr als eine Wissenschaft
des Geistes und einen Weg zur Transformation bezeichnen. The rational and em-
pirical image of Buddhism is clearly belied by studies of traditional Buddhist socie-
ties; for just one example among many, see B.J. Terwiel, Monks and Magic. Bang-
kok 1994.
For a recent insightful and informative study (with an incongruously Maimonidian
subtitle) of the relationship between Buddhism and Western science in the last hun-
dred and fifty years, see Donald S. Lopez Jr., Buddhism and Science. A Guide for the
Perplexed. Chicago/London 2008. Lopez notes that in order to spread across Asia,
Buddhism assimilated the Vedic gods, the Tibetan protectors of the snowy peaks,
and the Japanese kami; he then raises the question: In order for Buddhism to estab-
lish itself in Europe and America, must the God of the West, the God of Science,
also find its place in the Buddhist pantheon? I believe that this is unlikely. Despite
the political correctness and mutual respect that accompany the numerous attempts
at rapprochement between Buddhism and science, defensive and apologetic under-
tones are clearly discernable throughout, even in the eloquent discourses of someone
like Ricard. A more appropriate metaphor than the assimilation of the God of Sci-
ence might be that of seamen caught in a shipwreck throwing overboard what is dis-
pensable in order to safeguard the essential.
14 ELI FRANCO
has been propounded by B. Allan Wallace. Wallace, who attempts to
apply the vocabulary of philosophy of science to Buddhism, claims that
Buddhism posits testable hypotheses about the nature of the mind and
its relation to the physical environment, and that Buddhist theories
have allegedly been tested and experientially confirmed numerous
times over the past twenty-five hundred years, by means of duplicative
meditative techniques.
39
Further, Buddhist insights into the nature of
the mind and consciousness are presented as genuine discoveries in the
scientific sense of the term: they can be replicated by any competent
researcher with sufficient prior training.
40
The distinctions and characterizations put forward by Ricard,
Wallace and others are historically doubtful, for Buddhism had neither a
scientific charactercertainly not in the sense of science when ap-
plied to modern physicsnor was its scope limited to the mind. Bud-
dhism had its own theories of matter in order to account for all elements
of existence (dharmas). Nevertheless such new interpretations of Bud-
39
See Wallace 2003 [as in n. 35]: 7. The alleged experiential confirmation of Buddhist
theories would be, in my opinion, closer to the experiential confirmation of witch-
craft and divination (described in many ethnological studies such as of the Azande
by Edward Evans-Pritchard) than to a confirmation of an experiment in modern
physics or the cognitive sciences. In a similar vein, Wallace claims that many Bud-
dhist theories are obviously the expression of rational public discourse (p. 5), but
his idea of rationality remains a mystery to me. Wallace is hostile to the academic
study of Buddhism, whose scholars he describes as scholars who spent their time
reading other people`s books and writing their own books about other people`s
books. He considers their lack of contemplative experiences as introducing a glar-
ing bias into modern academic Buddhist scholarship (p. 7). Most scholars of Bud-
dhism, he says, take an Orientalist approach and the study of Buddhism in West-
ern academia is labeled commonly unscientific (p. 7). With such a cavalier ap-
proach, it is not entirely surprising that Wallace occasionally commits serious blun-
ders such as mistaking the attainment of cessation (nirodhasampatti) for a pri-
mary goal of Buddhist meditation (p. 7). In fact, this meditation is not a part of the
Buddhist path to salvation and may be considered a meditative luxury.
Wallace quotes approvingly (p. 4) from Richard King`s Orientalism and Religion
and seems to subscribe to the tenet that pure and authentic Buddhism is located
in the experiences, lives and actions of living Buddhists in Asia and not in Buddhist
texts, or as King calls them, the edited manuscripts and translations carried out un-
der the aegis of Western Orientalists. Given that the vast majority of Buddhist tra-
ditions have not survived to the present day (Bareau discusses more than thirty
sects for Conservative Buddhism alone), this approach, if followed, would se-
verely limit and impoverish the scope of Buddhist studies.
40
See Wallace 2003 [as in n. 35]: 8-9.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
I NTRODUCTI ON 15
dhism can be useful. Even though most scholars, myself included, are
not looking at meditation as a source of knowledge of the external
world, it may certainly be a source of knowledge in areas where the
enhancement of concentration and memory may tell us something new
and significant about ourselves. If rebirth is possible, and there is a con-
siderable body of evidence in favor of this hypothesis
41
but then the
same can be said of miraclesmeditation may perhaps be the means of
awakening recollections from past lives. The study of meditation itself
is not only crucial to the understanding of South Asian and Buddhist
culture, but can also be employed in areas where introspection is called
for, for instance in the study of the mind (as mind, and not as brain). It
is not surprising, therefore, that the academic fields where meditative
techniques have been studied and used best are psychology and psycho-
therapy. This is demonstrated by the papers in this volume by Michael
M. DelMonte, Renaud van Quekelberghe and Shulamith Kreitler.
It became clear already in early stages of the project that yogic
perception is an ideal topic for interdisciplinary study. The present vol-
ume is the outcome of an attempt to initiate such a study, a study that
centers on consciousness, body, mind and health, and that binds to-
gether such disparate disciplines as Buddhist and Tibetan studies, reli-
gious studies, philosophy and the history of philosophy, anthropology
and psychology.
One of the best available means of promoting cross-disciplinary
studies are interdisciplinary symposia. They offer the participants the
occasion to present the results of their research to a sympathetic and
interested audience of scholars who work on similar topics in other dis-
ciplines; it creates a general framework for dialogue, and not of lesser
importance, lets scholars and scientists experience their limitations.
After the initial difficulty of getting accustomed to new terminology,
new sets of questions, and new approaches, which initially makes com-
munication seem impossible, one slowly comes to the realization that
what other disciplines have to say is not only relevant, but greatly moti-
41
See Ian Stevenson, Cases of Reincarnation Type. 4 Vols. Charlottesville 1975-1983;
European Cases of Reincarnation Type. Jefferson 2003; Satwant Pasricha, Claims of
Reincarnation: An Empirical Study of Cases in India. Delhi 1990; Jim Tucker, Life
Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives.
New York 2005.
16 ELI FRANCO
vating and inspiring. This, we hope, will also be the experience of the
reader.
In the following, we present the program of a conference of this
type that was organized by Dagmar Eigner, Cynthia Peck-Kubaczek and
myself at the Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia
of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in June 2006, and summarize
those papers given at this conference that constitute the body of this
volume. Some of them are of course significantly longer, modified ver-
sions of the talks that were presented.
PROGRAM
Tuesday, 27 June 2006
9:00 Welcome
Ernst Steinkellner, Director, Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual
History of Asia, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Opening address
Eli Franco, Director, Institute for Indology and Central Asian Stud-
ies, University of Leipzig; Dagmar Eigner, Institute for the History of
Medicine, Medical University of Vienna
9:30 John Taber, University of New Mexico
Infinity in All Directions
10:15 Lawrence McCrea, Harvard University
Just Like Us, Just Like Now: The Tactical Implications of the
Mms Rejection of Yogic Perception
11:30 Orna Almogi, University of Hamburg
The Physicality and Immanence of Gnosis in rDzogs-chen
12:15 Dorji Wangchuk, University of Hamburg
A Relativity Theory of the Purity and Validity of Perception in Indo-
Tibetan Buddhism
I NTRODUCTI ON 17
15:00 Vincent Eltschinger, Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual
History of Asia
Dharmakrti on the Career and Cognition of Yogins
15:45 Eli Franco, University of Leipzig
Meditation and Metaphysics: On Their Correspondence and Mutual
Interaction in South Asian Buddhism
17:00 Anne MacDonald, University of Vienna
Seeing in Not Seeing: The Madhyamaka Experience
Wednesday, 28 June 2006
9:30 Karl Baier, University of Vienna
Meditation and Contemplation: Late Medieval to Early Modern
Europe
10:15 Marion Rastelli, Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual His-
tory of Asia
Perceiving God and Becoming Like Him: Yogic Perception and Its
Implications in the Tradition of Pcartra
11:30 Yohanan Grinshpon, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Serpent and the Void: Kundalini and Empty Consciousness in
Tantric Yoga
12:15 Elizabeth De Michelis, University of Cambridge
What do Hahayogins Perceive? Dhyna (meditation), samdhi (en-
stasy) and the Manipulation of Mind, Senses and Sense-organs (manas,
citta, indriya) in Selected Classical and Modern hahayoga Texts
15:00 Philipp A. Maas, Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual
History of Asia
Mental Processes, Direct Perception, and [Meditative] Concentration
(samdhi / mpatti) in Classical Skhya Yoga
18 ELI FRANCO
15:45 Marcus Schmcker, Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual
History of Asia
Between God`s Cognition and Normal Perception: Yogic Perception
According to the Later Tradition of the Viidvaita Vednta
17:00 Oded Maimon, Tel Aviv University
Consciousness Phases According to Experience with Eastern Phi-
losophies
Thursday, 29 June 2006
9:30 Dietrich Ebert, University of Dsseldorf and University
of Leipzig
Physiological Correlatives of Dharana and Their Meaning
10:15 John Baker, Moorpark College, California
Psychedelics, Culture, and Consciousness: Some Biocultural Con-
siderations
11:30 Diana Riboli, Panteio University, Athens
Shamans and Transformation
14:00 Dagmar Eigner, Medical University of Vienna
Transformation of Consciousness through Suffering, Devotion, and
Meditation
14:45 Shulamith Kreitler, Tel Aviv University
Altered States of Consciousness as Structural and Functional Varia-
tions of the Cognitive System
Friday, 30 June, 2006
9:30 Renaud van Quekelberghe, University of Koblenz-Landau
Mindfulness and Psychotherapy: The Revival of Indian Meditative
Traditions within Modern Psychology, Psychotherapy and Medicine
10:15 Urs Regg, University of Vienna
I NTRODUCTI ON 19
Psychotherapy and Altered States of Consciousness: Which Scien-
tific Concept is Helpful?
11:00 Gnther Fleck, University of Vienna
The Consciousness Disciplines and Knowledge Production: An Epis-
temological Account
12:15 Michael M. DelMonte, St. Patricks Hospital, Dublin
Empty Thy Mind and Come to Thy Senses: A De-constructive Path
to Inner Peace
15:00 Discussion
SUMMARIES
Part I: Yogic Perception in the South Asian and Tibetan Traditions
Of the above twenty-three lectures, seventeen could be collected in the
present volume. The following brief summaries of the papers accompa-
nied by short comments are designed to help the reader to navigate
through the presented terrain. In Indian philosophical texts, there are
often two protagonists, an opponent and a proponent, with the opponent
always speaking first (so that the proponent can have the last word). We
will follow this fine procedure here and begin with two papers that pre-
sent some of the most powerful objections to and criticism of yogic
perception that were articulated in the Indian tradition. The Mms
tradition is often labeled as the most orthodox of all Indian philosophi-
cal traditions. Yet this tradition rejects with vehemence some of the
most distinctive tenets that one associates with Hinduism, notably, the
existence of God,
42
the cyclical dissolution and re-emergence of the
42
While the Mms does not reject the existence of deities who might play the role
of recipients in sacrifices, the existence of an omnipotent or omniscient God, like
iva or Viu, to whom the creation of the world, the composition of the Veda or a
decisive influence on the human lot may be attributed, is vigorously rejected.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
20 ELI FRANCO
cosmos, the ideal of liberation (moka, nirva and similar expres-
sions)
43
andwhat concerns us hereyogic perception.
In `Just Like Us, Just Like Now`: The Tactical Implications
of the Mms Rejection of Yogic Perception, Larry McCrea shows
why the Mmsaka philosopher Kumrila (7
th
c. CE) considered the
very possibility of yogic perception a serious threat to the validity of the
Vedic tradition. He presents Kumrila`s arguments succinctly and
clearly and explains the context in which they were raised. The main
concern of the Mms is to demonstrate that the Vedas (the oldest
sacred texts of Hinduism) are the only source for knowing dharma.
44
Thus, it is not yogic perception as such, but its potential as a source for
knowing the dharma that makes the Mmsakas fervently oppose it.
To begin with, even if a yogi such as the Buddha could indeed
perceive truths that are beyond the range of perception of ordinary peo-
ple, this would be useless for them. There is, as McCrea puts it, an
unbridgeable epistemic divide (p. 58) between yogis and ordinary peo-
ple. Thus an ordinary person can never know who is a genuine yogi and
who is a quack or a swindler. It takes one to know one. On the other
hand, if the statements of a yogi could be confirmed by ordinary means,
they would be superfluous.
45
At any given time, people as a rule lie. One cannot trust them
today, and in the past they were equally unreliable. The constancy of
behavior between past and present individuals, past and present socie-
ties, is one of the most characteristic assumptions of Kumrila. The
same consistency or uniformity in the perceptual capacity of ordinary
people is assumed to have existed throughout the ages. It is clear that
people`s capacities can have quantitative differences: some people may
be able to see objects that are far away or very small, objects that an-
43
This human aim is absent in the early Mms texts, but was introduced in those
written after the 6
th
century CE.
44
Dharma is narrowly interpreted by the Mms as characterized by an injunction
to perform a sacrifice. It is a far cry from dharma referring to moral or meritorious
action; see Wilhelm Halbfass, Tradition and Reflection. Albany 1991, especially
chapter 4: Vedic Apologetics, Ritual Killing, and the Foundation of Ethics.
45
This criticism is reminiscent of a famous argument against the validity of infer-
ences: inferences are either not established or they prove what has already been
proved: smnye siddhasdhyat, viee nugamabhva.
I NTRODUCTI ON 21
other person cannot see, but there is no radical or qualitative difference
between what all people see: colors are seen and not heard.
46
A common move to substantiate the reliability of a person, be
it a yogi like the Buddha or a God like iva, relies on his self-identity. If
the Buddha`s statements about matters that can be examined by ordi-
nary people (say, about medicine and healing) are invariably confirmed
to be true, one may trust his statements about other matters as well (for
instance, about karma and past lives). If the mantras revealed by iva
that are applicable to everyday life function well (for instance, bring
wealth to their user), one may assume that his other mantras function
equally well.
As Kumrila makes clear, an argument in this form is patently
false. The fact that someone is reliable in area A does not imply that he
is reliable in area B, especially when area B is beyond the reach of ordi-
nary people. Would we accept metaphysical speculations about God
because they are put forth by a physicist who has been proven reliable
in physics?
Kumrila also emphasizes the plurality of yogic visions and
the ensuing contradictions. If the cognition of our yogis contradicts that
of your yogis, whom shall we trust? In fact, no yogi can be trusted.
Unless one possesses such knowledge oneself, one is unable to judge
whether another person knows things beyond the reach of the senses.
Any other standard opens the way to frauds or even honest but delu-
sional people claiming knowledge about extrasensory objects they do
not possess.
47
Probably in response to Kumrila, later Buddhist and Hindu
writers who attempted to establish religious authority put a strong em-
phasis on the speaker`s motivation. It is not enough that one knows the
truth; one also has to have a positive motivation to communicate that
truth (this motivation is usually identified with compassion towards
living beings and the ensuing wish to help them) and a lack of motiva-
46
Actually there are people who do hear colors, as anyone with synaesthesia (appar-
ently one out of every thousand people) or anyone who has had a psychedelic ex-
perience would know.
47
In the last part of McCrea`s paper, which I do not summarize here, he briefly pre-
sents Kumrila`s positive arguments for the reliability and eternity of the Veda. It
would be an interesting exercise to check whether the arguments about the impossi-
bility of knowing whether a person is omniscient might not be applied to the impos-
sibility of knowing that the Veda is eternal.
22 ELI FRANCO
tion to lie. Unlike Kumrila, who states that people usually lie, the Bud-
dhist philosopher Dharmakrti maintains that people tell the truth unless
they have a motive for lying, and he further argues that the Buddha has
no such motive because he has nothing to gain from lying to us.
48
Al-
though the aspect of motivation and compassion of the speaker can be
found prior to Kumrila in discussions about religious authority and
reliability (e.g., in the Nyyabhya), this aspect does not seem to have
been emphasized before his time.
However, even if one can be sure that the Buddha had no mo-
tivation for lying to his disciples, it is possible that he was deluding
himself. Dharmakrti counters this objection by maintaining that the
major part of the Buddha`s teaching is not about objects beyond the
reach of the ordinary perception and inference, but is about objects that
are independently verifiable. So even if the Buddha were wrong about
non-empirical matters such as karma,
49
this would hardly matter as long
as he is verifiably right about the phenomenon of suffering, its cause,
and the way to remove this cause. Similarly, he may or may not be liter-
ally omniscient, but even if he isn`t, this hardly matters as long as he
knows everything there is to know about how to stop suffering. As
Dharmakrti somewhat sarcastically puts it: we don`t care whether the
Buddha knows the number of worms in the world.
John Taber`s paper, Yoga and our Epistemic Predicament,
covers partly the same ground as McCrea`s, but it is wider in scope. It
begins with the question whether yogic experience is at all possible and
investigates the epistemic conditions that would allow one to answer the
question affirmatively. What matters to Taber is not whether such ex-
periences are subjectively possible, but whether they are true. In other
words, whether there can be a means for new knowledge, especially of
48
See Pramavrttika 2.145b: vaiphalyd vakti nntam. He [The Buddha] does not
tell a lie because [this would] be fruitless. This verse is edited and translated in
Tilmann Vetter, Der Buddha und seine Lehre in Dharmakrtis Pramavrttika. Vi-
enna 1990: 52.
49
Although karma is one of the causes of rebirth, Dharmakrti explicitly rejects the
possibility of eradicating karma in order to stop rebirth. As long as one lives, one
continuously produces new karma and thus, the complete elimination of karma is
never possible. The only way to stop rebirth is to eliminate desire, as is stated in the
four noble truths.
I NTRODUCTI ON 23
objects that are traditionally associated with yogic perception, such as
past and future objects,
50
or indeed of all objects.
Historians of Buddhism and Indian philosophy, as well as
scholars of religion, usually disregard the question of truth in many
facets of their studies, not only with regard to yogic perception.
51
Yogic
perceptions, however, are important because the belief in them played
such an important role in various societies and cultures. It is for this
reason that Taber is not content with leaving the question of truth aside
(p. 72):
Surely it is of the utmost significance if a particular society or
culture attributes value to, and invests considerable cultural energy and
resources in, something that is, at basis, an illusionjust as it would be
if a particular person were to build his life around a belief that is pat-
ently false, say, a belief in the existence of some imaginary being. We
would immediately suspect that some pathology is at work, distorting
that society`s collective perception of reality.
Taber approaches the question of truth by examining a ques-
tion that was debated over centuries in Classical India, the famous de-
bate between the Mmsakas and the Buddhists (beginning in the 7
th
century and lasting until Buddhism had practically disappeared from the
Subcontinent around the 12
th
century).
52
Interestingly, for the most part
the debate was not whether a particular person (such as the Buddha or
the Jina) had acquired the right knowledge about what ultimately must
be done and avoided, but about the very possibility of a human being
acquiring such knowledge. A presupposition shared by all parties in the
debate was that if such knowledge is at all possible, it would be ac-
quired by yogic perception (yogipratyaka), for that is the only type of
perception whose scope can go beyond the present. So who won this
debate? Taber concentrates on the Proof of an Omniscient Person by the
50
Seeing past and future objects is counted by the Yogastra as one of the accom-
plishments (siddhi), i.e. the supernatural powers that the true yogi possesses; see
Yogastra 3.16.
51
The factoring out of the question of truth is not specific to Buddhist or Hindu stud-
ies, but is typical for religious studies in general. See Johann Figl, Wahrheit der
Religionen. Ein Problem der neueren Religionswissenschaft und der Religionsph-
nomenologie. In: Gerhard Oberhammer and Marcus Schmcker (eds.), Glaubens-
gewissheit und Wahrheit in religiser Tradition. Vienna 2008: 81-99.
52
The debate began in earnest with Kumrila in the 7
th
century and continued till the
11
th
century in the writings of Jnarmitra and Ratnakrti.
24 ELI FRANCO
Buddhist philosopher Ratnakrti (ca. 990-1050), who represents the last
phase of Buddhist philosophy in South Asia.
Taber compares the attribution of yogic perception to the Bud-
dha to the attribution of miracles to Jesus. In both cases the credibility
of the testimony must be weighed against that which speaks against it,
e.g., witnesses being few, of doubtful character or having a vested inter-
est in what they affirm. However, above all the credibility of the testi-
mony has to be weighed against the improbability of the fact to which it
testifies (p. 77-78).
Can one show that yogic perception is not a miracle, that it
does not violate the laws of nature? Yogic perception qua perception
has to have two qualities: it has to be free of conceptual construction (or
be vivid) and has to be non-erroneous. Concerning the first characteris-
tic, it seems impossible to transform conceptual teachings like the four
noble truths into a vivid visual image, no matter how long one meditates
on them. In establishing the first characteristic, Ratnakrti explains that
one should not consider perception, as has been traditionally done, to be
an awareness that is somehow related to the senses. Rather perception is
nothing but an immediate awareness, and such awareness is not limited
to sense data.
53
Yet even if we grant that long, intense and uninterrupted medi-
tation causes objects of cognition to appear with such clarity or vivid-
ness as if they stood before one`s eyes, the question of their veracity
remains open. However, as far as I can see, Ratnakrti does not elabo-
rate on this issue, probably because he follows Dharmakrti`s assump-
tion that the Buddha`s main teaching and his reliability are provable by
ordinary means of knowledge. Only towards the very end of his treatise
does he attempt to prove genuine omniscience, without, I suspect, being
entirely convinced of his own proof.
Taber concludes his investigation with the failure of the Bud-
dhists to prove the possibility of omniscience. Of course, the impossibil-
ity of omniscience remains equally improvable. This, however, is hardly
53
In this, Ratnakrti follows his teacher Jnarmitra, who follows in turn an original
development by Prajkaragupta (ca. 750-810). The latter identified perception with
immediate awareness (sktkaraa) and consequently claimed that even inference
can be perception; see Rhula Sktyyana (ed.), Pramavrttikabhyam or
Vrtiklakra of Prajkaragupta (Being a Commentary on Dharmakrtis Pra-
mavrtikam). Patna, 1953: 111.20: tasmd anumnam api sarvkrasktkara-
apravtta pratyakam eva.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
I NTRODUCTI ON 25
surprising, for practically no philosophical tenet can be proved. The
question Taber raises next is crucial, namely, how to deal with the fact
that yogic perceptions are widely, even cross-culturally, reported.
Should one simply investigate such phenomena and put aside the ques-
tion of their veracity? This is, in fact, the common practice in religious
studies (as an academic discipline), no matter which culture or which
religion forms the object of investigation. One may attempt to deter-
mine what is actually being said, what impact it has on a given culture,
what function it fulfils in society, and so on without asking whether it is
true, or even assuming it is untrue. But this is not the path Taber pro-
poses to take. If societies and traditions are inherently healthy and ra-
tional, they cannot be based on falsehoods or on the thin theoretical
possibility that that yogic perception is not impossible. Yet we must
continue to collect data and keep our minds open, and we must be will-
ing to consider yogic perception at its face value. For the time being,
however, as long as our theory of nature cannot accommodate yogic
perception, it will remain deeply problematic.
Eli Franco`s paper, Meditation and Metaphysics, has a dif-
ferent concern altogether, but it may still belong to the prvapaka of
this volume inasmuch as it challenges the role attributed to yogic per-
ception in shaping Buddhist philosophy. The notion that Buddhist phi-
losophy arose from meditation has been widespread among scholars of
Indian philosophy. Sweeping formulations of this idea, such as by Con-
stantin Regamey or Edward Conze, are clearly wrong and need not be
further examined. However, even more careful and qualified formula-
tions, such as that by Lambert Schmithausen, remain in the final analy-
sis improvable and questionable. Schmithausen is, to the best of our
knowledge, the only scholar who has not just pronounced this idea, but
who has seriously attempted to prove it on the basis of rigorous philol-
ogical analysis. Thus, his work deservedly forms the focus of the atten-
tion here. Franco examines this hypothesis in some detail and provides
thereby a bird`s-eye view of most if not all the important philosophical
theories in South Asian Buddhism. He argues that the relation between
meditation and metaphysics in Buddhism cannot be reduced to a single
model. In the final analysis, one cannot avoid the conclusion that certain
philosophical theories (which are described in the paper) arose from
meditative experiences and certain others did not, and that the origin of
still others cannot be determined, in which case it seems preferable to
26 ELI FRANCO
suspend judgment. This conclusion may seem trivial and obvious, but it
goes against the mainstream in Buddhist studies.
Anne MacDonald`s contribution, Knowing Nothing: Can-
drakrti and Yogic Perception, deals with the topic of yogic perception
in the Madhyamaka tradition, one of the major schools of Mahyna
Buddhism that had a profound influence both on Indian and Chinese
Buddhism and is alive in the Tibetan tradition until the present day.
While focusing on the objectless meditation on emptiness (nyat), she
also provides a succinct introduction to Madhyamaka philosophy in
general. Ngrjuna (2
nd
-3
rd
c. CE), the founder of the Madhyamaka tra-
dition, said practically nothing on meditation or yogic perception in his
Mlamadhyamakakriks. His main concern there was to disprove the
existence of the elements of existence (dharma) as postulated in various
metaphysical theories of Conservative Buddhism. To understand the
Madhyamaka stance on yogic perception and related issues it is infor-
mative to turn to other works by Ngrjuna and to his influential com-
mentator Candrakrti (600-650 CE). MacDonald notes that the super-
natural capacities of knowledge (abhij)
54
are barely mentioned in
Candrakrti`s writings owing to their negligible soteriological role.
Candrakrti`s interest in supramundane knowledge lies in an insight into
the nature of reality that facilitates the break out of the jail of
sasra. This he equates not with an insight into the four noble truths,
but into the emptiness or unreality of all things.
Thus, the questions arise: How can one escape from something
that is not real? And is nirva as unreal and as non-existent as
sasra? The Mdhyamikas reject the four possible views: that nirva
exists, that it does not exist, that it both exists and does not exist, or
neither. The thorough knowing (parij) of the non-existence of both
existence and non-existence is, according to the Mdhyamikas, power-
ful enough to release one from the bonds of sasra. Candrakrti
equates this knowing with non-perception of existence and non-
existence: When the yogi remains without an apprehension of any of the
things accepted by others as existing or non-existing, the object of his
thorough knowledge is different from and excludes all phenomenal enti-
ties. The true nature of dependently originated phenomena, MacDonald
contends (p. 145), should be understood as the Mdhyamika`s onto-
54
See p. 6 above.
I NTRODUCTI ON 27
logical nirva. The knowing of this nature, sometimes referred to as
knowing the thusness (tattva) of things, is the knowing without object
that the yogi cultivates in the meditative state. Later Mdhyamikas such
as Kamalala (740-795), who was heavily influenced by Dharmakrti
and the epistemological tradition (discussed in Eltschinger`s paper in
this volume), interpreted this knowledge as cognition apprehending
nothing but itself (svasavedana). However, this interpretation would
not have been acceptable to Candrakrti.
In the course of a debate with a Realist opponent who claims
that the object confers its form to consciousness, Candrakrti points out
that consciousness of a non-existent object, such as the son of a barren
woman, would have to conform to the non-existent form and be itself
non-existent.
55
When consciousness does not apprehend the image of an
object, it simply cannot arise. Equally impossible is the epistemologists`
account of liberating insight being the culmination of meditation on the
four noble truths. According to them, at the beginning of meditation its
object is conceptual, i.e., a universal, but in the course of meditation it
gains in vividness till it becomes a particular.
56
This assumption, Can-
drakrti maintains, is simply impossible, for a conceptual object can
never become a particular.
57
Indeed, the epistemologists themselves
assume that the particular and the universal are mutually exclusive. Fur-
ther, even if such a process were possible, cessation (nirodha) could not
be perceived because consciousness cannot arise without an objective
support (lambana).
55
Candrakrti seems to play here on two meanings of the word form (kra), which
can be understood as an image or as the own nature of a thing. The same ambiguity
is present in other terms meaning form, notably the term rpa.
56
This process is compared in later times to someone so besotted with his lover that he
perceives her in his mind with such vividness that it is as if she would be standing in
front of his eyes. See also Franco, Perceptions of Yogis. Some Epistemological and
Metaphysical Considerations. In: Proceedings of the 4th International Dharmakrti
Conference (forthcoming).
57
It is indeed difficult to understand how an abstract and necessarily conceptual
statement such as everything is impermanent can become a particular object, no
matter how long and how intensely one meditates on it. This point was debated be-
tween Buddhists and Naiyyikas for centuries (as long as Buddhism remained alive
on the Subcontinent); on the last phase of this debate, see Taber`s paper in this vol-
ume.
28 ELI FRANCO
But what are the implications of this stance? Does it mean that
ultimate reality is pure nothingness and the ultimate realization that one
cannot know anything? MacDonald contends that Candrakrti`s view is
more sophisticated. For him the actual realization of the true nature of
all things is performed by an altogether different type of awareness
termed gnosis (jna).
58
Unlike normal awareness (vijna), gnosis
does not have an object and perceives the inconceivable reality that was
always there; it has a form (or nature) that transcends all manifoldness
(sarvaprapacttarpa). Candrakirti also states that the Buddhas abide
in this objectless gnosis. In advancing this interpretation, MacDonald
goes against the construal of Madhyamaka by North American scholars
such as C.W. Huntington and Dan Arnold.
Vincent Eltschinger`s paper, On the Career and the Cogni-
tion of Yogins, is a remarkable contribution towards the reconstruction
of the religious philosophy of Dharmakrti. It consists of two parts. The
first part sketches a systematic development of the meditating Buddhist
monk from the stage in which he is still an ordinary person, beset by a
false view of Self and Mine giving rise to desire, to the moment of
enlightenment and the ensuing liberation. Dharmakrti follows the tradi-
tional Buddhist scheme of three successive stages in understanding the
Buddha`s teaching as epitomized by the four noble truths, these three
stages being studying, reasoning and meditating.
59
As soon as one at-
tains a meditative vision of the four noble truths for the first time (dar-
anamrga), the yogi stops being an ordinary person and becomes a
noble person (rya). However, this vision can only remove the concep-
tual error about the existence of a Self; the deeply-rooted, innate con-
ception of the Self (sahajasatkyadi) is far more difficult to eradicate
and one has to repeat the meditative vision of the four noble truths in
various aspects again and again until this innate or instinctive concep-
tion of Self, which is present even in lower animals that are unable to
conceptualize, is uprooted.
According to the Yogcra tradition, with which Dharmakrti
is affiliated, living beings are divided into various families (gotra)
58
On various aspects of gnosis in the Tantric tradition, see Orna Almogi`s paper in
this volume.
59
A similar three-stage process of understanding can be found in Hinduism, and it is
still practiced, especially in the Vednta tradition: studying (ravaa), reflecting
(manana), and meditating (nididhysana). See also YS 1.48-49 referred to above.
I NTRODUCTI ON 29
that determine the mode of liberation either as Hearers (i.e., disciples of
the Buddha who reach enlightenment with the help of the Buddha), or
as Buddhas-for-themselves (pratyeka-buddha, who reach enlightenment
by themselves, but do not help other living beings), or as Buddhas (who
reach enlightenment by themselves and help others to reach it). While
the path of the Hearers and the Pratyeka-Buddhas is relatively short, the
Bodhisattva, the person who has resolved to become a Buddha, has to
prolong his stay in sasra in order to acquire additional skills that
enable him to become a teacher for all living beings; he must elimi-
nate imperfections of body, speech and mind, and become practically
omniscient. The practice of the path ends in the so-called transformation
of the basis (rayaparivtti), an expression that was first used for the
change of sex (from woman to man), but which came to designate the
irreversible elimination of all defilements and their latent causes
(seeds), this elimination characterizing the state of being Buddha.
60
The second part of Eltschinger`s paper deals with the cognition
of a yogi in its epistemological dimension. Yoga is characterized as a
chariot pulled by two horses, tranquility of mind (amatha) and dis-
cernment (vipayan).
61
It carries one to an insight (praj) of the true
nature of reality. Yogic perception, as every perception, must be reliable
and free of conceptualization. The first characteristic does not seem to
be problematic for Dharmakrti; the reliability of yogic perception is
grounded in the Buddhist scriptures, which are also established by inde-
pendent means such as perception and inference. For instance, one
meditates on the four noble truths that are already known to be true be-
fore the meditation begins.
62
One may also meditate of course on a non-
existent object such as an imaginary disintegrating corpse. In this case
the yogic cognition is simply not true (and therefore not perception
pratyaka) for the simple reason that its object has no correspondence in
60
See also Hidenori Sakuma, Die rayaparivtti-Theorie in der Yogcrabhmi.
Stuttgart 1998.
61
See Louis de La Valle Poussin: LAbhidharmakoa de Vasubandhu. Vol. 8. Repr.
Brussels, 1980: 131, n. 2.
62
This perspective changes radically from the 8
th
century onwards, due to the debates
with the Mms. From this point in time it is not an ordinary yogi, but the Bud-
dha himself, the yogi par excellence, who is the focal point, and it is not the reliabil-
ity of the Buddhist yogi who follows the Buddha`s teachings which is at stake, but
that of the Buddha, who cannot rely on a further Buddha to establish the truthfulness
of the Buddhist teachings.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
30 ELI FRANCO
reality. Dharmakrti`s main concern, however, is how a conceptual cog-
nition can become non-conceptual. His criterion for the absence of con-
ceptualization is the vividness of a cognitionwhen one sees an object
as if it were standing before one`s eyes. Dharmakrti`s solution to this
problem was not completely satisfactory, and later Buddhist philoso-
phers (Kamalala, Prajkaragupta, Jnarmitra, Ratnakrti) contin-
ued to deal with it and suggest still other solutions.
63
However, if yogic perception apprehends an object that was al-
ready established by a means of knowledge (prama), how could it be
itself a means of knowledge, for a means of knowledge must apprehend
a new object, an object that was not perceived earlier? Dharmakrti`s
answer would probably be that although the object was previously es-
tablished by scripture and reasoning, it was not established as a non-
conceptual object. Thus, the process of meditation is the reverse of the
process of perceiving in everyday life. In everyday life, the cognitive
process begins with a non-conceptual perception of an object which
gives rise to a conceptual cognition. In meditation one begins with a
conceptual object, and the meditation culminates in the conceptual con-
struction being cast away. This cognitive process consists in destroying
ignorance and other defilements of consciousness so that the cognition
may shine again in its intrinsic luminous nature, with which it can ap-
prehend reality as it truly is.
64
Dorji Wangchuk`s contribution, A Relativity Theory of the
Purity and Validity of Perception in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, extends
our field of vision to Tibetan Buddhism, or better, Indo-Tibetan Bud-
dhism, for the philosophical developments of the Tibetan scholars can-
not be understood without their Indian background. Wangchuk notes
that one occasionally comes across philosophical theories and interpre-
tations that are of purely Tibetan origin and most of the purely Tibetan
63
See also Taber`s paper in this volume.
64
Or one could say that although the inferential cognition of the four noble truths
(attained at the second stage, between studying and meditation) is true, it does not
make one obtain its object, and thus it cannot be said to be non-belying (avisa-
vdin) in the usual sense of the term. A similar case might take place with inference.
What happens when one infers fire and then goes to the place of the fire and sees it?
Both cognitions are valid, both are connected to the same object, yet each cognition
is said have a new object. In fact they only cognize the same object from different
aspects and cannot have different efficient actions (arthakriy), which is character-
ized as attaining an object, for the same object cannot be obtained twice.
I NTRODUCTI ON 31
philosophical theories seem to be the product of an endeavor to resolve
and systematize conflicting ideas found in heterogeneous Indian Bud-
dhist systems. This thus tallies well with my observation that meditative
visions have not played a crucial role in the development of philosophi-
cal theories in South Asian Buddhism.
Wangchuk examines an intriguing tenet in the Buddhist theory
of knowledge, namely, that various types of living beings perceive one
and the same entity in different modes. For instance, what appears to
ordinary humans as clean water is perceived by so-called hungry ghosts
(preta) as dirty and disgusting (sullied with blood and pus, etc.),
65
by the
gods as nectar, and by yogis as a goddess or a woman who is capable of
arousing samdhic ecstasy in them. The epistemological problem that
arises from this tenet is clear: If the same object is perceived differently
by different living beings, whose perception is true? How can one then
distinguish between valid and invalid cognitions? Further, how can one
substantiate yogic visions that seem downright impossible, as for in-
stance the perception of innumerable Buddha fields in a single atom?
Wouldn`t the acceptance of such visions lead to ontological nihilism?
The renowned rNying-ma scholar Mi-pham (18461912) sug-
gested making a distinction between various kinds of means of knowl-
edge, most importantly between pure and impure worldly means (kun tu
tha snyad pai tshad ma = svyavahrikaprama). The degree of the
purity of perception determines the degree of its correctness.
66
The pu-
rity of perception can be enhanced by meditation, but there is also a
difference in the degree of purity of perception of those who do not
meditate at all. For instance, a human being perceives water as water,
which is regarded as purer than the preta`s perception of it as pus, re-
gardless of whether that human being and preta meditate or not. Mi-
65
This example first entered the philosophical discourse in Vasubandhu`s Viatik. It
is used by Vasubandhu to show that living beings (notably the pretas) can suffer
from what may be called collective illusions due to similar karmic fruition. Vasu-
bandhu, however, does not doubt the identity of water as an object in this example,
but only attempts to prove that it does not exist outside the mind. As far as I know,
the example is not further discussed in the Buddhist epistemological tradition from
the perspective it obtained in Tibetan Buddhism, namely, that the identity of the ob-
ject is doubtful.
66
According to this theory, the cognition of water by ordinary people would have to
be considered less true than the vision of the yogi who perceives the same substance
as a goddess.
32 ELI FRANCO
pham`s theory was inspired by Rong-zom-pa, a rNying-ma scholar of
the 11
th
century, who suggested that reality is mere appearance (snang
ba tsam), behind which there is nothing. He also adduced a distinction
in validity between human and non-human and between yogic and non-
yogic perceptions. Thus, the validity of perception depends on the pu-
rity of perception, i.e., the purer the perception is, the more it agrees
with ultimate reality, which is the absolute purity. Wangchuk also dis-
cusses briefly the Indian antecedents, especially in Madhyamaka
sources, of this theory, which he calls the relativity theory of the purity
and validity of perception.
Meditation and yogic perception culminate in gnosis (jna,
praj and similar expressions). The quasi-material aspects of this gno-
sis form the subject matter of Orna Almogi`s paper, The Materiality
and Immanence of Gnosis in Some rNying-ma Tantric Sources. Ac-
cording to these sources, gnosis is immanent in the human body, more
precisely, in the center of the heart. Before describing the meta-
physiological aspects of gnosis, Almogi looks into the conception of
the human body in Buddhism in general. As is well known, Buddhist
sources, including already the Pali Canon, consider the human body to
be a collection of impure and revolting substances such as hair, nails,
flesh, bones, bladder, liver, pus, blood, excrement, and the like. Yet the
body is also recognized as the basis for the human experience that en-
ables one to tread the path of salvation.
The Tantric attitude to the body is generally more positive.
The Tantric practitioners conceive the body as a microcosm, and it is
meditatively envisioned as the pure body of a deity; most importantly it
is the abode of gnosis, the ultimate aim for all Buddhists. Although gno-
sis is to be acquired by practice, it is often conceived of as inherent,
latent and changeless. It abides in the body like a lamp in a pot that can
shine only if the pot is broken. The Buddha-Embryo theorythe theory
that all living beings are potentially Buddhas and will eventually be-
come Buddhasis used as a foundation to substantiate the immanence
of gnosis in one`s body. The resemblance of this notion of gnosis to the
Brahmanic concept of a permanent soul (tman) is obvious,
67
and the
rNying-ma scholars make a conscious effort to distinguish gnosis from
such a soul.
67
In fact, the Ratnagotravibhga, the foundational text of the Tathgatagarbha tradi-
tion uses the terms tman and paramtman in the exposition of the Buddha nature.
I NTRODUCTI ON 33
The meta-physiology of gnosis involves channels, cakras,
vital winds and seminal drops. Their divergent descriptions have been
conveniently juxtaposed by Almogi in the form of tables. Each channel
has its own color, a type of pure essence, and an essence-syllable that
causes purification, phonic seeds that cause pollution, and birth caused
by the pertinent phonic seeds and type of mind. For instance, the chan-
nel of gnosis has a blue light, which is square in shape, the pure essence
of breath, the essence syllable h, and is inhabited by mental percep-
tion. It is clear that although gnosis is not a material entity, one does
find statements describing it in terms of light, color, shape and sound.
However, these are merely meant as aids to confused living beings, who
have not recognized the permanent immanent gnosis within themselves.
Nevertheless, it appears that these descriptions were sometimes taken
literally.
Almogi`s paper concludes the Buddhological section in this
volume. Three contributions deal with yogic perception in the Hindu
tradition. Philipp Andr Maas discusses the so-called Yoga of suppres-
sion as it appears in the first chapter of the Ptajalayogastra, i.e., the
Yogastra of Patajali with its oldest commentary, the so-called
Yogabhya,
68
a text that Maas has edited in an exemplary manner on
the basis of twenty-one printed editions and twenty-five manuscripts.
His starting point is Oberhammer`s pioneering yet largely ignored study
Strukturen yogischer Meditation (Vienna 1977), which shows beyond
doubt that the Ptajalayoga teaches four different kinds of medita-
tionsnot two, as is commonly assumedwhich differ from each other
with regard to their objects, structure and content. Maas` paper, how-
ever, limits itself to the first two of these meditation types, for which he
suggests a new terminology. The common term for these types of medi-
tations, which seems to have been coined by Frauwallner, is Unter-
drckungsyoga or Yoga of suppression. This term, however, can be
misleading inasmuch as it evokes the common psychological meaning
of complete deletion of a reaction, in contradistinction to inhibition,
which refers to an inner impediment to activity that can be removed.
Suppression is also used to refer to a voluntary suppression of an im-
pulse for action. Obviously, none of these meanings is applicable to
yogic meditation, nor is suppression as used by Indologists meant to
68
Yoga in this section is short for Ptajala Yoga.
34 ELI FRANCO
convey these meanings, but rather to refer to the definition of yoga as
the elimination or stopping (the shutdown as Maas calls it) of all men-
tal processes. Further, it is often said that the purpose of yoga is to
eliminate cognition, but this statement has to be qualified insofar as
yoga does not eliminate the Self (purua), which is defined as pure con-
sciousness. What yoga aims at is the elimination of all objects of con-
sciousness.
Maas also notes that the Yoga of suppression consists, in fact,
of two different types of meditation; he suggests calling the first type
non-theistic yogic concentration and the second theistic yogic con-
centration. In the former type, the path leading to the cessation of men-
tal activities is the practice of gradual withdrawal or detachment, in a
first stage from everyday material objects, in a second stage from matter
as such, and it culminates in self-perception of the Self, which leads to
liberation from the cycle of rebirths. The theistic concentration is simi-
lar to the non-theistic in many respectsmost importantly it also cul-
minates in self-perception of the Selfbut differs from it inasmuch as
in the initial stages it has God (vara) as its object.
It is remarkable that in Yoga the concept of God lacks any sec-
tarian or mythological elements. Moreover, there is no qualitative dif-
ference between God and any other liberated soul, except that the latter
became liberated at a certain point in time, whereas God has always
been liberated. Nor does God really intervene in the realm of matter,
and his effectiveness within the world is rather limited. At the begin-
ning of every re-creation of the world he assumes a mental capacity
doesn`t this imply that he must leave his state of liberation?in order to
teach a seer and thus start a succession of teachers and disciples. His
presumed motivation to do this, just as in the case of the Buddha, is
compassion.
The concept of God being intrinsically identical to all other
souls (or selves) can also be found in the tradition of Viidvaita Ve-
dnta, a Vednta school that is strongly affiliated with the Vaiava
devotional movement, examined here by Marcus Schmcker in Yogic
Perception According to the Later Tradition of the Viidvaita Ve-
dnta. This tradition is particularly interesting in its contrast to the
Buddhist tradition. To begin with, yogic perception is hardly discussed
in the writings of Rmnuja (traditionally dated 10171137), the found-
ing father of the Viidvaita. He accepts the possibility of its exis-
tence, but does not consider it capable of perceiving absolute reality
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
I NTRODUCTI ON 35
(brahman) (see n. 3 in the paper). However, Rmnuja`s follower,
Meghandrisri (13
th
century), deals with this topic in a more extensive
manner. Unlike the Buddhists, who go to a great deal of trouble to
prove that yogic perception is free of any conceptual construction (see
the papers by Taber, Franco and Eltschinger in this volume),
69
Megha-
ndrisri assumes that all yogic perceptions are conceptual for the
simple reason that they do not depend on the senses. This aspect of
yogic perception puts it on par with the cognition of God (identified
with Viu), or the highest Self (paramtman), as well as of the liber-
ated soulsboth those that have always been liberated (nityamukta) and
those that became liberated at a certain point in time. The difference
between the cognition of a yogi, who is still bound to sasra, and the
cognition of the liberated souls (God included) is that the latter have
only conceptual cognitions. Of course the cognition of God is far larger
in scopeit includes everythingthan that of the yogi, but inasmuch as
both are independent of the senses, both are conceptually constructed
(savikalpaka). Furthermore, while the Buddhists consider every concep-
tualization to be false and claim that only non-conceptual cognitions are
a true reflection of reality, Meghandrisri argues that an absolute cor-
respondence between perception and reality is only possible in a con-
ceptual perception. A non-conceptual perception, which depends on the
senses and has only a momentary existence, is unable to perceive all
properties of a given object. Especially the recurrent properties, the so-
called common properties or universals (jti), which are identified with
the structure (sasthna) of things, cannot be perceived as such when
an object is seen for the first time. It is only in the second and subse-
quent cognitions that the recurrence of a universal can be perceived. Yet
the common point between the Buddhist and the Viidvaita traditions
is that the highest cognition, be it the omniscience of God or of the
Buddha, is a subspecies of yogic perception.
69
An exception, however, should be noted for the Buddhist Tantric work Tattvasiddhi
attributed to ntarakita; see Ernst Steinkellner, Is the Ultimate Cognition of the
Yogin Conceptual or Non-conceptual? Part 2: Introducing the Problem in the Final
Section of the Tantristic Tattvasiddhi with Analysis and Translation. In: Esoteric
Buddhist Studies: Identity in Diversity. Proceedings of the International Conference
on Esoteric Buddhist Studies, Koyasan University, 5 Sept.8 Sept. 2006. Ed. by the
Executive Committee, ICEBS. Koyasan 2008: 291-306. The possibility of Vedntic
influence on the doctrine of the Tattvasiddhi still needs to be explored.
36 ELI FRANCO
The role of yogic perception in another Vaiava devotional
tradition, the Pacartra, is examined in Marion Rastelli`s contribution,
Perceiving God and Becoming Like Him: Yogic Perception and Its
Implications in the Viuitic Tradition of Pcartra. The earliest evi-
dence of this tradition dates back to the pre-Christian era, and it is still
present today in the Vaiava tradition in South India. Unlike the other
Buddhist and Hindu traditions presented so far, the Pacartra offers its
followers not only a means of pursuing liberation from rebirth, but also
allows the pursuit of worldly pleasures such as wealth, offspring, the
fulfillment of sexual desires, death of enemies and a great number of
supernatural powers. For the most part, these aims are to be achieved by
ritual means into which yogic practices are integrated, but yoga is also
practiced independently. There are two kinds of yogic practices: the
Yoga of Eight Members (agayoga), which is practically identical to
the practice described in Ptajala Yoga bearing the same name (briefly
referred to by Maas p. 6), and the Laya Yoga or the Yoga of reabsorp-
tion. Some elements are common to both practices, as for instance,
sitting in a particular posture, controlling one`s breathing, and the with-
drawal of the mind from the object of the senses. However, the two
practices differ in their object; while the object of the yoga of Eight
Members is static, the object of the Laya Yoga is dynamic. The term
laya evokes the cosmic dissolution of the material elements, these being
reabsorbed, each into the respectively preceding one, in the reverse or-
der that they were created or emanated until they are all absorbed into
the primordial matter, which is itself a manifestation of God.
70
The Laya
Yoga imitates this process of destruction. The yogi visualizes object
after object in the order of their destruction until he reaches a particular
deity, this deity being an emanation of still another deity, and so on
until one reaches the Supreme God. The Lakmtantra describes several
deities that are to be meditated upon, and similar to the Buddhist Tantric
meditation described by Almogi, each is associated with a special state
of consciousness and with a specific sound (the various elements are
conveniently presented by Rastelli in a table on p. 306).
70
These cycles of cosmic emanation and dissolution are well known from Classical
Skhya (see also Maas` paper in this volume, pp. 269-270) and Puric literature.
However, in the Pcartra tradition the material elements are considered a manifes-
tation of the God Vsudeva.
I NTRODUCTI ON 37
In the Laya Yoga, the meditating yogi visualizes a deity and
continuously recites a mantra until the deity appears to him; by concen-
trating on the deity the yogi becomes one with it and reaches a state
called Consisting of Him/Her (tanmayat), depending upon whether
the object of meditation is a God or a Goddess. In other words, the sub-
ject and object of meditation become identical. What this identity means
exactly is not entirely clear, however. Rastelli suggests that the identity
cannot be complete or numerical; rather consisting of Vishnu is
analogous to saying consisting of wood: consisting of something
would thus mean having all the properties of that thing. Thus, the result
of meditation varies according to the object one meditates on. If one
meditates on brahman (absolute reality) one attains the state of brah-
man, which means liberation from rebirth; if one meditates on Sudar-
ana, one attains the supernatural powers of Sudarana, and so on.
In the Pacartra tradition, it is also possible to become con-
sisting of God by ritual means, above all through a mental identifica-
tion with the deity. This identification can be induced verbally by
means of mantras, or by assuming the outward appearance of a deity,
for instance, by wearing garments that are usually associated with the
deity or certain adornments that are typical for it. A still easier way to
attain the same goals, provided one has the financial means, is to offer
fire oblations (homa) to the deity. It is interesting to note that all of
these rituals, if performed well over a period of time, leave the deity no
freedom of choice. It must appear before the yogi or the devotee.
71
Part II: Meditation and Altered States of Consciousness from an
Interdisciplinary Perspective
The second part of this volume examines broader aspects of altered
states of consciousness beyond those occurring in yogic perception. In
the first four papers, Karl Baier deals with meditation and contempla-
tion in the Christian tradition, Dagmar Eigner and Diana Riboli focus on
shamanic trance in Nepal and Malaysia, while John Baker clearly shows
that drug-induced altered states of consciousness are an element present
71
In this respect the Pcartra tradition follows an older Vedic and Mms tradi-
tion which claims that the gods who are the recipients of certain sacrifices are in fact
passive players inasmuch as they are obliged bring about the result for which a sac-
rifice is prescribed.
38 ELI FRANCO
in all traditional and modern societies. Thus, altered states of con-
sciousness are by no means limited to meditative traditions.
Karl Baier`s contribution, Meditation and Contemplation in
High to Late Medieval Europe, is a useful reminder that Europe had its
own rich tradition of meditation which has fallen into disuse, a tradition
that, in an odd twist of fate, shows signs of revival under the growing
influence of Indian meditative traditions.
Baier examines the period between the 12
th
and 15
th
century, a
period that differs significantly from the preceding and subsequent cen-
turies. He deals primarily with four trends that became prominent dur-
ing this period: the development of elaborate philosophical and theo-
logical theories dealing systematically with meditation and contempla-
tion; the democratization of meditation and contemplation; the emer-
gence of new imaginative forms of meditation; and a differentiation
between meditation and contemplation. Baier considers these trends and
related developments by examining three texts: Benjamin minor (also
called The Twelve Patriarchs) of Richard of St. Victor (?-1173), the
Scala Claustralium of Guigo II (1174-1180) and the anonymous Clowde
of Unknowyng.
In Benjamin minor, Richard of St. Victor develops a hierarchi-
cal system of different modes of cognition, correlating them to four
basic cognitive faculties: sensus, imaginatio, ratio and intelligentia
(sense-perception, imagination, discriminative rationality, intuitive in-
sight). The lowest mode of awareness is termed cogitatio. It is the
careless looking around of the mind, motivated by curiosity and other
passions. Meditation is a more focused way of thinking; it emerges
when the cogitatio becomes seriously interested in an object it has un-
covered. Its dominant mental faculty is ratio, discursive thinking, and it
investigates the cause (causa), mode (modus), effect (effectus), purpose
(utilitas) and inner structure (ratio) of its objects. Meditation culminates
in contemplation, the fulfilled insight. Cogitatio is like crawling on the
floor, meditatio like walking and sometimes running, but contemplatio
is comparable to free flight (liber volatus) and beholding from above,
this allowing the whole landscape be viewed at once.
Richard discriminates between different levels of ecstasy: a
state in which the activity of the corporeal senses is only suspended, one
in which imagination has come to a standstill, and a final absorption in
I NTRODUCTI ON 39
which even intelligentia is no longer active. All forms of ecstasy are
accompanied by exaltation and intense joy.
72
Guigo`s Scala Claustralium (ladder for monastics), also known
as Scala paradisi (the ladder to paradise) and Epistola de vita contem-
plativa (letter on the contemplative life) contains one of the most con-
cise analyses of spirituale exercitium (spiritual exercise) written in the
High Middle Ages. His intent was to integrate meditation and contem-
plation into the reading and interpretation of the Bible. In the early me-
dieval period reading the Bible chiefly meant memorizing the text for
liturgical purposes. In the 11
th
century the tradition of the Desert Fathers
was revived, and the new order of the Carthusians integrated the life-
style of the hermit with monastic community life. This led to an interi-
orization of religious reading, as is reflected in Guigo`s text. The prac-
tice contained three stages, which, again, are strongly reminiscent of
Buddhist, Yoga and Vednta practices: lectio, the monk reading the
Bible in his cell and following the literal sense of the text as attentively
as possible, which led to meditation and the monk beginning to repeat a
passage that touches his heart again and again;
73
oratio, the monk ask-
ing God to open his soul to His presence; and contemplatio, the monk
gaining the deepest level of understanding of the biblical texts and ex-
periencing their mystical sense (anagogia, sensus mysticus), which, as a
direct encounter with God, can only be fully realized in contemplation.
The basic distinction between meditation and contemplation is that in
meditation the different faculties of the soul are still at work, whilst in
contemplation their activities have calmed down and the ineffable cen-
ter of the soul awakens.
In the centuries after Guigo, the link between reading the Bible
and meditation lost its importance. The imaginative techniques had the
effect of the Bible being replaced by manuals of meditation, such as
Vita Christi, which were better suited for visualization and easier to
grasp. Meditation and contemplation ceased to be a monastic privilege
that could be practiced only in the solitude of monasteries; they could
72
One is immediately reminded of the Buddhist descriptions of dhyna and yatana
meditations, briefly described in Franco`s paper, as well as of saprajta samdhi
as discussed in Maas` contribution, but the differences are strong enough to rea-
sonably exclude the assumption of borrowing or influence of one tradition on the
other.
73
This practice is traditionally called ruminatio, rumination on the text.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
40 ELI FRANCO
also be practiced in the flourishing towns. Book production developed
enough to create a market of religious texts; these were usually compi-
lations of monastic mystical theology, simplified schemes for the ascent
to God, edifying stories about saints and miracles, and prayers. These
books were not written in Latin, but in the vernacular languages. Thus,
from the Late Medieval Period onwards, meditative and contemplative
practices became increasingly popular among all strata of the literate
European Christian society. Older forms of mysticism, based on with-
drawal from the world and programs of asceticism and contemplative
prayer, did not die out, but they were challenged by new lifestyles en-
couraging more democratic types of mysticism that were open to all
(and therefore also communicated in the vernacular) and that did not
demand retreat from the world.
74
The Clowde of Unknowyng, written between 1375 and 1400
and today one of the most famous of all late medieval mystical texts, is
a good example of the developments outlined above. The text follows
the traditional distinction between vita activa (actyve liif) and vita con-
templativa (contemplatyve liif). The first stage of active life consists of
works of mercy and charity, the second, which is concurrently the first
stage of contemplative life, is goostly meditacion, the third and final
stage is specyal preier. The latter is described as blynde thoucht or na-
kyd feeling and culminates in ecstasy (excesse of the mynde, overpas-
syng of thiself), in which one is to leave behind distinct considerations
of the self, sins, creation and God and enter a cloude of forgetyng.
In the 15
th
century, the methodical structuring of thought
within meditation became extremely elaborated. However, the more
meditation became formalized, the more its limitations and dangers
became obvious; the practice of contemplation began to decline. As
Baier concludes, only with the growing influence of Eastern religions
and the revival of Western mysticism from the end of the 19
th
century
onwards did the popularization of contemplative practices start all over
again. The 20
th
century became the Age of the decline of the Baroque
form of European meditation and gave birth to a second contemplation
movement within Western Christianity.
Diana Riboli`s contribution, Shamans and Transformation in
Nepal and Peninsular Malaysia, is an introduction to the different be-
74
Here, too, the emergence of the Mahyna bears striking if superficial similarities.
I NTRODUCTI ON 41
liefs related to shamanic transformation into animal and plant forms, in
particular in the ethnic groups of the Chepang in south-central Nepal
and the Jahai and Batek of peninsular Malaysia. Despite the necessary
adaptations of shamanic cultures to changes in social, economic and
political conditions, the figure of the shaman generally remains that of a
hunter of souls, even in societies no longer based on hunting and
gathering.
Riboli describes the rain forest as a closed universe from the
Batek and Jahai point of view, divine and perfect, a sort of maternal
uterus that satisfies all the basic requirements of its inhabitants and
which is the beginning and end of everything.
75
In what is clearly an
implicit critique of Lvi-Strauss and his followers, she claims that for
the societies she has studied, a conceptual distinction between nature
and culture has little or no significance.
Quite often the shamans` faculty of transforming themselves
into animal or vegetal forms, of communicating with animals and dei-
ties, or flying between cosmic zones is seen as a relic from a mythical
Golden Age, a time when all human beings had these abilities. How-
ever, in some shamanic societies ecstatic journeys and altered states of
consciousness are almost completely absent, although considered by
Eliade and others to be an essential and defining element of shamanism.
Riboli points out that what scholars call altered states of con-
sciousness or simply trance is a complex phenomenon, and that the
Chepang language has no single term corresponding to it.
76
In spite of
trances often having a similar physical appearancethe shaman`s body
jerking, trembling and sweating profusely, as well as appearing to un-
dergo sensorial detachmentthere are different types, and they are not
experienced as the same by shamans or their audience. Riboli distin-
guishes between incorporatory trances, in which shamans embody
supernatural beings, and trances of movement, in which shamans
travel to other cosmic zones. In her earlier studies she included the
category initiatory trances, and noted that there are certainly still
other types of altered states of consciousness, these being, however,
75
The most friendly inhabitants of the rainforest are the cenoi, poetic creatures some-
what like our fairies, described as perfect little men and women living inside flowers
who offer help to humans in distress.
76
The same is true, of course, of what one calls meditation, a rather vague term that
has no exact correspondence in any South Asian language (see also n. 3 above).
42 ELI FRANCO
difficult to document. Similarly, shaman itself is not a consistent
category; the Chepang distinguish between pande,
77
who are allowed to
travel to all cosmic zones, and gurau, who can transform themselves
into animal forms.
78
The Jahai use halak and jampi to refer respectively
to shamans of greater and lesser powers.
Though Riboli has noted a decline in many of the shamanic
practices described by Endicott in the 1970s, she nevertheless confirms,
contrary to observations by certain scholars, that despite the strong
pressures and tensions they are continually subjected to, both Batek and
Jahai forms of shamanism are still very much alive today. In fact, after
the recent passing away of one of the oldest and most venerable sha-
mans, many young men have been receiving dreams in which the old
shaman is teaching them about the shamanic vocation. A new genera-
tion of young shamans seems to be emerging.
Dagmar Eigner`s contribution, Transformation of Conscious-
ness through Suffering, Devotion, and Meditation, investigates the
spiritual and personal development of shamans and mediums in Central
Nepal. It is based on Eigner`s study of traditional healers in Central
Nepal undertaken for a total of thirty-six months between 1984 and
2005. Her research has focussed on Tamang shamans living in the mid-
dle hills east of Kathmandu Valley. The Tamang constitute the largest
ethnic minority in Nepal and there are many shamans among them.
These shamans mostly treat a multi-ethnic, socially disadvantaged cli-
entele, who seek cures for a wide variety of ailments. Some shamans
have moved away from traditional healing methods, partly because of
their lack of the needed knowledge and partly in order to accommodate
the multi-ethnic environment. In this context, Eigner has investigated
the similarities between the healing methods of different healers and the
role of ethnic-specific knowledge of myths in the shamanic procedures.
Contact with a deity is considered a basic component of a sha-
man`s power. Shamans and mediums usually experience a vocational
calling, in which they are chosen by a spiritual power to become a
healer. Often this is not immediately recognized and the unusual behav-
77
It seems that about ten percent of pande are women; Riboli investigated thirty
pande, three of whom were women.
78
This second category seems to be mythical or defunct; in eight years of extensive
field work, Riboli has not encountered a single shaman who claimed to possess this
ability.
I NTRODUCTI ON 43
iour of the chosen person is interpreted as a disturbance of her/his well
being. The period of crisis is attended by physical and psychic suffering
that is not alleviated by standard medical treatment. On the contrary, in
some cases attempts to force the so-called evil spirits to depart causes
the suffering to intensify. Sometimes several years pass before deities or
ancestor spirits reveal themselves through the persons they have chosen.
After the initial crisis, such a person forms a strong relationship
with the spiritual world. They then begin a process of granting the dei-
ties and tutelary spirits increasing space within their psyche, and of di-
minishing the desires and expression of their own ego. Devotional exer-
cises slowly alter the mind of a shaman so that with growing experi-
ence, the chosen person remains continuously in a state of transformed
consciousness. Having attained this altered level of consciousness, they
are able to carry out whatever is needed during healing sessions without
effort and without a conscious decision on their part. Their change in
personality is primarily realized during treatments, in which their pa-
tients experience the power of the deities, this being the core of the
healing process.
Eigner`s paper presents a number of narratives of shamans and
mediums from Central Nepal describing this process of transformation.
Briefly presented are various healers` perceptions of the spiritual world,
their own connection to it, and their understanding of the cures they
achieve. These narratives show that the strong connection with the spiri-
tual world changes these healers for the rest of their lives; their status in
the community, their relationships with the people around them, and
their sense of identity have become irreversibly altered.
In Psychedelics, Culture, and Consciousness: Insights from
the Biocultural Perspective, John Baker suggests that the use of psy-
chedelic substances to alter consciousness is more ancient than all of the
other techniques discussed in this volume. He also argues that studies of
psychedelic experiences can be very useful for discerning the roles that
cultural expectations and individual characteristics play in shaping and
understanding altered states of consciousness. Baker`s interactionist
position assumes that consciousness is affected by both top down and
bottom up phenomena. Consequently, the study of consciousness
states requires a comprehensive framework that incorporates biological
and psychological insights into the study of socio-cultural phenomena.
The number of plants, fungi, minerals, and even animals capa-
ble of inducing altered states of consciousness is large, and the use of
44 ELI FRANCO
these substances has been documented throughout the world since an-
cient times. The use of such substances reflects both the basic human
predilection to enter altered states and the fact that almost any psy-
choactive substance can be utilized for personally integrative and cul-
turally constructive purposes when used appropriately.
In contrast to the traditional use of psychedelic substances in
non-Western cultures, many Westerners have a hallucinophobic atti-
tude about psychedelics. This attitude has its roots in the proscriptions
against pagan religions issued by the Emperor Theodosius in 380 CE,
when he adopted Christianity as the official religion of the empire and
suppressed the ancient mystery cults. During the next sixteen hundred
years, most European knowledge about the proper ways to use these
substances and exploit their effects for constructive purposes was lost.
Consequently, few were prepared for the renaissance in psychedelic use
that began in the 19
th
century and accelerated in the 20
th
, especially after
the discovery of LSD.
With the spread of LSD and other psychedelic substances, mil-
lions of individuals were able to experience and explore highly unusual
states of consciousness. Lacking traditional frameworks for using these
substances or understanding their effects, some people experienced
bad trips or suffered physical injury because they were temporarily
unable to react appropriately to external events. Laws were quickly
passed that prohibited the manufacturing, distribution, use, or posses-
sion of psychedelic substances. By the mid-1960s, all psychedelic re-
search on human subjects had been curtailed. As a result, many people
in the West continue to view psychedelics in a highly negative light.
Baker uses the terms sacrament and sacramental to distin-
guish between psychedelic use in societies that embrace such use and in
those that condemn it. In the former, a person`s first use of a psyche-
delic substance often has an initiatory quality and occurs after a period
of training in which the individual has been taught to anticipate and
correctly interpret such experiences. Here, psychedelics often serve
culturally integrative purposes. In the second type of society, psychedel-
ics are typically used clandestinely and without proper guidance. In
such contexts, psychedelic experiences may lead an individual to ques-
tion his or her society`s values and world view. In spite of this, such
experiences are often interpreted in near-mystical terms and can have
profoundly positive effects upon the user.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
I NTRODUCTI ON 45
The sacrament/sacramental distinction recognizes that cul-
tural attitudes play a profound role in shaping states of consciousness.
At the same time, the biological underpinnings of modern anthropology
remind us that the uniqueness of each person begins at the genetic level,
and is expressed in differences in the make-up of our individual nervous
systems as well as our life histories. Consequently, every experience of
an altered state of consciousness is unique, and is open to multiple in-
terpretations.
Baker concludes that psychedelic agents do not only represent
important tools for studying consciousness, but also have the potential
to democratize consciousness by making it possible for large numbers
of people to explore domains previously accessible to only a few. He
suggests that the near-universal desire to experience an altered state of
consciousness canand shouldbe channeled in a way that minimizes
the possibility of problems and maximizes the potential for personal and
social gain.
Shulamith Kreitler`s contribution, Altered States of Con-
sciousness as Structural Variations of the Cognitive System, presents a
new approach to defining consciousness in terms of an innovative the-
ory of meaning. Most approaches to consciousness have been based on
the assumption that differences in consciousness consist primarily in
degrees of awareness, so that it may seem superfluous to dwell on the
characterization of various so-called altered states of consciousness.
However, an analysis of different states of consciousness reveals several
major dimensions in which they indeed do differ, e.g., salience and the
status of the I, the sense of control and the ability to control, clarity of
thought, precision of perception with regard to external reality and envi-
ronment, emotional involvement, as well as the arousal, accessibility
and inhibition of certain kinds of information. These specified dimen-
sions allow the common states of consciousness to be characterized
according to their differences in terms of major cognitive, emotional
and behavioral features. The differences between the states of con-
sciousness imply that a new approach is necessary. The new suggested
approach is cognitive and based on a theory of meaning dealing with the
contents and processes underlying cognitive functioning. Meaning is
defined as a referent-centered pattern of meaning values. A referent is
the input, the carrier of meaning, whereas meaning values are cognitive
contents assigned to the referent in order to express or communicate its
meaning. Together, the referent and the meaning value form a meaning
46 ELI FRANCO
unit. Five sets of variables are used for characterizing the meaning unit:
meaning dimensions, which characterize the contents of the meaning
values; types of relation, which characterize the immediacy of the rela-
tion between the referent and the cognitive contents; forms of relation,
which characterize the formal regulation of the relation between the
referent and the cognitive contents; referent shifts, which characterize
the relation between the referent and the presented input; and forms of
expression, which characterize the forms of expression of the meaning
units. Each individual person functions cognitively in terms of a spe-
cific meaning profile (i.e., a set of meaning variables habitual for that
person) that determines his or her range of cognitive potentialities and
also affects manifestations at the level of emotions and personality.
Cognition is a function of the structure and activation of the meaning
system.
Kreitler`s main thesis is that states of consciousness are a func-
tion of comprehensive changes in the cognitive system brought about by
specific organizational transformations in the meaning system. One
major kind of reorganization consists in changing the dominant types of
relation that regulate the functioning of the cognitive system in ordinary
wakeful states, namely the attributive and comparative, to the exempli-
fying-illustrative and metaphoric-symbolic that regulate the functioning
of the cognitive system in certain states of consciousness. Structural
changes of this kind may be attained by either psychological or physio-
logical means. When they occur, cognitive functioning, personality
manifestations, mood and affect, as well as physiological processes may
be affected. Kreitler describes the changes in consciousness attained by
means of experimentally-induced changes in meaning, as well as the
resulting changes in cognitive and emotional functioning. The new ap-
proach may enable the matching of cognitive tasks to suitable states of
consciousness, the production of states of consciousness by self-
controlled cognitive means, and even the definition of new states of
consciousness.
The two final papers, by Michael M. DelMonte and Renaud
van Quekelberghe, consider the use and integration of meditation in
psychotherapy. Van Quekelberghe begins with a brief discussion of
mindfulness (Pali: sattipahna, Sanskrit: smtyupasthna) in the
context of Theravda Buddhism. The purpose of mindfulness is to in-
crease the powers of concentration as a preparatory stage to meditation
properly speaking (samdhi). It consists in the conscious awareness of
I NTRODUCTI ON 47
everyday activities such as breathing, thinking, feeling, moving, eating
and even defecating. In the last decade or so, cognitive behavior therapy
and psychoanalysis has begun to focus on mindfulness as a constructive
method for overcoming clinical symptoms and suffering. Quekelberghe
notes that the recent shift in cognitive therapy from symptoms as the
content to symptoms as the context offers an analogy to the tradi-
tional Eastern (Buddhist and other) distinction of consciousness directed
towards an object and consciousness without an object. Context
would correspond to emptiness, peace of mind, pure silence, crystal-like
transparency and an empty mirror; while content would correspond to
ego-related passions, mirages, thoughts and feelings. This dichotomy
indicates the need to step back from the many to the one, from the
changing to the changeless, from bondage to freedom.
In the second part of his paper Quekelberghe offers a very use-
ful survey of the relationship between psychotherapy and Buddhism
from the 1930s to the present day. He begins with the well-known study
Buddhist training as an artificial catatonia by Franz Alexander (also
summarized by DelMonte), which has inspired many leading psychia-
trists to focus on the parallels between schizophrenic regression and
meditation. However, there were also exceptions to this general trend
and some psychiatrists, such as Johannes Schulz and Arthur Deikman,
considered yogic traditions positively, fighting against the nave arro-
gance of psychiatry and psychoanalysis towards the Eastern meditative
practice.
Jung rejected the psychoanalytic view of Asian or Buddhist
meditation as infantile regression, autistic defense formation or narcis-
sistic neurosis. Yet he too believed that an integration of Western psy-
chotherapy and Eastern meditation wasif at all possiblenot desir-
able. On the other hand, the so-called Neo-Freudians, including Karen
Horney, Erich Fromm and Harold Kelman, involved themselves with
Zen-Buddhism in the 1950s and emphasized points of convergence of
their discipline with it. Kelman, for instance, considered psychoanalysis
to be a meditative training in mindfulness and the development of
therapist-client relationship as analogous to the guru-devotee relation-
ship. In the 1980s, Jeffrey Rubin tried to integrate Buddhist ideas into a
so-called contemplative psychoanalysis, although oddly enough he
somehow confused the Buddhist conception of egoless-ness (Pali:
anatta, Sanskrit: antman) with the psychoanalytic narcissism theory.
The dialogue between Buddhism and psychotherapy has continued un-
48 ELI FRANCO
interruptedly until the present day, with Barry Magid currently its most
prominent proponent.
W.L. Mikulas was the first behavior therapist who integrated
Buddhist meditation into behavior therapy. He emphasized self-control
skills and few theoretical constructs, focused on the concrete content of
conscious experience, and made a clear distinction between observable
behavior and problematic concepts such as person, ego, identity and the
world. Quekelberghe summarizes the work of a number of behavior
psychotherapists who found correspondence between the Buddhist
teachings and techniques of behavior therapy, namely, stress reduction
programs based on mindlessness. These include Da Silva, Kabatt-Zinn,
Grossman, Linhan, Perls, Hayes, and last but not least, Quekelberghe
himself.
Another important area of dialogue between Asian meditative
traditions and psychotherapy is transpersonal psychology and ther-
apy
79
a school of psychology that studies and encourages spiritual
self-development, peak experiences, mystical experiences, systemic
trance and other metaphysical experiences of living. In an earlier
work,
80
Quekelberghe described the main fields of this spiritually ori-
ented psychotherapy. Quekelberghe ends his article with a plea to estab-
lish modern wisdom research centers after the model of the famous
Buddhist monastery Nland.
Michael DelMonte`s paper, Empty Thy Mind and Come to
Thy Senses: A De-constructive Path to Inner Peace, studies the benefi-
cial effects of Yoga practices, Qi-gong, and modern Gestalt therapy on
psychological growth (Eros). In an age when our minds and our senses
are over-stimulated and our emotions over-aroused, meditation may be
positively used as an antidote to mental over-drive. Paradoxically deep
mindfulness, when competently practiced, may lead to peaceful
mindlessness,
81
a state of no thought.
82
Such techniques are particu-
79
The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology describes transpersonal psychology as
the study of humanity`s highest potential, and with the recognition, understanding,
and realization of unitive, spiritual, and transcendent states of consciousness.
80
Transpersonale Psychologie und Psychotherapie, Ed. Dietmar Klotz. Eschborn bei
Frankfurt/M. 2005.
81
In this respect, meditative therapy is the opposite of the talking cure typically used
in Freudian and other therapies.
82
DelMonte`s view of the relationship between thought and consciousness strikes me
as being potentially anti-Darwinist (4): Although consciousness without thought
I NTRODUCTI ON 49
larly effective in cases of unhealthy attachments, be they attachment to
victimhood and self-righteous misery, obsessive attachment to people or
objects, or fear of loss as linked to separation anxiety. These attach-
ments lead to defensive detachment which DelMonte calls schizoid
defense; in extreme versions this defense is found in the affective non-
attachment of borderline personalities, defensive isolation, extreme ego-
tism, or solipsism.
However, DelMonte also warns us of the risks of using medita-
tive techniques inappropriately; their use may become detrimental to
social engagement and emotional attachment, foster narcissistic empti-
ness, pathological de-realization and de-personalization as well as
pathological regressionfixated on Thanatos, i.e, the wish to return to
an undemanding pre-incarnate state. Meditation is not suitable for eve-
rybody nor is everyone ready for it.
The challenge for all self-conscious and reflective beings is
how to build up an internal sense of self while being and living in an
impermanent world. We all have a quest for knowledge as well as two
typical orientations: introversion and extroversion, which need to be in
equilibrium. Successful meditation helps one find the right balance be-
tween, on one hand, introspection and self awareness and on the other,
social adaptation. Not surprisingly, introspection tends to become more
important as we age.
A final point is what DelMonte calls the obsessive Western
focus on individualism that leads to a strong individual identity being
forged at the risk of this over-valued mask or false self being taken
too seriously. The traditional Eastern society, says DelMonte, does not
overly focus on individualism
83
and may facilitate attempts to dis-
is a possibility, its opposite, thought without some consciousness is not (excluding
the Freudian repressed unconscious). Consciousness thus appears to be primary, and
from it emerges thought as a secondary epi-phenomenon: An epi-phenomenon that
can become parasitic, in the sense that consciousness can play the role of a reluc-
tant host to our unbidden thinking.
83
DelMonte touches here on a set of problems that are especially associated with the
work of Louis Dumont (see especially his Homo Hierarchicus. Le systme des castes
et ses implications. Repr. Paris 1979). However, Dumont`s inspiring work also met
with strong criticism. The issues involved are too complex and multifaceted to be
dealt with here, but to risk a generalization about Indian civilization (for I have no
overall competence in Eastern civilization), I would say that the tensions and in-
ner conflict between Homo Hierarchicus and Homo Equalis are present also
within Indian society.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
50 ELI FRANCO
identify from over-invested individualism. It is interesting that the aim
of yoga as a psychotherapy is not to become atomized emotional is-
lands, although this is precisely the purpose of traditional yoga (see for
instance Maas` paper in this volume): Liberation consists in the aware-
ness that one is an isolated island, albeit not an emotional one.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The above papers fall into two broad categories, those dealing with his-
torical-philological aspects of yogic perception and meditation, and
others broadly falling into the social sciences of anthropology and psy-
chology. The need for an interdisciplinary approach between textual and
sociological disciplines is so obvious that it hardly needs to be men-
tioned. But at the risk of stating the obvious: The benefits of an interdis-
ciplinary approach as practiced here should go in at least two directions.
On one hand, after taking a walk in the modern social sciences, the tex-
tual scholars should be able to go back to their sources and gain a better
understanding of them. The social scientists, on the other hand, who
study meditative experiences as a cultural phenomenon, would certainly
benefit from the historical depth that can be gained from the study of
texts. As Richard Gombrich once saidI paraphrase from memory
Buddhism has been around for 2500 years: who in his right mind would
want to restrict one`s study of it to the last century? The same is true of
course for Hinduism and the European civilization.
To conclude, I should mention perhaps what was under-
represented at the conference and is completely lacking in the present
volume: the natural sciences. This reflects the approach and interests of
the organizers. Collingwood once chastised someone who thought the
mind is what proves recalcitrant to an explanation by the natural sci-
ences: In the natural sciences, mind is not that which is left over when
explaining has broken down; it is what does the explaining. If an expla-
nation of mind is what you want, you have come to the wrong shop; you
ought to have gone to the sciences of the mind.
84
Our intention is not to question the relationship between the
mind and the brain, or their possible ontological identity. At present,
however, we do not yet seem to gain much when quantum physicists
84
R.G. Collingwood, The New Leviathan. Oxford 1942 (Repr. 1944), p. 11, 2.48.
I NTRODUCTI ON 51
tell us that consciousness is related to the collapse of a wave function
which is used to describe the probability of distribution of all possible
states of an observed system. Nor do we wish to dwell on the concept of
relativity in Madhyamaka Buddhism as a precursor of modern physics
or on the resonance of emptiness and quantum mechanics. We also con-
sider of little relevance to our studies whether gamma or alpha rays
increase or decrease in deep meditation. It may be fascinating to ob-
serve the physical changes that occur in meditation, which include
metabolic, autonomic, endocrine, neurological, encephalographic and
digestive effects, galvanic skin responses, hormone levels in blood, as
well as limbic arousal in the brain. We deny neither the merit nor inter-
est nor importance of these studies, but have deemed them of peripheral
relevance to the studies undertaken in this volume.
Part I
Yogic Perception in the South Asian
and Tibetan Traditions
LA W R E N C E MC CR E A
Just Like Us, Just Like Now: The Tactical
Implications of the Mms Rejection of Yogic
Perception
The practitioners of traditional Indian hermeneutics, or Mms, are
often described as the most orthodox upholders of the Vedic tradition,
but even a cursory survey of the central works of the Mms tradition
is sufficient to reveal that their positions were often quite radical,
placing them at odds with most or all rival philosophical systems, even
those within the Hindu fold. They were by and large skeptical about,
or outright deniers of, many of the stock elements of Hindu
cosmologyfor example, the existence of gods, the cyclical dissolution
and reemergence of the cosmos, the possibility of liberation from the
cycle of death and rebirth. Similarly, the Mms position on yogic
perception is decidedly at odds with what we might describe as
mainstream opinion among Sanskrit philosophers. In opposition to
virtually all other schools of thought in pre-modern India, the
Mmsakas totally reject the possibility of yogic or supernatural
perception. The only other group of philosophers who made this
absolute denial were the materialist Crvkas (with whom the
Mmsakas otherwise have very little in common). In this paper I
want to briefly consider some of the principal arguments the
Mmsakas raised against yogic perception, in the hope of shedding
some light on what made this skeptical stance so appealing to them or,
perhaps more to the point, what made the admission of supernormal
perception, even on the part of upholders of the Vedic tradition, seem so
threatening to them. I will focus primarily on the arguments of the
seventh century Mmsaka Kumrilabhaa, as he proved to be the
most articulate and influential critic of yogic perception.
In interpreting Kumrilas arguments against yogic perception
and attempting to understand their motivation, it is crucial to attend to
the context in which they are made. Kumrilas most important
discussions of yogic perception are found in the Codanstra and
56 LAWRENCE MCCREA
Pratyakapariccheda sections of his lokavrttika.
1
The central question
of the lokavrttika, and of the section of the Mmsstra on which it
comments, is to demonstrate that it is only from scripture, specifically
from the Vedas, that people can gain knowledge of dharma and
adharmathat is to say, of the beneficial or adverse karmic results that
will follow from present actions, including but not limited to
otherworldly results such as the obtainment of heaven or spiritual
liberation. The primary purpose of raising the question of yogic
perception in both of the passages mentioned above is to rule it out as a
rival means of knowing dharma, leaving scripture as the only possible
means of acquiring such knowledge.
Now, the Mmsakas are not of course alone in wishing to
ground their beliefs about the nature of the soul or the afterlife in
purportedly reliable scriptural texts. Most of the rival philosophical/-
religious traditions they confronted accepted one or another set of
scriptures as a reliable guide to otherworldly matters. What sets the
Mmsakas apart from nearly all of their rivals is their understanding
of how it is that scriptures can contain reliable information on such
matters. Rival accounts of scriptural validityboth those of extra-Vedic
rivals such as the Buddhists and Jains, and of those who upheld the
validity of the Vedas, such as the Naiyyikastake the reliability of
their scriptures to derive from the knowledgeability of their authors.
Intuitively enough, they take the position that scriptures should be
understood to be reliable insofar as it can be determined that those who
composed them knew whereof they spoke. The remembered and
recorded words of seers such as the Buddha and the Jina are seen as
valuable insofar as they give us access to truths which they could
perceive, but we cannot. It is, above all, against such claims of personal
authority in matters of dharma that the Mmsakas direct their fire. It
is therefore not primarily the existence of yogic perception, but its
usefulness as a means for validating scriptural claims, that they wish to
deny. They do offer arguments against the very possibility that any
person could have the sort of extraordinary perceptual powers claimed
for the Buddha and the like; but, crucially, they argue further that even
if this were possibleeven if certain individuals really did have the
power to perceive dharma, for instancethis would be of no help to
1
For a brief overview of Kumrilas position, see Bhatt 1962, pp. 160-163.
JUST LI KE US, JUST LI KE NOW 57
ordinary peopleto people like ourselves who are not yogisin
gaining knowledge of dharma for themselves.
This concern to demonstrate the epistemic uselessness of yogic
perception can be clearly seen in Kumrilas seminal discussion in the
Codanstra section of the lokavrttika. The codanstra itself (the
second of the aphorisms of Jaimini, which form the basis of the
Mms system) indicates that the commands of the Veda (codan),
which the Mmsakas take to be eternal and authorless, are the only
means through which one can come to know dharma.
2
In the course of
defending this claim, Kumrilas predecessor abara remarks that the
statements of human beings cannot be considered reliable when they
concern matters beyond the range of the senses (anindriyaviayam),
for such things, as he says, could not be known by a person, except
through a verbal statement.
3
Yet if this verbal statement is made by
another person, this only pushes back the epistemological problem one
more step: how could the speaker of this statement have any knowledge
of supersensory matters to impart? In matters of this sort, says abara,
human statements have no authority, just like the statements of
congenitally blind people regarding particular colors.
4
abaras brief
comments, without offering any detailed arguments to this effect,
presuppose a general uniformity of sensory capacities among people:
what is beyond the range of the senses for one person will be so for
another (barring sensory impairments such as blindness). Yet this is
precisely what the advocate of yogic perception denies. The yogi is
presumed to have sensory capacities that exceed those of ordinary
persons, such that his statements would have the capacity to impart to
those ordinary persons information about supernatural matters which
they could not acquire for themselves.
Obviously, if claims for this sort of extraordinary perception are
allowed to stand, abaras argument, and the central Mms claim it
upholds, will collapse. Hence Kumrila, in commenting on and
defending this passage of abaras work, seeks to rule out the possibili-
ty that the statements of yogis could serve as a reliable source of
2
See Mmsstra 1.1.2 (MD, Vol. 1, p. 13): codanlakao rtho dharma.
3
barabhya ad 1.1.2 (MD, Vol. 1, p. 17): aakya hi tat puruea jtum rte
vacant.
4
MD Vol.1, p. 18: naivajtyakev artheu puruavacana prmyam upaiti, jty-
andhnm iva vacana rpavieeu.
58 LAWRENCE MCCREA
knowledge for ordinary, non-yogically-endowed people such as us. Due
to this focus on the statements of yogis and their putative validity, the
issue he confronts is not so much an ontological questionDo yogis
actually exist?but an epistemological oneHow, if at all, could one
reliably determine whether the statements of any self-proclaimed yogi
are reliable or not? The upholders of yogic perception, and of the
authorial model of scriptural authority, need to argue that their yogis,
and specifically the authors of their scriptures, have direct and
privileged access to certain truthsabout the nature of the universe, the
soul or its absence, our fate after death, and so onthat are totally
beyond the range of what ordinary people can know by their own
devices. The value of scriptures lies precisely in their capacity to
transmit to us the knowledge of those who can perceive what we
cannot. But, one of the key strategies of Kumrilas argument in the
Codanstra is to show thateven if we were to admit the existence of
yogisthe privileged access to truth that is claimed for them, far from
making their words a valuable source of knowledge for ordinary
persons, actually renders them entirely useless to us. He attempts to
show that the perceptually privileged status ascribed to yogis would
create an unbridgeable epistemic divide between us and them, such that
their own knowledge, however accurate it might be, would necessarily
remain inaccessible to us. I will examine his arguments in more detail
below, but briefly his position is that it takes one to know onethat
there is simply no way one can satisfactorily evaluate the knowledge-
claims of purported seers or yogis, unless one can confirm
independently that they really do know truly what they claim to. Yet
one cannot do this unless one has the same extraordinary perceptual
capacities that they do. Hence, the statements of those who claim
extraordinary perceptual powers can be held valid only insofar as they
are redundantwe can only know them to be true when they tell us
what we are able to find out for ourselves. So, even if it could be
established that such extraordinary perceptual powers exist in some
individuals, their epistemic value for ordinary people would be nil. One
could never tell the difference between a genuine yogi and a fraud
without being a yogi oneself.
Kumrilas argument against the epistemic usefulness of yogic-
perception claims is grounded in a pervasive skepticism regarding the
reliability of human beings and their utterances, summed up in his
bracingly cynical dictum that:
JUST LI KE US, JUST LI KE NOW 59
At all times, people are, for the most part, liars.
Just as there can be no confidence in them now, in the same way there is no
confidence in statements of things past.
5
We knowfrom abundant experience, alasthat people nowadays are
often less than entirely truthful in what they say. And just as people are
nowadays frequently seen to make unreliable statements, we may
reasonably suppose that people in the past were similarly undependable.
We have, then, strong prima facie reasons to doubt the veracity of
human statements past or present. In ordinary situations, this presents
only a minor practical problem; if one doubts the accuracy of statements
people make about everyday matters, it is easy enough to to confirm or
disconfirm them through direct observation. Yet, in the case of
statements made by the Buddha, the Jina, or others who claim to
possess extraordinary perceptual powers (and, in fact, claim to be
literally omniscient), we are asked to place our trust in claims we are
absolutely incapable of verifying for ourselves. We are asked,
moreover, to accept that those who made these claims gained their own
knowledge through a kind of perception wholly unlike any perception
we have ever experienced ourselves, or witnessed in others.
Here Kumrila resorts to one of his most characteristic moves:
what we might call an inference from the ordinary. He argues that, in
the absence of strong counterevidence, we may legitimately infer that
the perceptual capacities of other personspast, present and future
are basically similar to our own. Since people, in our own experience,
have no ability to perceivefor exampleobjects existing in the past
or future, we can legitimately extrapolate from this experience and
conclude that people in the past were similarly limited in their
perceptual capacities.
6
As he says:
People can apprehend objects of a certain sort by certain means of knowledge
now. It was the same even in other times.
Even where a heightened ability [in some sense faculty] is seen, it occurs
without overstepping the natural object [of that sense faculty], as, for example,
5
V, Codan 144: sarvad cpi puru pryenrtavdina | yathdyatve na vis-
rambhas tathttrthakrtane ||
6
For an argument that awareness of past or future objects must be excluded, by defi-
nition, from the scope of perception, see V, Pratyaka 26-36, and (for a translation
and explanation of the passage) Taber 2005, pp. 54-57.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
60 LAWRENCE MCCREA
when someone sees objects which are far away or very small. But ones
hearing cannot apprehend color.
And one never sees, even in the smallest degree, a capacity to perceive a
future object ...
7
In our own experience, we observe that there are variations in peoples
perceptual capacities. Some people are better than others at seeing
distant or minute objects, and, extrapolating from this experiential base,
we could plausibly enough imagine people who can see farther or
smaller objects than any we have known. But we could not plausibly
imagine people who could see sounds or smells; it seems to be
inextricably part of the nature of seeing that what we see are colors
and shapes, nothing else. As Kumrila sees it, supposing, in
contradiction our own present-day experience, that people such as the
Buddha could see the future involves a similar category error. To
suppose that anyone could perceive future objects would fly in the face
of our own experience in the same way as supposing that one could hear
colors.
This sort of argumentthat, in general, things or people in the
past may legitimately inferred to be like nowadays (adyavat, idnm
iva) or like people nowadays (adyatanavat), and that people outside
the range of our own experience may be inferred to be like persons
such as ourselves (asmaddivat)is pervasive in Kumrilas work,
and underlies many of the key arguments of the lokavrttika (not only
arguments against supernormal perception, but arguments in support of
the eternality of Sanskrit, and of the Vedas, and against the occurrence
of cosmic dissolution).
8
It may seem a rather cheap argumentnot
much more than a reflexively conservative attitudebut it does appear
to generate formally valid inferences, and is not without a certain basic
plausibility. If we do not base our understanding of the nature of
7
V, Codan 113-115: yajjtyai pramais tu yajjtyrthadaranam | bhaved
idn lokasya tath klntare py abht || yatrpy atiayo dr a sa svrthnati-
laghant | draskmdidau syn na rpe rotravrttit || bhaviyati na dr a ca
pratyakasya mang api | smrthya... || Similar statements from Kumrilas (lost)
Brk are quoted in Ratnakrtis Sarvajasiddhi (RN, p. 8) and ntirakitas
Tattvasagraha (TS, vss. 3160-3163, 3170-3171).
8
See for example V, Codan 99, 117, 144, 151; V.Pratyaka.35; V, Nirlambana-
vda.85, 127; V, Sabandhkepaparihra 67, 77, 97, 113, 116; V, tma-
vda.137; Tantravrttika ad 1.3.1 (MD, Vol. 2, pp. 71, 75).
JUST LI KE US, JUST LI KE NOW 61
perception on our own experience of it, then what, after all, are we to
base it on?
The key question then is this: since neither we ourselves nor
anyone in our own experience possesses the kind of perceptual
capacities claimed for persons like the Buddha, what sort of evidence
might there be that would lead us to lay aside the evidence of
experience and accept these claims at face value? Ex hypothesi, we have
no perceptual evidence that would support such claims. On the other
hand, if one were to rely upon scripture itself to support the knowledge
claims, problems of regress would arise. To conclude that a purported
seer possesses extraordinary knowledge because he himself claims to do
so in a text he himself has authored is plainly circular. But if one relies
on a claim made in a text composed by another author, one simply
presses the problem back one level: How can one know that this second
author himself possesses the relevant knowledge to support his claim?
9
It might seem that the most promising avenue to pursue in
attempting to validate omniscience claims in the eyes of non-omniscient
persons would be inference. If we see that a person such as the Buddha
invariably speaks accurately about matters that are confirmable through
perception or other ordinary means of knowledge, may we not infer that
his statements about supersensory matters are similarly accurate? To
this Kumrila responds as follows:
If, having seen that [an author] makes true statements in matters where a
connection between the object and the sense organ is [possible] (i.e. in matters
accessible to ordinary perception), one were to conclude that he also makes
true statements about matters that must be taken on faith, because they are his
statements [121]; then one will have demonstrated that the authority [of his
9
See V, Codan 117-118. Somewhat different problems would arise if one at-
tempted to support the knowledge claims of a human scripture-author with claims
made in a purportedly eternal scripture such as the Veda: an eternal text could not
contain information about a historically limited author (as it would have to have ex-
isted before he did). Eternal texts, the Mmsakas argue, cannot refer to particular
historical persons or events. Those passages in eternal texts which appear to refer to
such persons and events must be understood as figuratively praising or otherwise re-
ferring to elements of the (eternally recurrent) Vedic sacrificewhat the
Mmsakas call arthavda. Hence, any apparent reference in a purportedly eternal
text to the omniscience of a particular scripture-author would either have to be an
arthavda passage (and accordingly be interpreted figuratively), or, as a historical
reference, would show that the text is not in fact eternalsee V, Codan 119-120.
62 LAWRENCE MCCREA
statements] is dependent [on perceptual confirmation]. If they are authoritative
in and of themselves, then what dependence would there be on sense-organs
and the like? [122] Just as, in this case, the authority [of his statements] is due
to being determined by sense-organs and the like, it would be the same even in
matters which must be taken on faith. [Their] authority is not established
independently. [123]
10
The inference does not establish what it is intended to establish. If the
only testably valid knowledge claims an author makes are those
concerning matters accessible to ordinary means of knowledge such as
sense perception, then this can establish the authority of the author's
claims only in so far as they depend on these ordinary means of
knowledge. It can in no way establish that this pattern of accuracy
extends to supersensory matters as well.
Kumrila does not himself offer any example of the sort of
testable knowledge claims which might be advanced as evidence for the
accuracy of their speakers, but his commentators all mention the
Buddhist doctrine of momentariness in this connection.
11
If the
Buddhas claim that all things are momentary could be shown to be true
on grounds other than his own assertion, would this not confirm his
reliability? But Kumrilas argument is well-suited to get around this
sort of example. If the momentariness of all things really were
demonstrable on grounds other than the Buddhas assertion, then it
would in fact be a truth accessible through ordinary means of
knowledge, and hence could not serve as evidence for his accuracy in
matters beyond the scope of these ordinary means of knowledge. The
same would be true of any claim of a purported yogi which could be
verified through ordinary means of knowledge.
In addition, Kumrila challenges the inferential argument for
yogic reliability with the following counterinference:
Furthermore, when [human statements] concern objects beyond the range of
the senses, they are false, because they are human statements. [In this
10
V, Codan 121-123 (=V(U), pp. 75-76, V(S), Vol. 1, p. 127): yo pndriyrtha-
sabandhaviaye satyavditm | drv tadvacanatvena raddheyrthe pi kalpayet ||
tenpi pratantryea sdhit syt pramat | prmya cet svaya tasya
kpeknyendriydiu || yathaivtrendriydibhya paricchedt pramat | rad-
dheye pi tathaiva syn na svtantryea labhyate ||
11
See Umbeka, Sucaritamira, and Prthasrathi ad V, Codan 121, V(S), Vol. 1, p.
127, and V, p. 83.
JUST LI KE US, JUST LI KE NOW 63
inference] each of the extra-Vedic schools will serve as an example (lit.:
similar case, sapaka) for the others.
12
Because there are multiple and conflicting claims about what exactly
yogic perception reveals about the ultimate nature of thingsthe Jainas
saying one thing, and the Buddhists another, for instanceeach of these
schools must argue that the others are wrong, and that their claims of
supersensory knowledge are false. But this allows the Mmsaka to
use each case as an example in constructing an inference to counter the
other. The Buddhists must admit that the Jainas claim accuracy for their
scriptures based on the demonstrable accuracy of the Jinas testable
truth claims, and yet are wrong. And the Jainas must admit the same
regarding the Buddhists. Thus each can be used to demonstrate to the
other the insufficiency of the inference from accuracy about ordinary
matters to accuracy about supersensory ones.
This line of argument suggests another basic problem with
accepting the claims of yogic perception. The non-yogi attempting to
judge for himself whether yogic claims should be taken seriously or not
is confronted, not with one persons claim to accuracy in supersensory
matters, but with a whole host of mutually conflicting claimsfrom
Buddhists, Jainas, Skhyas, and others. Even if one were to admit
yogic perception as a general possibility, how, lacking any means for
judging among this welter of conflicting claims, could one hope to
determine which claims one should believe? Once the door has been
opened to claims of extraordinary perception, a free-for-all ensues. It
seems that almost anyone can make any claim based on such privileged
perceptual knowledge with more or less equal plausibility. Yet, because
any number of these conflicting and untestable knowledge-claims can
be (and are) made, no one such claim can convince. Kumrila touches
briefly on this issue in the Nirlambanavda section of the lokavrttika
(88-94). The (Buddhist-Idealist) opponent claims that all our
awarenesses exist without any extra-mental object, like dream-
awarenesses. Kumrila, challenging the parallel between waking and
12
V, Codan 126:
api claukikrthatve sati puvkyahetukam |
mithytva vedabhyn syd anyonya sapakat ||
The printed edition of V reads vedavkyn, as does V(S), but its clear from
his comments (V(S), Vol. 1, p. 129) that Sucaritamira read -bhyn; V(U)
prints the text correctly as vedabhyn (p. 76).
64 LAWRENCE MCCREA
dream awareness, notes that in the case of dreams we conclude that our
awareness lacked an extramental object only after we wake up. Our
experience of waking serves as a blocking awareness (bdhik buddhi)
which invalidates the dream. But in the case of our waking awareness,
there is no such blocking awareness, and therefore no reason to
conclude that the objects that appear to us in waking life are unreal. The
Buddhist counters that the awareness of yogis does indeed reveal the
unreality of everyday objects, and therefore stands in contradiction to
our waking awareness. But, Kumrila retorts, [the awareness] of our
yogis [yogin csmadynm] stands in contradiction to what you
have said.
13
Kumrilas reference to our yogis seems rather tongue in
cheek. Since the Mmsakas themselves absolutely deny yogic
perception, the us in question must demarcate some broader
affiliation of stikas or followers of the Vedas (what we would now
call Hindus). The point, of course, is not to claim that our yogis are
better and more trustworthy than those of the Buddhists, but to show
that anyone can play the yogi-card in any debate, and that such claims
are consequently useless in settling philosophical disputes.
Along the same lines, and still more facetiously, Kumrila
mocks the opponents inference for the reliability of yogic perception
(in the Codanstra section) as follows:
[I say:] The Buddha and other such people are not omniscient. This
statement of mine is true, because it is my statement, just as [when I say],
Fire is hot and bright.
And one can perceive that I have made this statement; you have to prove that
[those statements] were made by the that person [i.e. the Buddha or whoever].
Therefore, mine is a sound inferential reason; yours is open to the suspicion
that is not established [in the desired locus].
14
If the ability to make true statements about ordinary things is all that is
required to speak with authority on supersensory matters, then anyone
can claim such authorityeven Kumrila himself. Again, the real point
is not to reveal the untenability of the Buddhist claim in particular, or
even the general impossibility of yogic perception, but to expose the
indeterminacy and consequent irresolvability of arguments based on
13
V, Nirlambana 94cd (=V(S) 2.60): yogin csmadyn tvaduktapratiyogin ||
14
V, Codan 130-131: buddhdnm asrvajyam iti satya vaco mama | madukta-
tvd yathaivgnir uo bhsvara ity api || pratyaka ca maduktatva tvay sdhy
taduktat | tena hetur madya syt sadigdhsiddhat tava ||
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
JUST LI KE US, JUST LI KE NOW 65
claims of privileged perception. Since there is simply no way to test
such claims, or to sort out good ones from bad ones, there is nothing to
prevent anyone from claiming the authority of yogic perception for any
conclusion he wishes to advance.
All claims to privileged or supernormal perceptual knowledge
are suspect precisely because of their privileged status. Statements
based on such knowledge, if they are to be at all useful, must be
transmitted at some point from persons who have this privileged
perceptual knowledge to those who do not. Yet the recipients of this
knowledge, because they have no access to the perceptual awareness
from which it is derived, are in no position to evaluate its accuracy.
Thus the revelatory moment, when the yogi or the omniscient person
imparts his knowledge to those who lack his perceptual ability, is
doomed to fail epistemically. To quote Kumrila again: How could
people at that time who wish to know whether that person is omniscient
understand this, if they have no awareness of his knowledge and its
objects?
And you would need to postulate many omniscient personsanyone who is
not himself omniscient cannot know an omniscient person.
And, if a person does not know him to be omniscient, then his statements
would have no authority for that person, since he would not know their source,
just as with the statements of any other person.
15
Even actual omniscience is not sufficient to make ones statements
trustworthy from the perspective of ordinary people. Ones omniscience
could underwrite the authority of ones statements only if it were known
to ones hearers that one is omniscient. But they cannot truly know this
unless they already know what you knowunless they too are
omniscient. It takes one to know one. Hence, even the utterances of a
genuinely omniscient person would be, for epistemic purposes,
absolutely worthless. One could be confident of their accuracy only if
one already had independent knowledge of the information they convey.
To adopt any less rigorous standard than this in judging the
validity of a persons statements regarding supersensory matters is to
leave oneself no defense against charlatans or delusional people
15
V, Codan 135-136: kalpany ca sarvaj bhaveyur bahavas tava | ya eva syd
asarvaja sa sarvaja na budhyate || sarvajo navabuddha ca yenaiva syn na
ta prati | tadvkyn pramatva mljne nyavkyavat ||
66 LAWRENCE MCCREA
claiming knowledge they do not possess, and opens one up to a
multitude of irresolvable and contradictory claims, as discussed above.
Kumrilas hermeneutic of suspicion is absolute and uncompromising.
Even God himself (were such a being to exist) could not be seen as a
reliable informant in supersensory matters. In the Sambandhkepapari-
hra section of the lokavrttika, Kumrila, having already set forth
arguments against the existence of a creator God, goes on to show that,
even if He did exist, no one could ever trust His claim that he created
the world. As he says:
He could not be known by anybody, at any time.
Even if he were perceived with his own form, the fact of his being the Creator
would not be known. How could even the first beings in creation know this?
They would not know how they were born here, or what the prior state of the
world was, or that Prajpati is the creator.
Nor could they have certain knowledge of this due to His own statement; for,
even if he hadnt created the world, He might say it, in order to promulgate
His own lordship.
16
So no person, human or even divine, could be taken as a reliable
informant on matters beyond the scope of ordinary means of
knowledge. You cant be too careful.
Yet, despite their thoroughgoing suspicion regarding the
reliability of any persons utterances, the Mmsakas are not skeptics.
They believe in a soul, they believe in an afterlife, and they believe it is
possible for us to acquire reliable knowledge about such things. But
how, in the light of the preceding arguments, can they believe anything
of the kind? Famously (or infamously) they do so by pushing aside the
issue of personal authority altogether, by arguing that their own
scriptures are not they product of any authors at allhuman or divine,
yogically perceptive or otherwisebut are instead eternal and uncreated
texts, passed down orally from teacher to student in a beginningless and
unbroken chain of transmission. As we have seen from Kumrilas
arguments above, it is the moment of revelation, when the knowing
author transmits his knowledge verbally to his perceptually limited
16
V, Sambandhkepaparihra 57cd-60: na ca kaicid asau jtu kadcid api
akyate || svarpeopalabdhe pi srartva nvagamyate | sr ydy prino ye ca
budhyantm ki nu te tad || kuto vayam ihotpann iti tvan na jnate | prgava-
sth ca jagata srartva ca prajpate || na ca tadvacanenai pratipatti
sunicit | asr vpi hy asau bryd tmaivaryaprakant ||
JUST LI KE US, JUST LI KE NOW 67
hearers, that lies at the heart of the epistemic problem he finds with
authored scriptures. But in the case of the Veda, at least for the
Mmsakas, there is no moment of revelation. The text, and the
knowledge it contains, are always already the property of many. And
one need postulate no extraordinary perceptual or cognitive abilities on
the part of the receivers and transmitters of the tradition in order to
account for its epistemic effectiveness. As Kumrila explains:
Because it exists in many people, and because it is learned and remembered
within a single lifetime, there is nothing to impair independent authority in the
case of the Veda. And, if there were any alteration [of the Vedic text], it would
be prevented by many people. Whereas if [the text] were revealed to one
person, it would be no different from one created [by that person].
So, in this tradition, no one person is required.
Many people can be dependent [on it]; for they are all men, just like
nowadays.
17
Knowledge of the Veda is thus always embedded in a community.
There is no time, and has never been any time, when its hearers were
faced with the dilemma that confronted the Buddhas first audience:
Faced with a person who claims to see the ultimate nature of reality,
how is one to judge his trustworthiness, or the accuracy of his
knowledge? Is one simply to accept his claims on faith? In the case of
the Veda, there is not, and never has been any one person in whom one
needs to place this kind of trust.
The key features of Kumrila's argument are thrown into relief
if we compare them with his discussion of the authority of smrti texts in
his other major work, the Tantravrttika (TV), commenting on MS
1.3.1-2. These texts are held to be the work of human authors (such as
the Mnavadharmastra, held to be the work of the human sage
Manu), but are nevertheless held to be authoritative in matters of
dharma, since they are thought to contain a restatement of matter
derived from lost or otherwise inaccessible Vedic texts (which are
therefore said to be remembered [smrta], rather than heard [ruta]).
The hypothetical opponent (prvapakin) who presents the case against
the Mms position here employs arguments strikingly similar to
17
V, Codan 149-151: anekapuruasthatvd ekatraiva ca janmani | grahaasmara-
d vede na svtantrya vihanyate || anyathkarae csya bahubhi syn nivraam
| ekasya pratibhna tu kr takn na viiyate || ata ca sapradye ca naika purua
iyate | bahava paratantr syu sarve hy adyatvavan nar ||
68 LAWRENCE MCCREA
those deployed by Kumrila himself in rejecting the authority of
scriptures composed by self-proclaimed omniscient persons such as
the Buddha or the Jina. We see the same invidious comparison with
deceptive present day persons (Even nowadays some people are seen
to declaim things with no scriptural basis by passing them off as
scripture
18
), and the same problem of indeterminacy (And, as in a
legal proceeding in which the witness is dead, if one may postulate a
lost Vedic recension as the basis [for claims made in smrti texts], one
can take as authoritative anything that one pleases
19
), leading to the
same difficulty that even the scriptural claims of rival traditions could
be validated on the same basis (If [smrti texts] are supposed to be
based on lost Vedic recensions, then, by this means, it would follow that
all smrtiseven those of Buddhists and the likewould be valid.
20
).
The key distinction, for Kumrila, between the Mms defense of
authored texts and that given by rival traditions such as Buddhism is
that the Mmsakas claim for smrti-authors such as Manu no special
insight or sensory power beyond those observed in ordinary people
nowadayspeople just like us.
21
As Manu's text is universally held to
be valid among those who uphold the Vedic tradition, one may
reasonably infer that the claims he makes are themselves grounded in
that tradition, even if the specific Vedic texts which serve as the source
of these claims are not presently accessible to us. There is nothing
contrary to our experience in supposing that Manu learned the truths
imparted in his work in the ordinary manner, by memorizing a Vedic
text taught to him by an ordinary human teacher.
22
The process by
18
dryante hy angamikn apy arthn gamikatvdhyropea kecid adyatve 'py
abhidadhn (MD, Vol. 2, p. 71).
19
mrtaskikavyavahravac ca pralnakhmlatvakalpany yasmai yad rocate sa
tat pramkuryt (MD, Vol. 2, p. 71).
20
yadi tu pralnakhmlat kalpyeta tata sarvs buddhdismrtnm api
taddvra prmya prasajyate (MD, Vol. 2, p. 74).
21
Kumrila specifically rejects the suggestion that Manu had any capacity contrary to
those of the general class of all persons nowadays (idntanasarvapuruajti-
vipartasmarthya) which would allow him to directly experience the truths con-
tained in his work; this has been rejected, he says, in the discussion of omni-
science (etat sarvajavde nirkr tam)seemingly referring back to his own dis-
cussion in the Codanstra section of his lokavrttika (MD, Vol. 2, p. 75).
22
As the scriptures of extra-Vedic traditions such as Buddhism and Jainism contradict,
and indeed directly attack, the Vedas, and explicitly seek to ground their authority
JUST LI KE US, JUST LI KE NOW 69
which these Vedic texts may have been lost is likewise a part of our
everyday experience: For even nowadays one sees that texts are lost,
while their meanings are remembered.
23
Even when ascribing authority
to texts of human authorship, the Mmsakas retain the basic
principles of the textual epistemology developed above: that no faith
can or should be put in statements which depend on claims of
supernormal perception or insight, and that knowledge of otherworldly
matters, in order to be reliable, must always already belong to a
(beginningless) community of knowersordinary persons like
ourselvesand can never be made to depend on such claims of
epistemic privilege.
The Mmsakas attempt to ground the reliability of Vedic
scriptures on their eternality, and on the absence of any person who
either composed or revealed them, whatever one may make of its
intrinsic philosophical merits, is a brilliant tactical move in the
Mms polemic against the their principle rivals, the Buddhists and
the Jainas. Because both traditions look back to historical founders,
neither can claim, or would want to claim, authority for their scriptures
on the only basis Kumrilas argument allows for. It is an inescapable
feature of both traditions that their emergence into our world (at least in
the present time) is due to the teachings of their founders, and that the
trustworthiness of their central claims rests on the personal authority of
these founders own words. By calling the whole notion of personal
authority into question, the Mmsaka is able to avoid the
interminable and rather sterile Our sages are better than your sages
sort of arguments that those (such as the Naiyyikas) who defend the
reliability of the Vedas by claiming omniscience for their authors, seem
always to be drawn into. They capitalize on the one feature that plainly
sets the Vedic tradition apart from that of the Buddhists or the Jainas
its immemoriality.
ABBREVIATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bhatt 1962 Govardhan P. Bhatt, The Epistemology of the Bha School of
Prva Mms. Chowkhamba Sanskrit Studies XVII, Varanasi
on the supernormal perceptual capacities of their founders, they cannot be plausibly
supposed to derive in this way from lost Vedic texts.
23
dryate hy adyatve 'py arthasmaraa garnthana ca (MD, Vol. 2, p. 77).
1962.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
70 LAWRENCE MCCREA
MD Mmsdarana, ed. Vsudeva str Abhyakar and Gaea-
str Jo, nandrama Sanskrit Series 97 [7 vols.], 2nd ed.,
Poona 1970-1977.
RN Ratnakrti, Ratnakrtinibandhvali, ed. Anant Lal Thakur, Tibetan
Sanskrit Works Series 3, Patna 1957.
V Kumrilabhaa, Mmslokavrttika, ed. Rma str Taila-
ga, Chowkhamb Sanskrit Series 11, Benares 1898.
V(S) The Mmslokavrttika with the Commentary Kik of Su-
caritamira, ed. K. Smbaiva str, Trivandrum Sanskrit Series
Nos. 23, 29, and 31, Trivandrum 1927-1943.
V(U) Umbeka, lokavrttikattparyak [2nd. ed.], ed. S.K. Rama-
natha Sastri, revised by K. Kunjunni Raja and R. Thangaswamy,
University of Madras, Madras 1971.
Taber 2005 John Taber, A Hindu Critique of Buddhist Epistemology, Rout-
ledge Curzon, London/New York 2005.
TS ntarakita, Tattvasagraha, ed. Embar Krishnamacharya,
Gaekwads Oriental Series 31 [2 vols.], Baroda 1926.
J O H N TA B E R
Yoga and our Epistemic Predicament
In this paper I would like to consider the question, Is yogic ex-
perience possible? It may seem odd, even inappropriate, that such a
question would be asked at a conference on yogic perception, medita-
tion, and altered states of consciousness. Surely, one would think, one
ought to be able to assume the existence of the topic of the conference! I
raise this question, however, in order to draw attention to the somewhat
awkward methodological predicament in which the participants of this
conference must find themselves. I suspect that most of us set ourselves
apart from our colleagues in our respective disciplines and a wide
range of fields are represented here by our interest in yoga, yogic per-
ception, and altered states of consciousness. I know that philosophers, at
least, tend to steer clear of these topics, which they lump together with
paranormal phenomena, just as they avoid the topic of mysticism. The
reason is that the status of these states of consciousness, in the modern
world, is very much in doubt. By that I mean whether what people who
have such experiences report experiencing when they have them, really
occurs: whether a yogin or yogin really sees past lives (where some-
one`s seeing a certain state of affairs implies the existence of that
state of affairs in same the way in which it visually appears to that per-
son); whether he or she really sees events that will take place in the fu-
ture, or really sees everything at once; and even whether he or she ever
really sinks into a completely thoughtless state, a state of pure con-
sciousness (i.e., samdhi or nirodhasampatti). In short, are these
states of consciousness more than mere hallucinations? If not, why
should they merit our attention?
Many, I believe, would respond that, regardless whether they
are hallucinations or not, they merit our attention because the belief in
them has played an important role in various societies and cultures. The
belief in the supernormal cognition, even omniscience of the Buddha,
for instance, played a central role in Buddhist apologetics in India in the
first millennium C.E., as the basis for maintaining the authority of the
Buddhist scriptures against the skepticism of outsiders. Altered states of
72 JOHN TABER
consciousness, whether they are authentic encounters with a transcen-
dent reality, a spirit world, or just hallucinatory experiences, are as-
signed a value and serve a variety of social functions in many other
societies. Perhaps in our research we can focus on these aspects of these
phenomena, which can be observed empirically or documented textu-
ally, and suspend judgement about their nature as experiences, i.e.,
whether they belong to the category of veracious cognitions or to some-
thing else?
This, however, will not do. Surely it is of the utmost signifi-
cance if a particular society or culture attributes value to, and invests
considerable cultural energy and resources in, something that is, at ba-
sis, an illusion just as it would be if a particular person were to build
his life around a belief that is patently false, say, a belief in the exis-
tence of some imaginary being. We would immediately suspect that
some pathology is at work, distorting that society`s collective percep-
tion of reality; and that would be a notable characteristic of that society,
which a complete social-scientific or historical account of it could not
very well leave out. Indeed, this is precisely what Freud suggested is the
case for European society a certain collective pathology supports our
belief in a Supreme Being and sustains all the practices of religion
which accompany it, which of course from a purely sociological or an-
thropological perspective serve many useful social and cultural func-
tions.
1
Therefore, I raise at the outset of this conference the question
that no one really wants to answer, and that is whether it is possible for
us to accept reports of yogic experience and altered states of conscious-
ness at face value, as veracious supernormal cognitive acts, e.g., actual
perceptions of things which normally lie beyond the range of our sense
faculties (states of affairs in the past or the future, for instance), or, in
the case of samdhi in particular, as the removal of all objects altogether
from consciousness, without the extinguishing of consciousness itself.
2
What conditions, specifically, would have to be met in order for us to
take such claims seriously? I shall approach the question by examining
a debate that actually took place in classical Indian philosophy, between
certain highly orthodox representatives of the Brahmanical tradition on
1
See Freud 1961.
2
Even in India in classical times doubts were raised about the possibility of samdhi.
See, e.g., Nyyastra and Bhya 4.2.38-40 (NBh 1090, 5 1092, 3).
YOGA AND OUR EPI STEMI C PREDI CAMENT 73
the one hand, and defenders of the so-called heterodox traditions of
Buddhism and Jainism on the other, about the possibility of yogic per-
ception.
3
In this way we will not only become aware that we are not the
first to consider this problem; we will also get a sense of how one
school of thinkers, at least, went about solving it by presuming to be
able to prove that yogic perception is possible! An examination of their
proposed solution to this problem, I believe, will at least indicate, by its
strengths and weaknesses, the basic elements that any affirmative an-
swer to the question of whether yogic experience is possible should
possess.
Other scholars at this conference will also be referencing this
debate, but my purpose will be rather different. They, for the most part,
will be concerned with assessing it as historians, to determine the mean-
ing and importance of the doctrine of yogic perception in classical In-
dian thought. I, on the other hand, shall be assessing it as a philosopher,
to determine who wins. For since we ourselves are interested, or should
be interested, in the question of whether yogic experience is possible, it
is of particular interest to us to see whether a particular school of phi-
losophers who thought they could prove that it is possible actually suc-
ceeded in doing so.
In order to orient ourselves toward the problem of yogic percep-
tion in Indian philosophy I shall rely on Eli Franco`s important study,
Dharmakrti on Compassion and Rebirth.
4
One of Franco`s most sig-
nificant achievements in that book was to work out a convincing ac-
count of the proof strategy of the first chapter of Dharmakrti`s
Pramavrttika, a much discussed problem in Dharmakrti scholar-
ship. Dharmakrti, who probably lived in the first half of the seventh
century, was, together with his predecessor Dignga (early to mid-sixth
century), co-founder of the important logico-epistemological school of
Buddhist philosophy. One of the principal concerns of that school was
to place the authority of the Buddhist scriptures on a firm footing,
which in Dignga`s and Dharmakrti`s period was being increasingly
effectively challenged by Brahmanical thinkers. Franco shows that
Dharmakrti attempts to do this by actually employing a strategy origi-
nally devised, perhaps, by one of the Brahmanical schools of philoso-
3
A remarkably similar debate took place in fourth-century China between Confucians
and Taoists about the existence of the Taoist immortal (hsien). See Ware 1967.
4
See Franco 1997.
74 JOHN TABER
phy, the Nyya, in establishing the validity of their own scripture, the
Veda.
5
Nyya philosophers believed the Veda to be true because it is a
valid form of testimony (abda), that is to say, it has an author or au-
thors who are pta, reliable witnesses.
6
This was in marked contrast
to the approach of another leading Brahmanical philosophical school of
the classical period, the Mms, which held that the Veda should be
considered true precisely because it is eternal and authorless the
Mmsakas denied that the Veda was composed by human beings, or
even by God for error in a statement or text can only derive from an
author. According to the Nyyabhya, the earliest commentary on the
Nyyastra to have come down to us, someone is an pta if he or she
possesses the qualities of having (1) direct knowledge of things, (2)
compassion toward living beings, and (3) a desire to teach things as
they are. Thus, one is able to determine that someone is an pta, in gen-
eral, by confirming his or her statements in regard to things one is able
to verify for oneself. One is able to determine that the seers and teach-
ers of the Veda are pta, in particular, by verifying the truth of the
prescriptions of the yur and Atharva Vedas, which contain medical
remedies and magical formulas for curing diseases and averting other
evils. One assumes that all portions of the Veda have the same seers and
teachers. By confirming the truth of certain parts of the Veda one can be
confident that the seers and teachers of the Veda are trustworthy in gen-
eral, i.e., have the qualities required of those who are pta, therefore,
that all parts of the Veda are true.
Dharmakrti appears to follow this strategy, Franco argues, by
attempting to demonstrate in the Pramasiddhi chapter of his magnum
opus, the Pramavrttika, the validity of the Four Noble Truths, the
central part of the Buddha`s teaching! Having confirmed for ourselves,
through reasoning (with Dharmakrti`s help), this, the most important
and profound doctrine expounded by the Buddha, we may be confident
that the Buddha is an pta (for Dharmakrti the term ptavacana is
equivalent for gama, scripture), that he possesses all the qualities ex-
pressed by the epithets of the famous dedicatory verse of Dignga`s
Pramasamuccaya, which Franco convincingly shows parallel the
5
Franco 1997, chap. 1, pp. 28 ff.
6
The Nyyabhya refers to the seers and teachers (drara prayoktra ca) of
the Veda (NBh 568, 3-5), who were probably considered its composers. By the time
of Vcaspatimira the Veda is believed to have a single, divine author.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
YOGA AND OUR EPI STEMI C PREDI CAMENT 75
qualities of an pta as presented in the Nyyabhya. Thus, one may be
confident that all the Buddha`s teachings are true, including in particu-
lar his statements about the results of good and bad actions, which im-
ply recommendations about how one should live what should be done
and not done. In other words, we may be confident that the way of life
the Buddha prescribed for his disciples his Dharma, which deviates
in significant respects from the Dharma of the Brahmins as well as the
way of life of the Jainas will indeed lead to salvation, liberation from
the cycle of rebirth, if not also well-being and prosperity on earth and in
heaven.
Criticisms of the Buddhist attempt to demonstrate the authority
of the Buddha by other schools, in particular, the Mms, indicate
that they understood the Buddhist argument along these same lines. The
Mms philosopher Kumrila (also first half of the 7
th
c. C.E.) points
out that expertise in one area does not necessarily transfer to another;
just because someone is smart in grammar doesn`t means he knows
astronomy; and certainly, the fact that one knows a lot about the sorts of
things we can know through perception and reasoning hardly implies
that he is able to know anything about transcendent matters.
7
Besides, if
we have to verify the Four Noble Truths in order to be confident of
them, it makes sense for us to verify other statements of the Buddha.
Why, indeed, accept anyone`s word about anything?
8
But the debate
quickly came to focus on one particular implication of the claim that the
Buddha had knowledge of Dharma, and that is that he was possessed of
some kind of supernormal cognitive ability. Dharma pertains to the
good and bad results of actions. One ought to do X because doing X
will yield a good result pleasure or happiness; one ought to avoid Y
7
See TS, 3163-66, which cites Kumrila`s lost work the Bhak.
8
I am rather freely paraphrasing some of Kumrila`s points. See V, Codan 121 ff.;
for a more detailed account of Kumrila`s position see the contribution by Lawrence
McCrea in this volume. It should be kept in mind that in the first chapter of the
Pramavrttika Dharmakrti indicates that the reliability of someone`s statements
in regard to things we are able to confirm does not strictly establish the truth of his
statements regarding other, supersensible things; for there is always the possibility
of a deviation (PVSV 167,23-168,3). Dignga stated that the notion of the reliabil-
ity of the statements of an pta is an inference only because there is no other
way of being guided in acting in regard to supersensible matters, according to
Dharmakrti (PV 1.216; PVSV 108, 1-6; 109, 19-22). Strictly speaking, Dharmakrti
says, scripture is not a prama (PVSV 168, 2-3)!
76 JOHN TABER
because doing Y will yield a bad result pain or suffering. But one is
able to know such things only insofar as one is able to see that a certain
action committed in the past yielded a certain result and a certain action
committed in the present will yield a certain result. Knowledge of
Dharma entails the ability to perceive states of affairs in the past and the
future, which ability is beyond the scope of ordinary human beings or
so, at least, the Mmsaka insists. Or else, Dharma is simply that
which ought to be done and avoided. But that, too, most Indian phi-
losophers believed, is something ordinary mortals are unable to know
independently of scripture.
9
The truth of the Buddha`s recommendations
about how one should live, about what should and should not be done,
believed to have originated from him and not some other scriptural
source, are thus called into question. In short, his statements about such
matters cannot be trusted, because he had no way of knowing them.
Thus the debate about the possibility of supernormal cognition,
synonymous in most texts with yogic perception, yogipratyaka, begins
in earnest across a broad range of texts in Indian philosophy. I do not
intend to survey the history of this debate here. Rather, I will be con-
cerned with what came to be the main Buddhist argument for the possi-
bility of the Buddha`s omniscience, including especially his ability to
know the results of good and bad actions, which presupposes the power
to see the past and the future.
10
I shall ask, what are we, in this day and
age, to make of this argument? Is it at all persuasive? Does it really es-
tablish that the perception of the past and the future, of things far away,
very small (atoms), or concealed (beneath the earth), is possible? I shall
consider this argument in its mature form, as presented by Ratnakrti in
his Sarvajasiddhi, Proof of an Omniscient Person. This text, which
represents the culmination of a long development, was translated into
German by Gudrun Bhnemann in her doctoral dissertation, written
9
See Taber 2005: 51-56.
10
The Buddhist argument under consideration here is actually presented as proving
only that the Buddha knew all things relevant to salvation, that is, as Dharmakrti
puts it, the reality of what is to be accepted and rejected and the means [thereto]
(PV 2.34), not absolutely every thing in every way. See SS 1, 9-19. Dharmakrti
suggests that proving omniscience in the latter sense would be otiose, though some
Buddhists clearly accepted it (see Jaini 1974); and it is not clear that the argument
for the omniscience of the Buddha just in regard to all things relevant to Dharma
doesn`t actually imply total omniscience.
YOGA AND OUR EPI STEMI C PREDI CAMENT 77
under the supervision of Prof. Ernst Steinkellner and published in
1980.
11
Before I turn to Ratnakrti`s argument, however, I would like to
draw attention to certain considerations that have shaped the attitude
toward the supernatural among philosophers in our culture and therefore
define the context in which we think about it today. The category of
supernatural or supernormal phenomena with which Western philoso-
phers have traditionally been concerned has been, not yogic experience,
of course, nor even extrasensory perception, but miracles, especially
biblical miracles, which have been frequently cited by Christians as
proof of the divinity of Jesus and of the authenticity of the Bible. The
classic statement on this matter is that of David Hume in his An Inquiry
Concerning Human Understanding. It has provoked an extensive litera-
ture, which continues to grow to this day.
12
Hume`s concern was whether there can ever be a valid reason to
believe that a miracle has occurred. He assumes that few of us ever wit-
ness miracles ourselves, therefore the question becomes whether the
testimony of others can ever suffice to establish the occurrence of a
miracle. Now trust in testimony, Hume observes, is founded on experi-
ence. Normally, we notice, the statements of people conform to the
facts. Humans generally have decent memories, an inclination to tell the
truth, and a sense of probity accompanied by a sense of shame when
detected in a falsehood.
13
Thus, we are inclined to believe what they
say. Yet, Hume says, a wise man proportions his belief to the evi-
dence,
14
and we should take all the evidence into account. What speaks
in favor of the credibility of testimony must be balanced against what
speaks against it. We become suspicious of testimony, for example,
when witnesses contradict each other; when they are few, or of doubtful
character; when they have an interest in what they affirm, and so on. In
particular, we become suspicious of testimony when it reports some-
thing highly unusual. The improbability of the event testified to can
indeed neutralize the authority of the person or persons testifying to it.
Here Hume cites the Roman saying, I would not believe such a story
11
See Bhnemann 1980.
12
For a recent bibliography see Levine 1996. One of the most important recent contri-
butions is Coady 1992.
13
Hume 1955: 119.
14
Ibid., p. 118.
78 JOHN TABER
were it told to me by Cato.
15
Transposing this into Indian terms, the
ptatva of a witness, based on considerations about the witness`s char-
acter, his compassion and so forth, and even a solid track-record of cor-
rect statements in the past, is not sufficient by itself to guarantee the
truth of what he says. It must still be weighed against the improbability
of the fact to which he testifies.
From this Hume concludes that no testimony can ever be suffi-
cient to establish a miracle, which by definition is a violation of the
laws of nature, hence contrary to all experience. Or else,
no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony can be of
such a kind that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it
endeavors to establish; and even in that case there is a mutual destruction of ar-
guments, so that the superior gives us an assurance suitable to that degree of
force which remains ... When anyone tells me that he saw a dead man restored to
life, I immediately consider with myself whether it be more probable that this
person should either deceive or be deceived, or that the fact, which he relates,
should really have happened. I weigh the one miracle against the other; and ac-
cording to the superiority which I discover, I pronounce my decision, and always
reject the greater miracle. If the falsehood of his testimony would be more mi-
raculous than the event which he relates; then, and not till then, can he pretend to
command my belief or opinion.
16
One might think that while this analysis of testimony might pose a
problem for Christians, it doesn`t for Buddhists, since the Buddha was
not given to reporting miracles. But he did make statements about the
consequences of actions, which have implications about right and
wrong, about how one should conduct one`s life. For Indians in classi-
cal times, as discussed above, that suggests that he had an ability to
know things that ordinary mortals are unable to know, specifically, the
past and the future. Such an ability is prima facie miraculous by Hume`s
definition: it is contrary to common experience. Therefore, the Bud-
dha`s statements, despite his authority established on the basis of our
alleged confirmation of the most important and profound part of his
teachings, the Four Noble Truths, are called into question by the miracle
or miracles that would have had to occur in order for them to be expres-
sions of a valid state of knowledge on his part.
15
Ibid., p. 121.
16
Ibid., pp. 123-4.
YOGA AND OUR EPI STEMI C PREDI CAMENT 79
One can see from Hume`s discussion that the key to affirming
the Buddha`s authority is to show how yogic experience is possible, and
that would seem to entail showing how it is not a violation of the laws of
nature, i.e., not really a miracle at all. In other words, one must suggest
a plausible natural mechanism that can explain it. That is precisely what
Ratnakrti tries to do in his Sarvajasiddhi.
Ratnakrti`s central argument unfortunately I do not have
space to treat his views comprehensively goes roughly like this. If one
thinks long enough and intensely enough about something, then the
object of one`s reflection will eventually present itself in propria per-
sona: one will have a vivid, intuitive experience of the object as if it
were actually present. A lovesick man, obsessed with a beautiful
maiden, for example, and constantly thinking of her, will eventually
experience a vivid apparition of her, as if she were bodily present. Now
the Buddha reflected on the Four Noble Truths uninterruptedly over a
long period of time; we may expect that this reflection eventually cul-
minated in a vivid intuitive experience of the Four Noble Truths. Since
the Four Noble Truths are universal in scope they state that everything
is dukha, the cause of all dukha is desire, and so forth his intuition
of those truths encompassed everything in the past, present, and future.
And so, when the Four Noble Truths became vividly evident to him, the
properties of all things past, present, and future became evident to him
as well.
I have of course taken liberties in paraphrasing the argument. Rat-
nakrti`s own formulation is closer to the following.
Any property or quality of the mind (cetogua) which is accompanied by atten-
tive, continuous, and sustained practice (abhysa) is capable of becoming vivid
(sphubhvayogya), like the mental representation (kra) of a maiden of a
lovesick man. The mental representations of the Four Noble Truths of the Bud-
dha are like that they are mental qualities that were cultivated by attentive,
continuous, and sustained practice. Hence they were capable of becoming vivid
(SS 1, 20-25).
Ratnakrti is aware of course that this does not directly prove the omnis-
cience of the Buddha but just the possibility of a mental state achieving,
through continuous repetition, a kind of intuitive quality (SS 4, 24 ff.).
Vividness is the hallmark of perception for Ratnakrti, as we shall see;
hence, for any vivid, intuitive awareness there is a presumption in favor
of its truth. It is only by further implication that the person who has
achieved a vivid intuition of the Four Noble Truths through this kind of
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
80 JOHN TABER
practice can have a vivid intuition of all things in the past, present, and
future, which comprise the subject of the propositions which are the
Four Noble Truths (except perhaps the fourth) (SS 10, 18-21).
17
It is
sufficient to establish merely this possibility, says Ratnakrti, in order to
refute those who deny there could be any cause of omniscience (i.e., the
Mmsakas and Crvkas [materialist philosophers]) (SS 5, 12-13). In
fact, if one maintained that a vivid intuition will arise from the constant
repetition of a particular mental state, then one would be inferring an
effect from its cause, which is illegitimate (SS 5, 4-5). That specifically
the Buddha had such a (veracious) intuition is then indicated by the
correctness of his teachings of the momentariness and selflessness of all
entities, which are established by other pramas but which other sages
alleged to be omniscient reject (SS 6, 10-21) that is to say, in effect,
by his ptatva, his compassion and wisdom as established by our own
confirmation of the truth of his main teachings. It would be impossible
to prove directly that a particular person such as the Buddha is omnis-
cient, because there is no class of omniscient persons with which to
compare him and in which he would be included if he possessed a cer-
tain characteristic mark.
Thus, the crux of Ratnakrti`s proof is the attempt to establish
the possibility of bringing a cognition to complete vividness, in effect
raising it to the status of a perception, through constant and intense
repetition.
The first thing that strikes the modern reader about the proof is
the example, which is supposed to ground the generalization that mental
states that are practiced attentively, constantly, and over a long period
of time indeed yield vivid intuitions. What is Ratnakrti talking about
when he says that the lovesick man, obsessed with the maiden, eventu-
ally sees her (as if) before his very eyes? This is not the sort of thing
that is often reported in our culture. Nor, for that matter, does it seem to
17
This, however, is from the Buddhist prvapaka of Vcaspatimira`s Nyyakaik
which Ratnakrti quotes (see below) and the point is made in regard to knowledge
of the selflessnessness of all entities, not the Four Noble Truths. Ratnakrti does not
make the point explicitly himself. Cf., however, TS 3440-42. McClintock 2000 of-
fers an analysis of how ntarakita and Kamalala thought a cognition of all things
could follow from the cognition of one general object, such as emptiness or selfless-
ness. It should be noted, however, that the notion of omniscience as the ability to
know all objects at once is rejected in the Pali Canon. See Jaini 1974, 80-82.
YOGA AND OUR EPI STEMI C PREDI CAMENT 81
have been a staple of Indian literature. Kuntidev in the Mahbhrata is
able to call into her presence the various gods, but she was given a man-
tra to do that. Visualization practices are known throughout Tantric and
sectarian Hindu literature, and of course bhvan has a lengthy history
in Buddhism prior to Ratnakrti, but those are precisely the sorts of
techniques the efficacy of which is in question here. To cite them as
examples for establishing the connection of the logical reason of this
inference with the property-to-be-proved would be an obvious petitio
principii. I shall return to this point presently. Vcaspatimira, however,
the Brahmanical writer, in his discussion of this argument in his
Nyyakaik, has the Buddhist maintaining that this is something we
can actually observe, if only indirectly. We know from the speech and
gestures of a lovesick man that he finds himself in the presence of the
woman he is obsessed with, for he says, Come, you enchanting crea-
ture with the jug-like breasts, eyes of a deer, and slender, golden body
embrace me like the vine of the Kandal plant. I fall down at your
feet!
18
But if this is what Ratnakrti is talking about, his example, at the
same time that it establishes the possibility of a very vivid intuitive
cognition arising from constant and sustained reflection, also suggests
its falsehood. The lovesick man may indeed be seeing a beautiful
woman, but if we can`t see her, too, then she is not real!
Vcaspati raises essentially this objection in his discussion of an
earlier version of the Buddhist argument in his Nyyakaik, which
Ratnakrti quotes at length in the Sarvajasiddhi and attempts to refute
(SS 10, 15 11, 25).
19
(Vcaspati, by the way, is a somewhat puzzling
figure in that he wrote, besides the Nyyakaik, in which he attacks the
very possibility of yogic perception, also a commentary on the
Yogastrabhya, in which he takes all kinds of yogic experience very
seriously.) We will grant, Vcaspati says, that someone might produce a
vivid intuitive cognition of an object through constant reflection or con-
templation (bhvan) on it, but that cognition will not be a prama, a
valid means of knowledge; for, neither identical with nor arising from
that object, it can deviate from it, that is, it can turn out that the object is
quite different from how it is represented in the cognition. The Bud-
18
Adapted from Vidhiviveka, 1218,10-1220,3. Dharmakrti also suggests that the
fact that a person is experiencing the object as if it is bodily present can be inferred
from his behavior; see the contribution by Vincent Eltschinger in this volume.
19
In the Nyyakaik the discussion extends from 1214,8-1224,9.
82 JOHN TABER
dha`s vivid intuitive cognition of all entities as dukha and so forth, as a
result of his meditation on the Four Noble Truths, which are proposi-
tional in nature and which he arrived at presumably through some proc-
ess of reasoning, did not actually arise from all the entities in the uni-
verse, the ultimately real particulars themselves, but from his thought
about them. The Four Noble Truths refer to everything only in a gen-
eral way; they do not specifically mention that entity A is dukha, entity
B is dukha, and so forth. If one were to maintain that the Buddha`s
intuitive cognition of all entities nevertheless arose indirectly from all
ultimately real particulars (svalakaas), in the same way that an infer-
ential cognition of fire from the observation of smoke arises indirectly
from the svalakaa of fire that produces the svalakaa of smoke that
one observes, and in the same way that a vivid intuitive cognition of fire
resulting from continuous and sustained contemplation on that inferred
fire might be said to arise indirectly from the particular fire and thus be
caused by its object if one were to take this view, one must still ac-
knowledge that the intuitive cognition of fire resulting from the medita-
tion on the fire we inferred to exist from the heavy smoke rising from,
say, the top of the ridge, is usually quite different from the searing blaze
we are confronted with when we finally get to the top of the ridge! In
general, says Vcaspati, the intuitive cognition resulting from bhvan
is produced not by its object but by the bhvan as if to say, it is a
state of subjective effervescence or intensity engendered just by the
mental activity of contemplation. It can have an unreal object just as
easily as a real one, as we see indeed in the case of the lovesick man. If
we were ever to encounter such a person in our day we would tend to
dismiss him, saying something like, He`s really worked himself into a
state!
20
20
Dharmakrti tries to escape this problem by stipulating that yogic perception must be
reliable, savdin (PV 3.286) or else consistent with a prama (prama-
savdin), if one reads the verse according to Franco`s recommendation (see
Franco forthcoming). He recognizes that some of the meditational exercises that
form part of the preliminary path for the Buddhist adept achieve vivid, non-
conceptual cognitions of unreal (abhta), imagined objects, such as a corpse in vari-
ous stages of decay (PV 3.284). For a yogic cognition to count as an instance of the
prama perception its object must be established by other pramas, in particular,
reasoning. Thus, the chief, if not indeed the sole, object of (valid) yogic perception
for Dharmakrti is the Four Noble Truths, which he establishes by means of reason-
ing in the second chapter of his Pramavrttika. See, again, the contribution by
YOGA AND OUR EPI STEMI C PREDI CAMENT 83
Ratnakrti`s response to this, which I take to be the main criti-
cism of his argument as I have reconstructed it, is not unsophisticated;
in the end, however, it does not seem completely satisfactory. He
stresses at the outset, partially in reply to objections raised by other au-
thors, that the essence of perception does not consist in its being pro-
duced by an external sense faculty, but in its involving the immediate
presentation of its object (sktkra) (SS 16, 32-33). The vivid intui-
tive cognition of all things produced by bhvan on the Four Noble
Truths is a mental cognition that immediately reveals its object and
therefore qualifies as a perception. Just as the visual sense, without
violating its [normal] capacity, functions to produce its specific [visual]
cognition dependent on an object located in an appropriate place, so the
mind, which is also a sense faculty, joined with bhvan on an existing
object, which opposes all ignorance, and reaching (prpya!) an object
located in an appropriate place, will function to produce its specific
cognition (svavijnajanana) (SS 17, 2-4). Just as visual perception is
possible without coming directly in contact with its object, so is mental
cognition of objects in the past and the future possible but not for
everyone! The key here is the practice of a kind of bhvan that de-
stroys the defilements that normally restrict the capacity of perception
to objects proximate in time and space, in particular, bhvan on the
Four Noble Truths or on the momentariness and selflessness of all enti-
ties (SS 17, 4-14). Once one fully comprehends these things, ignorance
is destroyed, which uproots the other defilements (kleas). This kind of
bhvan, which reveals the object as it truly is even though the mind is
not in immediate contact with it in the same way, for the Buddhist, the
senses of vision and hearing apprehend their objects without being di-
rectly in contact with them must be said to arise from the object itself,
and not just from the bhvan, and so it is a prama.
Vcaspati`s example of an intuitive cognition produced from
contemplation on an inferred fire, which is seen not always to corre-
spond to its object, is therefore a sheer fantasy and cannot be taken as
challenging the generalization the Buddhist really wants to establish,
namely, that bhvan on an object yields a veracious intuitive cogni-
Vincent Eltschinger in this volume. The unfortunate consequence of this kind of ap-
proach, as we shall see, is that it leaves no other example of yogic perception to
point to in proving the possibility of the Buddha`s perception of the Four Noble
Truths.
84 JOHN TABER
tion. No one would practice bhvan on a fire (SS 19, 21-25)!
21
And it
would seem that the main point Ratnakrti is emphasizing, that the kind
of bhvan he is talking about is the kind that destroys ignorance, de-
sire, and other defilements, thereby releasing perception from its usual
constraints (of proximity to its object in time and space, and so forth),
could be used to turn aside the objection Vcaspati (and I) raised earlier
against the example of the lovesick man, namely, that this is a case of
hallucination, not a valid cognition; for Ratnakrti could say that in this
case, too, we are not dealing with the right kind of bhvan, the kind
that really destroys the defilements and has the power immediately to
present its object as it really is. In fact, if there ever were a case of the
wrong kind of bhvan, the type that would reinforce avidy and the
other defilements, not remove them, surely this is it!
Now, however, Ratnakrti the Buddhist is faced with a new
and equally serious problem, which in the end seems fatal to me. He
has, in effect, in responding to Vacaspati's objections, revised his infer-
ence so that it might be stated as follows:
The proper kind of bhvan focused on the right kind of object will yield a vera-
cious, intuitive experience of that object. The Buddha`s contemplation of the
Four Noble Truths was precisely that the proper kind of bhvan focused on
the right kind of object. Therefore, the Buddha achieved a veracious, intuitive
experience of the Four Noble Truths.
His problem now is that he is still in need of an example for his infer-
ence, one that will support the generalization that the right kind of bh-
van on the right kind of object will lead to a veracious, intuitive ex-
perience of the object. He needs an example, moreover, that is drawn
from everyday experience; for the positive example of an inference must
be siddha, not taken from the class of things to be proved but already
accepted by both opponent and proponent. Obviously, Ratnakrti can-
not, in grounding the generalization on which his inference is based,
appeal to the alleged fact that yogis have veracious, intuitive experi-
ences as a result of the destruction of defilements by means of bhvan
all the time! No such example from everyday experience, however, ap-
pears to be forthcoming. This is hardly surprising; for it is of the es-
sence of ordinary perception that it is restricted to objects that exist here
21
Someone who is cold will simply move toward a fire he has inferred, not contem-
plate it.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
YOGA AND OUR EPI STEMI C PREDI CAMENT 85
and now, are of a certain magnitude, and directly affect the sense facul-
ties. It`s beginning to look as if you can`t get there from here, you
can`t base an argument for the possibility of supernomal perception on
observations about everyday experience. Everyday experience speaks
against the possibility of supernormal experience at every turn.
Ratnakrti is also faced with a problem concerning the vyatireka
of his inference. The logical reason or hetu of an inference has to satisfy
not only the requirement of anvaya, being found together with the prop-
erty-to-be-proved, which is documented by the positive example, but
also the requirement of vyatireka, not being found to occur in the ab-
sence of the property-to-be-proved, which is documented by a negative
example. Is it the case, however, that no mental state that is practiced
assiduously over a long period of time ever fails to yield a veracious,
vivid intuitive cognition? Well, we certainly hear plenty of reports from
disappointed meditators practicing all kinds of techniques, including
visualization techniques, to the effect that the promised result never
comes about: the object of meditation does not materialize even after
sustained and arduous practice. The only question is how long and hard
does one have to keep practicing without results before one deems that
the generalization that such practice will eventually yield a vivid, vera-
cious intuition is disconfirmed? In short, the relation between logical
reason and property-to-be-proved in this inference seems rather tenu-
ous.
I think we can begin to see from this very brief treatment of
Ratnakrti`s main argument that, when it comes to the attempt to prove
the possibility of supernormal, yogic experience by means of some kind
of inference, anumna, the skeptic the Humean or the Mmsaka
will always have the advantage. The Mmsakas understood this very
well. For every proof, sdhana, of the omniscience of the Buddha that
the Buddhist puts forward, they said, there will be a counterproof, a
pratisdhana. Whatever characteristics the Buddha might have that
speak in favor of his possession of supernormal abilities his long
meditation on momentariness and selflessness, which would seem to
destroy ignorance along with all the other kleas, his compassion and
accuracy concerning things we are able to verify for ourselves will be
offset by all his other ordinary human characteristics, which indicate he
really wasn`t any different from the rest of us. (As a modern skeptic
might put it: he had to put his pants on one leg at a time, just like us!)
The Mmsaka lists among these mundane characteristics: his being
86 JOHN TABER
an object of cognition, being an object of a valid means of knowledge,
being a living being, a human being, a speaker, and possessed of sense
faculties.
22
It seems, then, that the Buddhist cannot win at the anumna (in-
ference) game when it comes to debating about the existence of super-
normal powers or beings with supernormal abilities. He cannot prove
the possibility of supernormal perception by means of some inference.
Inference, by its very nature, appeals to experience. It is therefore diffi-
cult to see how it can ever reveal to us anything, even the possibility of
anything, beyond experience. This is what two of the greatest Indian
thinkers outside the epistemological tradition, Bharthari and akara,
pointed out. Reasoning cannot tell us about what lies beyond the senses,
only scripture can. But this is hardly a satisfactory solution to the prob-
lem of evidence for yoga and yogic experience that confronts the mod-
ern yoga researcher!
It would seem that the Buddhist failure to prove the possibility
of yogic perception has implications for the question of whether yogic
experience is possible in general. The Buddhist case suggests that any
attempt to prove that yogic experience is possible is bound to fail. For
any proof unless of course it is an a priori proof, which seems hardly
to come into question here must somehow extrapolate from common
experience; and our common experience of human cognition is that it is
opposite in nature to yogic experience: it is characterized by intentional-
ity (directedness toward objects)
23
and dependent on the stimulation of
the nervous system by internal and external stimuli. More specifically,
in order to show that yogic experience is possible, one must be able to
suggest a causal mechanism that could account for it. Any such mecha-
nism, however, would have to be consistent with our scientific under-
standing of nature, to which humans of course also belong which un-
derstanding must ultimately be based on common experience, including
observations we make about normal human perception and other cogni-
tive processes. Thus, it seems one could never prove yogic experience
to be possible. Indeed, the whole enterprise of attempting to devise
22
See SS p. 23, 11-14: sugato sarvaja jeyatvt prameyatvt sattvt puruatvd
vakttvd indriydimattvd itydi rathypuruavat; cf. V, Codan 132; TS, 3156.
23
Samdhi, on the other hand, is depicted as a state of pure consciousness, awareness
without an object.
YOGA AND OUR EPI STEMI C PREDI CAMENT 87
some kind of proof of the possibility of yogic experience seems funda-
mentally misguided.
At the same time, however, it becomes apparent that one cannot
prove that yogic experience is impossible, either. The fact that some-
thing violates the laws of nature i.e., the principles that underly our
scientific understanding of nature does not establish its impossibility,
as Hume seems to think, unless we are confident that those laws cap-
ture the way things really are.
24
We are sophisticated enough nowadays
we have obtained sufficient distance from the great discoveries that
revolutionized Hume`s world to know that that is unlikely. We know
that the foundations of our scientific picture of the world are periodi-
cally called into question and revised, and that we can, at any moment
in the history of science, only be confident that we are progressing
closer toward a correct, comprehensive understanding of nature, but
never that we have finally arrived there. Moreover, we have become
aware that science advances only by posing questions to which precise
and definite answers can be provided, which restricts its focus to a cer-
tain range of phenomena; we are painfully aware that, for all the amaz-
ing progress of the physical and social sciences, there is still much we
do not know. Under these circumstances, to consider compatibility with
the laws of nature as science currently understands them the criterion
of possibility would be rather arbitrary.
Nevertheless, this offers little if any succor to those who would
like to believe in yogic experiences. That something is not impossible of
course implies that it is possible, but mere theoretic possibility is hardly
the same as plausibility. The fact that something is incompatible with
our scientific understanding of nature makes it, if not impossible, then
certainly extremely unlikely. Indeed, that may have been all that Hume
meant when he referred to something as a miracle.
Let us now return to the situation of the yoga researcher and see
if these considerations somehow give us a new purchase on the problem
of whether yogic experience is possible. The yoga researcher is faced
24
See Hume 1955: 122: A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm
and unalterable experience has established those laws, the proof against a miracle,
from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can
possibly be imagined. This passage suggests that the laws of nature Hume has in
mind are ones to which we have epistemic access, hence the laws of nature as de-
fined by contemporary science.
88 JOHN TABER
with the following predicament: Over against the impossibility of
yogic experiences and altered states of consciousness stands the fact
that they are widely, even cross-culturally, reported. Committed to a
scientific view of the world, convinced that everything will eventually
yield itself to a scientific and that means a physical explanation, one
may be inclined to adopt the position that there simply are no valid
clairvoyant or clairaudient experiences no one ever really sees things
in the past or the future, let alone all things at once or genuine states
of objectless trance, and that reports of such experiences and the preoc-
cupation with them in certain cultures or traditions have to be under-
stood in terms of the role the idea of such experiences plays in them.
Yet I believe that a yoga researcher may also reasonably resist this con-
clusion, because it just presents us with another disturbing incongruity,
namely, that certain cultures and traditions should attach so much im-
portance to experiences that are essentially erroneous or hallucinatory.
Yet the latter researcher must also have a response to the
Humean challenge: Shouldn`t reports of yogic experiences simply be
dismissed on the grounds that they are violations of the so-called laws
of nature and therefore ipso facto undermine the credibility of anyone
who would report them? For, otherwise, on what basis could one ever
believe that such experiences actually occur? Here it must be noted,
however, that Hume`s attitude quite reminiscent, in fact, of the
Mms attitude that people and the world have always been, and
presumably will continue to be, more or less as they are today
25
when
taken to an extreme, becomes unreasonable and unscientific. If the
laws of nature, determined just by what we have experienced thus far,
rigidly dictated what counts as valid experience, we would never learn
anything really new. Columbus`s discovery of the New World would
never have been taken seriously the miracle of the fact would have
cancelled out the credibility of the witnesses nor any other major geo-
graphical, archaeological, and astronomical discovery of history. We
would have dismissed out of hand reports of magnetism produced by an
electric current, x-rays, black holes, static electricity, vacuums, cloud
chambers, and many, many other phenomena. In general, the Humean
principle that science immediately overrules reports of experiences in-
consistent with it is insensitive to the fact that science and experience
25
Cf. V, Codan 113; cf. also McCrea`s paper in this volume.
YOGA AND OUR EPI STEMI C PREDI CAMENT 89
exist in a kind of tension with each other. Our current scientific picture
of reality may tell us what is possible, but experience can call scien-
tific theory into question and sometimes even overrule it indeed, if it
couldn`t, science would not be empirical. Of course, that happens only
in certain circumstances, which modern history of science has helped us
to understand; in particular, it happens when the resources are available
to construct a new theory that not only accounts for the problematic
phenomenon but also has greater overall predictive power and fecundity
than the old one. Moreover, the kind of experience to which science is
attuned is, ideally, repeatable and intersubjectively verifiable, and yogic
experience is typically not like that. Nevertheless, in light of our mod-
ern understanding of the dynamic relationship between scientific theory
and empirical observation, Hume`s attitude that an established scientific
theory should automatically overrule reports of experiences of phenom-
ena that are inconsistent with it (because the miracle of the fact will
always be greater than the miracle that the testimony is false) seems
too strong and even dogmatic.
26
26
I have not attempted here to do justice to all of the subtleties of Hume`s position, let
alone consider all the interpretations, revisions, and refinements of it that have
emerged in two-and-a-half centuries of discussion of it. Suffice it here to point out
that while Hume may have thought that testimony about the occurrence of a miracle,
which by definition is a violation of the laws of nature, is a priori incredible, testi-
mony about other extraordinary events, which are analogous to other events
known from experience, may be acceptable under certain circumstances. He consid-
ers the case of all authors, in all languages agreeing that on January 1, 1600, the
entire earth was plunged into darkness for eight days. ... Suppose that the tradition
of this extraordinary event is still strong and lively among the people: that all travel-
ers, who return from foreign countries, bring us accounts of the same tradition,
without the least variation or contradiction: it is evident, that our present philoso-
phers, instead of doubting the fact, ought to receive it as certain, and ought search
for causes whence it might be derived (Hume 1955: 137-8). One could argue that
yogic experience is more like this; it is less of a prodigy than an outright miracle
think of Moses turning the Nile into blood (Exodus 7:14-24), for example and
bears certain analogies to common experience. (Another Buddhist author,
ntarakita, suggested, in attempting to prove the possibility of yogic perception,
that it is analogous to the ability of certain animals to see in the dark or see great
distances [see TS, 3404-6]. Moreover, he argued, directly contradicting the
Mmsaka, that just as one might increase one`s capacity to jump through constant
practice, so one can increase, proportionately to one`s practice, one`s mental powers
[TS, 3424-30]. For that matter, the argument for the possibility of yogic perception
from the observation that one may bring about a vivid, intuitive experience of an
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
90 JOHN TABER
In summary, unable to prove either that yogic experience is pos-
sible or that it is impossible, it would seem that one ought to suspend
judgement about the matter. But of course that leaves open the possibil-
ity that yogic experience is possible, and that means, by application of a
well-known rule of modal logic, that it is possible. But the mere theo-
retic possibility of yogic experience is too thin a basis for taking reports
of yogic experience seriously, i.e., at face value. Those historians and
social scientists who are inclined to do so require an additional, fairly
powerful reason. Such a reason, I believe, would be the conviction that
the societies and traditions they study are inherently healthy and ra-
tional. That they would attribute great value and importance to certain
experiences even to the point of considering them the most important
experiences one can have that misrepresent reality and are rarely, if
ever, confirmed, simply does not make sense. The urge simply to over-
rule reports of experiences that are incompatible with our current scien-
tific picture of reality, to which Hume has forcefully given expression,
can reasonably be resisted by noting that, in the end even taking into
account all the considerations brought to bear on this matter by propo-
nents of scientific holism our scientific picture of reality is built up
from and justified by experience, not vice versa. Until we are confident
that we have worked out a complete theory of nature, including human
nature, we must continue to collect data with open minds, and that
means, we must willing to consider it at face value. Nevertheless, as
long as yogic experience remains incompatible with the picture of na-
ture presented to us by the physical and biological sciences, it will con-
tinue to be deeply problematic. The only thing that could eventually
object by constant meditation can be seen as pursuing this same strategy; it renders
it less incongruous by showing it to be continuous with other known phenomena.) In
light of this, one might well argue that testimony about yogic experience should be
accepted because it actually meets Hume`s standard for acceptability, namely, its
falsehood would be more improbable than the phenomenon it reports; for, as I have
suggested, given the importance vested in yogic experience and altered states of
consciousness in so many cultures, the imaginary or illusory status of these experi-
ences would be would be highly problematic. That, however, is ultimately a com-
plex methodological question in the social sciences which also cannot be adequately
dealt with here. For a trenchant presentation of the dominant attitude toward reli-
gious experience within the academic discipline of religious studies in North Amer-
ica with which this paper is of course completely at odds one may consult
McCutcheon 2001.
YOGA AND OUR EPI STEMI C PREDI CAMENT 91
dispel the air of mystery around yoga and yogic experience would be a
(radically) revised theory of nature that can accommodate it which,
however, at this time is not on the horizon.
ABBREVATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bhnemann 1980 Gudrun Bhnemann, Der Allwissende Buddha. Ein Beweis und
seine Probleme. Ratnakrtis Sarvajasiddhi. Wiener Studien zur
Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 4. Wien 1980.
Coady 1992 C. A. J. Coady, Testimony: a Philosophical Study. Oxford 1992.
Franco 1997 Eli Franco, Dharmakrti on Compassion and Rebirth. Wiener
Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 38. Wien 1997.
Franco forthcoming Eli Franco, Perceptions of Yogis - Some Epistemological and
Metaphysical Considerations. Proceedings of the 4th Interna-
tional Dharmakrti Conference. Wien, forthcoming
Freud 1961 Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion. New York 1961.
Levine 1996 Michael Levine, Miracles. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philoso-
phy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/miracles 1996.
Hume 1955 David Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, ed.
Charles W. Hendel, Indianapolis 1955.
Jaini 1974 P. S. Jaini, On the Sarvajatva of Mahvra and the Buddha. In:
Buddhist Studies in Honor of I. B. Horner. Dordrecht 1974
McClintock 2000 Sara McClintock, Knowing All through Knowing One: Mystical
Communion or Logical Trick in the Tattvasagraha and
Tattvasagrahapajik. Journal of the International Association
of Buddhist Studies 23/2 2000.
McCutcheon 2001 Russell T. McCutcheon, Critics Not Caretakers: Redescribing the
Public Study of Religion. Albany 2001.
Nyyakaik Vcaspatimira, Nyyakaik. In: Vidhiviveka.
NBh Vtsyyana, Nyyabhya. In: Nyyadaranam with Vtsyyanas
Bhya, Uddyotakaras Vrttika, Vcaspati Miras Ttparyak
& Vivanthas Vtti, ed. Taranatha Nyayatarkatirtha and
Amarendramohan Tarkatirtha. Calcutta 1983
PV Dharmakrti, Pramavrttika of Acharya Dharmkirtti with the
Commentary Vrtti of Acharya Manorathanandin, ed. Swami
Dwarikadas Shastri, Bauddha Bharati Series 3. Varanasi 1968.
PVSV Dharmakrti, Pramavrttikasvavtti. In: The Pramavrttikam
of Dharmakrti: the First Chapter with the Autocommentary, ed.
Raniero Gnoli, Serie Orientale Roma 23. Rome 1960.
V Kumrilabhaa, lokavrttika. In: lokavrttika of r Kumrila
Bhaa, with the Commentary Nyyaratnkara of r Prthasra-
thimira, ed. Svm Dvrikadsa str, Prchyabhrati Series 10.
Varanasi 1978.
SS Ratnakrti, Sarvajasiddhi. In: Ratnakrtinibandhval, ed. Anan-
talal Thakur, Tibetan Sanskrit Works Series 3. Patna 1975.
92 JOHN TABER
Taber 2005 John Taber, A Hindu Critique of Buddhist Epistemology. London
2005.
TS ntarakita, Tattvasagraha. In: Tattvasagraha of crya
Shntarakita, with the Commentary Pajik of Shri Ka-
malashla, ed. Swami Dwarikadas Shastri, Bauddha Bharati Se-
ries 1-2. Varanasi 1981.
Vidhiviveka Maanamira, Vidhiviveka with Commentary Nyyakaik of
Vcaspatimira and Supercommentaries Juadhvakara and
Svaditakara of Paramevara: the Prvapaka, ed. Elliot M.
Stern, 4 vols., unpublished disser., University of Pennsylvania
(Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1989).
Ware 1967 James R. Ware (trans.), Alchemy, Medicine, and Religion in the
China of A.D. 320: The Nei pien of Ko Hung (Pao-pu tzu). Cam-
bridge, Mass. 1967.
EL I F R A N C O
Meditation and Metaphysics
On their Mutual Relationship in South Asian
Buddhism
1
It is well known that Buddhism developed and prescribed a large num-
ber of meditative exercises. It is equally well known that Buddhism
developed some highly original metaphysical doctrines, such as the
antman-doctrine, i.e., the doctrine that there is no soul and no sub-
stance, the doctrine of momentariness, i.e., the doctrine that all things,
even those that seem permanent such as stones and mountains, last for
only a moment, the doctrine of Emptiness of the Madhyamaka accord-
ing to which nothing really exists and all things are but an illusion, or
the idealism of the Yogcra which professes that the external world is
merely an image in our consciousness. However, it may be less well
known that all metaphysical doctrines of Buddhism have their corre-
spondence in meditative practice, and some of them may even have
arisen from such practice.
There are at least two main reasons for this state of affairs. First
the general tendency in Indian thought to presuppose a correspondence
theory of truth. In other words, if the objects visualized by the yogi dur-
ing meditation are to be considered true, they must have a correspon-
dence in reality. In this respect, the perception or awareness of yogis is
not different from any other perception. The second reason is that in the
majority of Buddhist traditions, Enlightenment, or liberating insight,
1
I would like to thank Lambert Schmithausen very warmly for personal and written
comments on a previous draft of this paper and I regret that he was unable to com-
ment on this final draft. I am also indebted to Karin Preisendanz who read several
versions of the paper and made highly perspicacious comments and suggestions at
all stages. Further thanks go to Nobuyoshi Yamabe who kindly shared his thoughts
with me about the nature of meditation and its relation to philosophical theories.
94 ELI FRANCO
consists in a right insight into the true nature of reality.
2
And this pro-
found insight into the absolute truth, it is generally assumed, cannot be
achieved only by way of rational thinking which is connected to con-
cepts and language, but has to be deepened in meditation. One should
not only learn and think about the teachings of the Buddha, but also
meditate upon them repeatedly. Thus, because Enlightenment is usually
an insight into the true nature of the world, the metaphysical teachings
were being taught as subjects of meditation, and their content was pos-
tulated as part of liberating insight. It goes without saying that this con-
tent differs from tradition to tradition. In a realistic tradition the liberat-
ing insight is an insight into the true nature of the final elements of exis-
tence (dharma); in an illusionistic tradition it consists in the insight that
precisely these elements are unreal.
3
It is undisputed that there are close relationships between medi-
tation and metaphysics in Buddhism. However, some scholars of Bud-
dhism go as far as to claim that all metaphysical doctrines in Buddhism
have arisen from meditative practice, and indeed this opinion seems to
be widely spread. I will mention here only three of its most influential
variants. Constantin Regamey claims that not only Buddhist philosophy,
but Indian philosophy in general is the rational interpretation of mysti-
cal experience (Regamey 1951: 251):
Notre philosophie est ne de la curiosit et du besoin de savoir, d`expliquer le
monde d`une faon cohrente. En Inde la philosophie est l`interprtation ration-
nelle de l`exprience mystique.
This is the most sweeping generalisation on the subject that I have come
across so far. According to Regamey one would have to assume that
every Indian philosophical theory, from the atomism and ontological
categories of the Vaieika to the logical developments of Navya
Nyya, is a rational interpretation of mystical experience. In a less
2
This in contradistinction to Jainism, where the means of liberation consists in the
elimination of karma, or certain theistic systems, where liberation depends on the
grace of God, etc.
3
In addition to these two reasons, one may mention the subjective feeling of the
meditating person, who sometimes feels transposed to another space (cf. for instance
the case of the dhyna meditation below). The journey of the spirit is a phenomenon
well known from many cultures, even though the modalities of such journeys are not
often theorized.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
MEDI TATI ON AND METAPHYSI CS 95
sweeping but similar manner Edward Conze, one of the most influential
Buddhist scholars in the second half of the twentieth century, states
(Conze 1967: 213):
The cornerstone of my interpretation of Buddhism is the conviction, shared by
nearly everyone, that it is essentially a doctrine of salvation, and that all its phi-
losophical statements are subordinate to its soteriological purpose. This implies,
not only that many philosophical problems are dismissed as idle speculations,
but that each and every [philosophical] proposition must be considered in refer-
ence to its spiritual intention and as a formulation of meditative experiences ... I
cannot imagine any scholar wishing to challenge this methodological postulate
Sincere thanks to Professor Eli Franco for his thought provoking comments on an
earlier version of this paper. I would also like to thank Susanne Kammller, M.A.
and Dr. Elizabeth De Michelis for taking a close look at my English.
1
Cf. the review of Oberhammers work by Alper 1980.
2
Oberhammer 1977: 134230. Since the publication of Oberhammers study, Frau-
wallners interpretation of the PY as dealing with only two different kinds of me-
ditation (1953: 427443) is clearly outdated. Bronkhorst 1993: 6875, who ap-
parently is not aware of Oberhammer 1977, distinguishes two kinds of meditation in
the YS leading to saprajta samdhi and to asaprajta (samdhi) respectively.
3
Cf. Maas 2006: xiiixxv.
264 PHI LI PP ANDR MAAS
readings they derived from a reconstruction of the Vivaraas basic
text.
4
In the meantime, we have not only come into possession of a
new critical edition of the Vivaraas first chapter (YVi), but also of a
critical edition of the first chapter of the YS together with the YBh,
based on 21 printed editions and 25 manuscripts (Maas 2006).
5
Accord-
ing to manuscript colophons and secondary evidence, both texts taken
collectively bear the common title Ptajala Yogastra and, as I argue
in the introduction to my edition, probably have one single, common
author named Patajali.
6
This author would have collected the stras
from different sources and furnished them with explanations, which in
later times came to be regarded as the YBh.
7
The date of the work is
still uncertain, but a time span reaching from 325 to 425 A.D. seems to
be most likely.
8
In accordance with Frauwallner (1953), Oberhammer calls the
first two types of yoga as discussed in the PY yoga of suppression
(Unterdrckungsyoga). This, however, is an unfortunate designation, as
it evokes misleading associations. Unterdrckung, according to Frh-
lichs Wrterbuch der Psychologie has a double meaning. In psychology
the word designates the complete deletion of a reaction; in contrast to
inhibition (Hemmung) which can be removed . In psychoanalysis,
on the other hand, suppression means a voluntary suppression of cer-
tain impulses for action (Handlungsimpulse); in contrast to repression
(Verdrngung).
9
In the course of this paper it should become obvious
4
Cf. Maas 2006: xiix.
5
Critically edited texts, of course, facilitate the correct understanding of passages
which have been corrupted in the course of the transmission. The critical edition of
PY I.29 provides two striking examples for an improved text. The vulgate reads
the corrupt svarpadaranam instead of the correct svapuruadaranam in I.29,3,
and instead of the correct madya purua, it reads ya purua (or simply purua)
in the next line. For a more detailed discussion of these variants cf. Maas 2006:
lxviii f., 104 f., and 168 f.
6
Bronkhorst 1985: 191203 comes to the same conclusion, albeit for different rea-
sons.
7
The identification of Patajalis source books is of course impossible as no syste-
matic expositions of pre-classical Yoga have come down to us. For the considerable
influence of Buddhist terminology on Patajali see La Vale Poussin 19361937.
8
Maas 2006: xiixix.
9
Frhlich 1993: 413, col. 2, s.v.: Unterdrckung (suppression). [1] Bezeichnung fr
die vollstndige Lschung einer Reaktion; im Unterschied zur Hemmung, die durch
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
THE SO-CALLED YOGA OF SUPPRESSI ON 265
that neither of these meanings is applicable in yoga psychology. In us-
ing the designation yoga of suppression Frauwallner has neither a
psychological nor a psychoanalytical connotation in mind. In his view,
the use of suppression is justified by the type of meditation which Pa-
tajali teaches in the first chapter of his work, starting with YS I.2 yo-
ga cittavttinirodha yoga is the shutdown of the mental capacitys
processes.
10
The aim of this type of yoga, according to Frauwallner is
to suppress all mental activity, and to eliminate cognition
11
. The sec-
ond part of this statement is not fully consonant with the text from
which it is derived. If deletion of cognition as a whole were the aim of
yoga, this would imply not only a deletion of mental processes, but also
a deletion of the self, which is per definitionem pure consciousness. Pa-
radoxical as this might seem, the aim of yoga is not the elimination of
consciousness but the deletion of consciousness content.
12
Moreover,
the term suppression should be avoided because of its use as technical
term in psychology and psychoanalysis. In replacing the term, I would
suggest the expression non-theistic yogic concentration, which would
do justice to its theistic variant, as well as to sampatti and to sayama,
which are under discussion in later parts of the PY.
13
Before discussing non-theistic yogic concentration, I would
like to briefly brush up our knowledge of the metaphysical and onto-
logical foundations of Skhya Yoga, as far as they are indispensable
for the following discussion of yogic states of consciousness and forms
of meditation.
14
Classical Skhya Yoga is known to be an ontologically dualis-
tic philosophy. It upholds that the world is divided into two fundamen-
tally different kinds of entities. On the one hand there exists an infinite
spontane Erholung u.. wieder aufgehoben werden kann. [2] Allgemeine psycho-
analytische Bezeichnung fr das willkrliche Unterdrcken bestimmter Handlungs-
impluse bzw. Handlungsweisen; im Unterschied zur Verdrngung, die durch unbe-
wut wirksam Abwehrmechanismen erfolgen soll.
10
Oberhammer 1977 argues convincingly that the first chapter of the PY does not
deal with one single kind of meditation, but with three different types.
11
Frauwallner (1953: 438): sucht man durch den Yoga jede geistige Ttigkeit zu
unterdrcken und damit auch jede Erkenntnis auszuschalten.
12
Cf. the immediately following summary of the metaphysical and ontological foun-
dations of Skhya Yoga.
13
For which see Oberhammer 1977: 177209, and 209230.
14
Cf. Schmithausen 1968: 331.
266 PHI LI PP ANDR MAAS
number of transcendental selves, or spirits (purua). The selves are
pure consciousness, bare of any content. They are infinitenot only in
number but also with regard to time and spaceinactive, and un-
changeable. Besides the selves, the world consists of the products of
primordial matter (prakti) which is completely unconscious, active and
changeable. The products of matter not only make up all things of the
outside world, but in human beings they also fashion the sense-capaci-
ties (buddhndriya) as well as the mental capacity which is most fre-
quently called citta.
15
These metaphysical assumptions are crucial for
the view of classical Skhya Yoga on epistemological issues, as men-
tal processes are thought to depend upon the existenceand as it were
interactionof both kinds of entities. The mental capacity supplies
the content of a mental process to the self, which by seeing it pro-
vides the mental content with consciousness. Everyday experience, of
course, does not conform to this analysis. We neither experience con-
sciousness without content, nor do we experience content without con-
sciousness. According to Skhya Yoga, however, the analysis of men-
tal processes in every day experience as being of a uniform nature is
wrong. It is caused by nescience (avidy), which deludes the self about
its own true ontological status. The selfpure consciousnessis at-
tracted by the mental capacity like iron is attracted by a lodestone. This
attraction is possible because of the mutual compatibility or fitness
(yogyat) of the self and the citta. The mental capacity, which consists
mainly of the luminous substance sattva, one of three constituents of
primordial matter, is often called the visible (dya). It displays its
content to the self, which frequently is designated as the seer (dra).
Their compatibility is determined by their nature and cannotin terms
of Skhya Yogabe meaningfully questioned.
Being under attraction of the mental capacity, the self identifies
with it. The self is erroneously convinced to be affected by the content
of experience. It feels happiness and suffers pain, although these, as
well as all other kinds of mental events, exclusively take place within
the mental capacity. In reality, the self, due to its transcendental onto-
logical status, is incapable of being anything else than it is, viz. pure,
contentless, and unchanging consciousness.
15
The terms manas or buddhi are also in frequent use without any apparent difference
in meaning. Cf. Frauwallner 1953: 411.
THE SO-CALLED YOGA OF SUPPRESSI ON 267
The aim of Skhya Yoga in its soteriological dimension is to
end the wrong identification of the self with its mental capacity once
and for all, which amounts to the final liberation from the cycle of re-
births and its innate suffering. The means to this end is the realization of
the ontological difference between the self and matter in meditative
concentration, which is therefore called knowledge of the difference
(vivekakhyti). This knowledge is the final content of consciousness, the
last involvement of the self with its mental capacity. When the citta is
no longer interested in such knowledge of the difference, even this
content ceases to exist and gives room for the un-eclipsed self percep-
tion of the self. The mental capacity continues to exist as long as the
liberated yogi lives, due to mental impressions (saskras) which it has
stored. Finally, after the physical death of the yogi, the mental capacity
dissolves in matter (prakti). The self, on the other hand, continues to
exist in isolation (kaivalya), freed from the bonds of the cycle of re-
births.
Right at the beginning of his work, Patajali (PY I.1,2 f.) de-
fines yoga in a very general way:
yoga samdhi; sa ca srvabhauma cittasya dharma. kipta mha vi-
kiptam ekgra niruddham iti cittabhmaya. tatra vikipte cetasi vikepopa-
sarjanbhta samdhir na yogapake vartate. yas tv ekgre cetasi sadbhtam
artha dyotayati, kioti klen, karmabandhanni lathayati, nirodham mu-
khkaroti, sa saprajto yoga ity khyyate. sarvavttinirodhe tv
asaprajta. tasya lakabhidhitsayeda stra pravavteyoga
cittavttinirodha (YS I.2).
Yoga is awareness / concentration; and this is the quality of the mental
capacity in all its states (literally: levels). Fixed, dull, distracted, one-pointed,
and shut down [these] are the states of the mental capacity. Of these,
awareness / concentration which exists in [the first three states including] the
distracted one, as they are under the influence of distractive factors (like
disease, lethargy etc.
16
), do not belong to the part of [the enumeration which
makes up] yoga [proper]. On the other hand (tu), [concentration being]
conscious [of an object] (saprajta) is called yoga, which [occurring] in a
one-pointed mental capacity, makes the really true object appear,
17
destroys
the defilements, loosens the bonds of karman, [and] brings about the shutdown
[of mental processes]. When all mental processes are shut down, however,
[concentration] is not conscious [of any object]. With the intention to give a
definition of this [concentration not conscious of an object], the [following]
16
The whole group of distractive factors is listed in YS I.30.
17
I take the expression sadbhta artham to refer to the self (purua).
268 PHI LI PP ANDR MAAS
stra (YS I.2) has been composed: Yoga is the shutdown of the processes of
the mental capacity.
Patajali uses the word yoga in a number of related meanings. In its
broadest sense yoga designates awareness as a characteristic of men-
tal processes in general. There are, however, different kinds of aware-
ness, which qualify five states of the mental capacity. Three states are
not specifically yogic, and this is the reason why Patajali excludes
them from his exposition. Nevertheless, as Wezler convincingly shows
on the backdrop of information provided by the Vivaraa, the arrange-
ment not only of those states specific to yoga, but also of the first three
ones is quite consistent[ly] determined by the final goal of yoga,
viz. stopping the mental processes in general.
18
The first state, called
fixed, is characterised by a strong and involuntary connection be-
tween the mental capacity and its object.
19
The mental capacity, com-
pletely attached to its object, is incapable of becoming aware of any
different object. It is quite obvious that an involuntary fixation to a sin-
gle object completely rules out the possibility of mental training, and
this is the reason why Patajali places this state at the beginning of his
enumeration.
The second place is held by the dull mental capacity, which is
equally involuntarily connected to a single object. Its connection to the
object, however, is very weak. Although the explanations of the YVi are
not comprehensive, one can quite safely regard the dull mental capacity
as having a very basic and limited awareness of its object only.
20
The
mental capacity is not able to perceive the object distinctly. This
weakness is the reason why the dull state in terms of yoga psychology is
superior to the state called fixed. The lack of firmness seems to
provide the condition for an awareness of different objects, which leads
to a possible transition of the mental capacity to the next higher state,
called distracted.
18
Wezler 1983: 23. Wezler is not aware of Oberhammer 1977 and clings to Frau-
wallners differentiation of nirodha- and agayoga.
19
YVi 150,2 f.: kiptam aniaviaysajanena stimitam. The attached [mental capa-
city] is paralysed by clinging to a not deliberately chosen object. Cf. Wezler 1983:
20. Oberhammer (1977: 136, n. 6) translates as ... das durch die Frbung durch
nicht angestrebte Gegenstnde gebannte [psychische Organ]. I do not see any ne-
cessity to emend sajanena to rajanena. Moreover, the grammatical number of
viaya is singular; cf. the following interpretation of this passage.
20
The only explanation is mha nirvivekam (YVi 150,3).
THE SO-CALLED YOGA OF SUPPRESSI ON 269
For this state, too, the explanations of the YVi are quite scarce.
It simply paraphrases vikiptam as nnkiptam being fixed to several
[objects]. Wezler takes this to mean that the mental capacity is bound
to several objects simultaneously.
21
I doubt that this interpretation is
correct. The distracted mind is rather bound to several objects in a short
succession of time. It corresponds to our everyday awareness, which
usually lacks permanent concentration on a single object. The content of
consciousness changes according to the different sense data which come
to the mind by means of the sense capacities. The mental capacity is
attached to one object for a more or less short period of time, and be-
comes attached to the next when it has lost interest in the preceding one.
Presumably because the mind in its distracted state is connected to
several objects, it develops a certain distance, oras the author of YVi
has itimpartiality to its objects. This impartiality provides the mental
capacity with the freedom to deliberately choose a desired object,
which, of course, not only is the precondition for acting as an autono-
mous subject, but also for entering upon the path of mental training and
spiritual progress.
A voluntary connection of sufficient strength between the men-
tal capacity and a deliberately chosen object, which comes about every
now and then in the distracted state, is the characteristic of the state
called one-pointed (ekgara), the first of the specifically yogic states.
Patajalis discussion of yoga proper starts with PY I.12. This
passage deals with two methods conducive to the shutdown of mental
processes, viz. practice (abhysa) and detachment (vairgya). Their ef-
ficiency is elucidated by a comparison of the mental capacity with a
river being capable of flowing in two directions. The mind-river either
flows, when guided by practice and detachment, in the direction of
well-being (kalya) or, when uncontrolled, in the contrary direction of
a bad condition (ppa). Detachment in this context is said to obstruct
the stream towards objects, in other words, it prevents the mind from
entering into an involuntary connection with objects.
Patajali elaborates on the concept of detachment in PY I.15
16. He teaches that detachment is of two kinds, a lower and a higher
one. Lower detachment refers to all things which are subject to percep-
tion, like women, food, drinks and the execution of power. Moreover, it
21
Wezler 1983: 22:[The] citta clearly [does] not [have] one object only, but
several at a time.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
270 PHI LI PP ANDR MAAS
also applies to objects which are known from authoritative tradition,
like heavenly objects. The detached mental capacity, even when in con-
tact with these objects, keeps a neutral attitude. It neither wants to avoid
nor does it want to possess them, because it sees their defect, which ob-
viously lies in their transient nature. This sovereignty of the mind in
dealing with objects is called consciousness of the controllability [of
all objects] (vakrasaj).
22
The second kind of detachment is called detachment from the
constituents of matter (guavaitya) and refers to the entities be-
longing to the realm of matter (prakti) in Skhya Yoga ontology. The
mind, because of practice of perception of the Self (puruadaran-
bhyst), is satisfied with the selfs difference from the realm of matter,
and therefore becomes detached from all potential objects. The highest
degree of detachment, according to Patajali, is only clearness of
knowledge (jnaprasdamtra). This is knowledge without content,
in other words, an unrestricted self-perception of the self, which isor
leads tothe liberation of the self from the cycle of rebirths. In order to
achieve this self-perception, the yogi has to cultivate detachment as an
all-embracing and unrestricted attitude towards the content of his con-
sciousness. Even the liminal content which exists in the mental capacity
at the border with liberation has to be given up in a final step. When un-
restricted perception of the self has been achieved, this experience ter-
minates attachment once and for all. Patajali, in a remarkable passage,
lets the liberated yogi describe the degree of his detachment. He says:
prpta prpayam, k ketavy kle, chinna liaparv bhavasa-
krama, yasyvicchedj janitv mriyate, mtv ca jyate, iti (PY I.16,5 f.).
I have attained all that is attainable, I have destroyed all defilements being
subject to destruction, I have cut the succession of existences with its [tightly]
connected joints, due to the continuation of which after having been born, one
dies, and after having died, one is born [again].
22
Cf. the YVis gloss in 218,8 ff.: vakartu akyante sym avasthy sarve gau-
padrth, vakartavyatvena sajyante. vaktni ca tasym avasthym
indriyi sajyante. vakaraam v sajyate sym iti.
In this state [of mind] all things (padrtha) consisting of the constituents of matter
(gaua) can be controlled [so that] one is aware of their being controllable. And one
is aware of the sense-capacities as being controlled. Or one is aware of their control
in this [state of mind].
THE SO-CALLED YOGA OF SUPPRESSI ON 271
As mentioned before, PY I.12 names a second concept besides de-
tachment which is conducive to the shutdown of mental processes, i.e.
practice (abhysa). Within a comparison of the mental capacity to a
river practice of perception of the difference [between the self and
matter] (vivekadaranbhysa) is said to open the stream to well-
being.
23
In the passage immediately following Patajali gives a more
detailed definition: practice is the effort for steadiness (YS I.13).
24
He explains: The mental capacitys state of flowing calmly, when its
processes are reduced, is steadiness. Practice [means] complying to
the methods with the desire to produce this [steadiness].
25
This quotation confirms the analysis of the specifically yogic
form of concentration (samdhi) outlined above. In order to belong to
yoga proper, concentration has to fulfil two requirements: (1) It must
consist of a stable connection between the mental capacity and an ob-
ject, and (2) the object has to be a deliberately chosen one. The second
requirement corresponds to detachment from all objects being poten-
tially subject to an involuntary connection caused by attachment. The
first requirement, i.e. stability of the connection, is the aim of practice.
The structure of the non-theistic yogic concentration as being
conscious of its object is briefly described in PY I.17:
vitarkavicrnandsmitrpnugamt saprajta (YS I.17).
vitarka cittasylambane sthla bhoga. skmo vicra. nando hlda.
ekarptmik savid asmit. tatra prathama catuaynugata samdhi
savitarka. dvityo vitarkavikala savicra. ttyo vicravikala snanda.
caturthas tadvikalo smitmtra. sarva ete slamban samdhaya (PY
I.17,26).
26
[Concentration is] conscious [of an object], because it is accompanied by
thinking, by evaluation,
27
by joy, and by the form [?] (rpa) of individuality
(YS I.17).
23
PY I.12,6 f.: vivekadaranbhysena kalyasrota udghyate.
24
sthitau yatno bhysa (YS I.13).
25
cittasyvttikasya prantavhit sthiti. [] tatsapipdayiay sdhannuh-
nam abhysa (PY I.13,2 f.).
26
The parallels to the Buddhist dhyna meditation (for which see Eimer 2006: 25)
have been noted by Bronkhorst 1993: 71; cf. also Cousins 1992: 148 and 151 ff.
27
The meanings of vitarka (Pli vitakka) and vicra as stages of samdhi in Buddhism
and Yoga are the subject of Cousins 1992. He concludes that [f]or the canonical
abhidhamma, vitakka is the ability to apply the mind to something and to fix it
272 PHI LI PP ANDR MAAS
Thinking is the mental capacitys gross investigation
28
of an object
29
. The
subtle investigation is evaluation. Joy is pleasure. Consciousness having a
single form is individuality. Of these [four kinds], the first concentration,
which is accompanied by all four [kinds of consciousness content], is
accompanied by thought. The second, which is devoid of thought, is
accompanied by evaluation. The third, which is devoid of evaluation, is
accompanied by joy. The fourth, which is devoid of this [joy], is individuality
only. All these concentrations have an object.
Four key words sketch the development of the mental capacity towards
conscious concentration: Thinking (vitarka), evaluation (vicra), joy
(nanda), and individuality (asmit). Each keyword is characteristic of
one phase in the development of concentration. In the first phase, all
four forms of mental activity exist in succession. Nevertheless, it is
thinking which establishes the connection between the mental capa-
city and its deliberately chosen object, the self.
30
Thinking obviously
has to be understood as the comprehension of the teachings concerning
the self in Skhya Yoga philosophy, which provides a basis for the
practice of the perception of the self (puruadaranbhysa). In the se-
cond stage, the connection between the mental capacity and its object is
upon a (meditative) object. Vicra is the ability to explore and examine an
object (153). Oberhammer (1977: 149 f.), whose work seems to be unknown to
Cousins, draws upon Vasubandhus Abhidharmakoabhya and Yaomitras com-
mentary thereon. He concludes his discussion stating that Vitarka und Vicra
ein von Sprache begleitetes diskursiv-begriffliches Erfassen des Gegenstandes
ist. Der Unterschied der beiden scheint darin zu liegen, da der Vitarka ein pr-
fendes berlegen (ha, paryeaam) ist, whrend der Vicra jene erwgende Ein-
sicht am Ende ist, in der das prfende berlegen auf das Ergebnis hin berstiegen
wird, und die daher subtiler als jenes genannt werden kann (150).
28
bhoga according to BHSD (99, col. 2, s.v), means effort, endeavour. Ober-
hammer (1977: 148) takes it as tasting (Verkosten); Cousins (1992: 148) pre-
sumably in accordance with the meanings ideation, idea, thought which are re-
corded in PTSD (103, col. 2, s.v.) translates more appropriately as directing (the
mind) towards. With some hesitation I decide to translate as investigation, which
should be taken as directing the mind towards an object in order to grasp it con-
ceptually.
29
The meaning object for lambana is recorded in pw (187, col.1, s.v.) for Buddhist
texts. It was not properly included in MW (also dharma or law belonging to manas
153, col. 2, s.v.), but it found entry into BHSD (105, col. 2, s.v.). Oberhammer
(1977: 148) in translating Objektsttze apparently follows Woods (1914: 40)
supporting [object]. The correct translation was already known to Ganganatha Jha
(1934: 30).
30
Cf. Oberhammer 1977: 156.
THE SO-CALLED YOGA OF SUPPRESSI ON 273
fixed to a degree which makes a rethinking of yoga philosophy dispen-
sable. The yogi can draw upon the insights he has gained from his oc-
cupation with yoga teachings concerning the self, and does not need to
investigate the subject again. This presumably is the reason why eva-
luation is termed a refined investigation of the object in comparison
to thinking which is seen as gross. In the third phase, which is charac-
terised by joy, the connection between the mental capacity and its object
is deprived of its conceptual and linguistic dimension. The self, which
in the previous phase was the object of conceptualisation, now turns
into the content of a direct, joyful experience. The passage cited
unambiguously states that the penultimate concentration has two
aspects, the characteristic aspect of joy, and a secondary aspect of indi-
viduality. The last mentioned aspect is not only a constituent of con-
sciousness in this phase of concentration, but of experience in general.
Experience by its very nature belongs to an individual, who is able to
refer to the subject of experience with the pronoun I. Usually, how-
ever, individuality is eclipsed by the content of consciousness, and does
not turn into an object of perception. In the final stage of conscious con-
centration the situation is different. As joy, the content of consciousness
characteristic in the previous phase has been given up, it is now the
form of consciousness that turns into a content of consciousness, ex-
perienced as individuality, oraccording to the author of YVias the
state of being experience only (pratyayamtrat).
31
Nevertheless, con-
sciousness here still is a consciousness of something. It is being con-
scious of belonging to an individual. The self, therefore, does not ex-
perience itself as being ontologically different from matter. It still per-
ceives as the subject of perception in association with its mental capa-
city. And the existence of a content within the mental capacity justifies
the designation concentration being conscious of an object (sapra-
jtasamdhi) even in its ultimate phase.
The transition from concentration having a content to content-
less concentration is the subject of PY I.18:
athsaprajta kimupya, kisvabhva iti?
virmapratyaybhysaprvaka saskraeo nya (YS I.18).
tasya para vairgyam upya. slambano bhysas tatsdhanya na kalp-
yate, iti virmapratyayo nirvastuka lambankriyate. tadabhysaprvaka cit-
31
YVi 223,8: asmit pratyayamtrat.
274 PHI LI PP ANDR MAAS
ta nirlambanam abhvaprptam iva bhavati. sa ea nirbja samdhir
asaprajta (PY I.18,17).
What means is there for [concentration being] not conscious of an object, and
what is its nature?
The other [concentration], which has a remainder of impressions, is preceded
by practicing the cessation experience (YS I.18).
The means to this [concentration] is higher detachment. Practice having an
object is not capable to bring about this [concentration]. Therefore, the
cessation experience, which does not refer to a thing (nirvastuka), is used as its
object. The mental capacity, preceded by the practice of this [cessation
experience], having no object [at all], seemingly becomes non-existent. This
seedless (= having special impressions [?])
32
concentration is not conscious of
an object.
Higher detachment is the means to bring about concentration that is not
conscious of an object. This supports the role of detachment as outlined
above. In order to finish the interaction between the mental capacity and
the self, the remaining content of consciousness, viz. the experience of
individuality, has to be given up. The consequence is severe. The yogi,
in order to let the transcendental self appear within the mental capa-
cityclear and un-eclipsed by any content of consciousnesseven has
to detach himself from the coherence of his own existence as an indi-
vidual. The yogi, as it were, gives up his empirical personality in order
to win his true self.
How can this goal be achieved? The very nature of individuali-
ty, the content of consciousness in the ultimate phase of conscious con-
centration, rules out the possibility of any act of will. The only reason
for a transition from concentration with content to concentration with-
out content therefore is the self-perception of the self (purua), which
by itself leads the mental capacity away from the realm of matter. It
seems that it is this dynamism that found its way into the definition of
higher detachment in the following statement:
32
YVi 226,15 glosses nirbja with saskravieasvabhva[] but this does not con-
tribute much to my understanding of the term. Maybe Patajali alludes to a concept
discussed in PY II.4. There we learn that defilements may exist in the mental
capacity in a latent (prasupta) form. These defilements exercise their effect as soon
as the mental capacity comes into contact with an object which serves as a trigger.
This, however, does not happen in the case of yogis who have burned the de-
filement-seeds with the fire of prasakhyna meditation.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
THE SO-CALLED YOGA OF SUPPRESSI ON 275
puruadaranbhyst tacchuddhipravivekpyyitabuddhir guebhyo
vyaktvyaktadharmakebhyo virakta (PY I.16,2 f.).
Because of practising sight of the self (puruadaranbhyst) the [yogi]
having his mental capacity satisfied with distinguishing the pureness of the
[sight] (or: of the self) [from the sight itself]
33
is detached from all constituents
of matter, whether their characteristics are manifest or not manifest.
The starting point for the development to concentration without content
is individuality. This content decreases in proportion to the increasing
clearness of the perception of the self. When almost no content is left,
the very insignificant remainder serving as support of the mental ca-
pacity is called cessation-experience (virmapratyaya). The YVi ex-
plains the compound cessation-experience as a descriptive determina-
tive (karmadhraya) compound.
34
Accordingly, the expression does not
denote an experience having the content of cessation, but an experience
being characterised by cessation. In other words, it is the final experi-
ence of the mental capacity immediately before its complete loss of
content. The YVi gives an illustrative example. It compares the liminal
experience with the final flame of a fire that has consumed its fuel.
35
In the state of being free from content, the mental capacity
makes room for the unlimited consciousness of the self. In dealing with
this state of consciousness Oberhammer correctly refers to PY I.3
33
YVi 219.10 ff.: tad iti puruadaranam parmyate. tasya uddhis tacchuddhi.
niriktakledimalatvam. athav tasya puruasya uddhis tacchuddhi. tacchuddes
tadlambanadaranam pravivicyate. tatpravivekenpyyit buddhir asya yogina.
[The word] its (tad) refers to the sight of the self. The compound tacchuddhi is a
dependent determinative compound with a genitive case relation. [Pureness of the
sight of the self is] the sate of having the defilements of taints (klea) etc. cleansed.
Or otherwise, its pureness [means] the pureness of the self. [The yogi] disting-
uishes the pureness [of the self] from the sight, which has the [self] as its object. The
yogis mental capacity is satisfied with distinguishing it.
34
YVi 225,10: virma csau pratyaya ca virmapratyaya.
35
YVi 225,11-13: sarvaviayebho vinirvartamnasya vinirvartanakle prg apratya-
y-{read apratyayat-}patte pratyayarpatvam etat{instead of etat read etasya
[?]}. yath pvakasya jvalata prakyamendhanasya anai anir upamyata
prg agratpatter jvaltmat.
At the time of turning away, [immediately] before the state of non-experience
occurs, [the mental capacity] which is turning away from all objects [still] has
[some] experience, like a flaming fire, when its fuel is being consumed, little by
little becomes diminished, immediately before it assumes the state of being embers,
[still] consists of a flame.
276 PHI LI PP ANDR MAAS
which gives a very short description of the cessation of all mental
processes:
36
tad drau svarpe vasthnam (YS I.3).
svarpapratih tadn cicchaktir, yath kaivalye (PY I.3,2 f.).
Then the seer (i.e. the self) abides in his own form (YS I.3). At that time the
capacity of consciousness (i.e. the self) is grounded in its own form, just as in
isolation.
The second yogic concentration, which I am going to discuss briefly, is
a variant of yoga as outlined so far. It shares, however, the general aim
of meditation, i.e. the realization of unrestricted self perception of the
self, and therefore also culminates in concentration which is not con-
scious of an object (asaprajta samdhi).
37
In its initial stages it has
the supreme lord (vara) as its object. I would therefore like to name
this kind of yoga theistic yogic concentration. The theistic yogic
concentration is based on a special concept of God which lacks any
sectarian or mythological element.
38
The summary of Skhya Yoga ontology given above did not
even once refer to the supreme lord. This exclusion was justified, as the
ontological dualism of Skhya Yoga includes the concept of a supreme
lord alongside of the transcendental selves (purua), but only as in prin-
ciple identical with liberated selves, the only difference between the
supreme lord and ordinary liberated selves being that the latter, before
becoming liberated, were subject to bondage. The supreme lord, on the
other hand, was never bound to the realm of matter in the past, nor will
ever be bound in future. Apart from this, God and the selves are
identical.
39
They are pure, unchanging, contentless consciousness. The
question arises of course about how the transcendental nature of God
can be brought in harmony with the concept of Gods activity within the
world according to Skhya Yoga? In other words: How can a transcen-
36
Oberhammer 1977: 161.
37
Cf. Oberhammer 1977: 177.
38
Cf. for the following exposition Oberhammer 1977: 162177.
39
PY I.24,110: atha pradhnapuruavyatirikta ko yam vara iti?
kleakarmavipkayair aparma puruaviea vara (YS I.24).
kaivalya prpts tarhi santi bahava kevalina. te hi tri bandhanni cchittv kai-
valya prpt. varasya tatsabandho na bhto, na bhv. yath muktasya prv
bandhakoir jyate, yath v praktilnasyottar bandhakoi sabhvyate, naivam
varasya. sa tu sadaiva mukta sadaivevara iti.
THE SO-CALLED YOGA OF SUPPRESSI ON 277
dental self, pure consciousness, which per definitionem is totally free
from any kind of activity, intervene in the world which is the realm of
matter? The texts points out that Gods effectiveness within the world is
quite limited. At the beginning of each of the cyclically reoccurring cre-
ations of the world, he assumes a perfect (praka) mental capacity,
made out of the luminous substance sattva, in order to provide instruc-
tion to a seer, and to start a lineage of teachers and pupils.
40
This pro-
cess, according to Skhya Yoga, is not an activity in the full sense of
the word. It is an event that takes place in accordance with His com-
passionate nature. Besides this, the concept of God in Skhya Yoga
leaves no room for a this-worldly activity. The soteriological efficiency
of devotion to the supreme lord is therefore not a result of Gods action.
It is brought about by theistic yogic concentration.
Patajali provides a basis for his discussion of theistic yogic
concentration by way of philosophical reflections on the relationship
between verbal denotations (vcaka), i.e. words, and the objects of de-
notations (vcya), i.e. the referents of words. God, according to PY
I.27, is denoted by the praava, the sacred syllable om, which is his de-
notation.
41
Patajali holds a theory of language, which claims a perma-
nent connection (sabandha) between the objects of denotations (vc-
ya), and verbal designations (vcaka).
42
This permanence apparently can
be put down to an identical structure of language and its referent.
Although the relationship between language and its meaning is constant
and non-accidental, the shape of phonetic entitiesviz. the form of
wordsis non-constant and accidental, because it is established and
maintained by convention (saketa). The form of phonetic entities can
be subject to change, the logical structure of language cannot.
The author of YVi adds an empirical argument. The connection
between the syllable om and God is fixed, because the employment of
the mantra inevitably brings about its effect. It is therefore comparable
to the connection between food, which is the object of cooking, and fire,
which is the agent of cooking. If there was no fixed connection between
40
PY I.25,811: jnadharmopadeena kalpapralayamahpralayeu sasria
purun uddhariymi, iti. tath coktam: dividvn nirmacittam adhihya
kruyd bhagavn parama ir suraye jijsamnya provca (Pacaikha,
according to TV and YV), iti.
41
PY I.27,1: tasya vcaka praava (YS I.27); vcya vara.
42
PY I.27,3: sthito sya vcyasya vcakena sabandha.
278 PHI LI PP ANDR MAAS
these two entities, fire would not be a suitable means for cooking. In the
same way, if there was no fixed connection between the syllable om and
God, muttering of the mantra would not bring about a direct experience
of the supreme lord.
43
The means to this direct experience is described
in the opening passage of PY I.28:
vijtavcyavcakatvasya yoginatajjapas tadarthabhvanam (YS I.28).
The yogi, who has thoroughly understood that [God] is the object of
denotation and [the syllable om] is its denotation, mutters the [syllable om] and
makes its referent visible.
The interdependence of mantra-muttering and yogic concentration is
the subject of a stanza from the Viupura, which Patajali cites as
authority for his outline of the theistic yogic meditation.
svdhyyd yogam sta yogt svdhyyam manet |
svdhyyayogasapatty para tm prakate || (PY I.28,5 f. = VPura
6.6.2)
One should practice yogic meditation after mantra-repetition, after yogic
meditation, one should perform mantra-repetition. By means of the
accomplishment of mantra-repetition and of yogic meditation, the highest self
becomes visible.
The author of YVi explains the process leading to an experience of God
as follows: Initially mantra-repetition establishes an orientation of the
mind towards the supreme lord. Once this orientation is secured, the yo-
gi practices a meditative vision (dhyna) of God. When his mind is un-
distracted and the vision has become solid, he takes up an internalised
form of mantra-repetition, which apparently increases the clearness of
the vision, until finally the supreme lord is the only content of con-
sciousness.
44
Then the mental capacity of the yogi attains one-pointed-
ness.
45
43
YVi 278,13: vcyavcakayor asthitasambandhatve tu praavarpebhimukhbha-
vatvara iti nvakalpate. na hi pcyapcakasambandhe navasthite pcakgnyu-
pdnam pkrtha kalpate. If the denotation and the object of denotation did not
have a settled connection, the direct appearence of the supreme lord in the form of
the praava would not be possible. As [for example], if the connection between
[food which is] the thing to be cooked and the thing that cooks were not settled, the
utilization of fire as the agent of cooking would not be fit for the purpose of
cooking.
44
YVi 279,14280,2: svdhyyt praavajapd varam praty avanatacitta san
yogam sta tadartham varan dhyyet. tadarthadhync ca pra{ instead of ca
THE SO-CALLED YOGA OF SUPPRESSI ON 279
The similarity between the non-theistic yogic concentration hav-
ing a consciousness content (saprajta samdhi) and its theistic vari-
ant is obvious. The states of the mental capacity are identical in both
cases in that they both have a single content, which at first sight, how-
ever, seems to differ. In the first case it was the individual self, in the
theistic variant the content is the supreme lord. If we remember the con-
cept of God as outlined above, the difference is practically reduced to
nothing, as both are identical in nature.
Patajali provides an account of the experience of identity of the
self and God in PY I.29, which sums up the result of the theistic yogic
concentration:
kicsya bhavati tata pratyakcetandhigam[a] (YS I.29). svapurua-
daranam apy asya bhavati: yathaivevara uddha, prasanna, kevalo, nu-
pasargas, tathyam api buddhe pratisaved madya purua, ity adhigac-
chatti. (PY I.29,1-5)
Moreover, from this (mantra-repetition and yogic meditation) [t]he [yogi] ac-
quires the realization of his inner consciousness (YS I.29). [This means,] he
even acquires sight of his own self (purua). He realizes: As God is pure,
clear, alone and free from trouble, so also is my self here that experiences its
mental capacity.
The yogis realization that his own self is identical in nature with the
supreme lord must not be understood as knowledge gained by concep-
tual thinking. This would, of course, not be compatible with the one-
pointedness of the mental capacity. The realization rather has to be seen
in analogy with the non theistic yogic concentration with content as de-
scribed above. In non-theistic meditation the content of consciousness is
pra read cpra with manuscript L}calitaman svdhyyam praavam manet
manasbhijapet. tath ca praavajapaparamevaradhynasampaty para tm
parameh prakate yogina iti.
after mantra-repetitionafter muttering the syllable om[the yogi] inasmuch
as he has a mental capacity which is directed to God should practice yogic medi-
tationshould visualise God, the referent of the [syllable om]. And after the visu-
alisation of the referent [of the syllable om], [the yogi] having a mind which is not
wandering [around] should practice mantra-repetition[he] should [silently] mutter
the syllable om in his mind. And this way, by means of the accomplishment of
muttering the syllable om and of visualising the supreme lord, the highest selfthe
one who is standing at the highest position becomes visible to the yogi.
45
PY I.28,24: tad asya yogina, praava japata, praavrtha bhvayata, cit-
tam ekgrat sapadyate.
Dieses eBook wurde von der Plattform libreka! fr Gregory Zwahlen mit der Transaktion-ID 1072965 erstellt.
280 PHI LI PP ANDR MAAS
the individual self which experiences itself as the subject of individuali-
ty. The self-realization in this state is imperfect, since the self as the
subject of an experience is still bound to its own mental capacity. In the
course of development, the remaining content of the mental capacity is
reduced, and finally the self perceives itself as pure consciousness. In
the theistic variant the starting point is similar. Here too the self experi-
ences a self, viz. God. This experience is not a direct one. The self can
only perceive the content of its own mental capacity, and therefore just
has an image of God. In the course of the meditation, this content of
consciousness gradually decreases. The image of God as a self becomes
weaker and weaker, and the eclipse of pure consciousness by a content
of consciousness vanishes. Finally, when all mental processes are shut
down, the mental capacity allows for an unrestricted self-perception of
the self, a concentration which is not conscious of any object (asapra-
jta samdhi).
ABBREVIATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
ge 1904 K. . ge (ed.), Vcaspatimiraviracitaksavalita Vysa-
bhyasametni Ptajalayogastri. Tath Bhojadevaviracita-
Rjamrtabhidhavttisametni Ptajalayogastri <Stra-
phastravarnukramascbhy ca santhktni.> Tac ca
H. N. pae ity anena prakitam. Puykhyapattana [= Pune]
1904 (nandramasasktagranthvali, 47).
Alper 1980 H. P. Alper, Review of Strukturen Yogischer Meditation: Unter-
suchungen zur Spiritualitt des Yoga by Gerhard Oberhammer.
Philosophy East and West 30,2. (April 1980), 273277.
BHSD F. Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary.
Vol. 2: Dictionary. New Haven 1953 (William Dwight Whitney
Linguistic Series).
Bronkhorst 1985 J. Bronkhorst, Patajali and the Yoga Stras. Studien zur Indo-
logie und Iranistik 10 (1985), 191212.
Bronkhorst 1993 J. Bronkhorst, The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient India.
Reprint of the 1st Indian edition [1st ed. Stuttgart 1986]. Delhi
2000.
Cousins 1992 L. S. Cousins, Vitakka/Vitarka and Vicra: The Stages of Sam-
dhi in Buddhism and Yoga. Indo Iranian Journal 35 (1992), 137
157.
Eimer 2006 H. Eimer, Buddhistische Begriffsreihen als Skizzen des Erl-
sungsweges. Wien 2006 (Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und
Buddhismuskunde, 65).
Frauwallner 1953 E. Frauwallner, Geschichte der indischen Philosophie. Bd. 1. Die
Philosophie des Veda und des Epos. Der Buddha und der Jina.
THE SO-CALLED YOGA OF SUPPRESSI ON 281
Das Samkhya und das klassische Yoga-System. Salzburg 1953
(Wort und Antwort, 6).
Frhlich 1993 W. D. Frhlich, dtv-Wrtebuch zur Psychologie. 19. bearbeitete
und erweiterte Auflage (1st ed. 1968). Mnchen 1993.
Ganganatha Jha 1934 Ganganatha Jha (transl. of PY, engl.), The Yoga-Darshana.
Comprising the Stras of Patajali. With the Bhya of Vysa.
Transl. into English with Notes. 2nd ed. thoroughly revised.
Madras 1934.
La Valle Poussin 19361937 = L. de La Valle Poussin, Le Bouddhisme et le Yoga de
Patajali. Melange chinois et bouddhiques 5 (19361937), 223
242.
Maas 2006 Ph. A. Maas (ed.), Samdhipda. Das erste Kapitel des Ptajala-
yogastra zum ersten Mal kritisch ediert. = The First Chapter of
the Ptajalayogastra for the First Time Critically Edited. Aa-
chen 2006 (Studia Indologica Universitatis Halensis) (Geistes-
kultur Indiens. Texte und Studien, 9).
MW M. Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Etymolo-
gically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to
Cognate Indo-European Languages. New Ed. Greatly Enlarged
and Improved with the Collaboration of E. Leumann C.
Cappeler [et. al.]. Oxford 1899.
Oberhammer 1977 G. Oberhammer, Strukturen yogischer Meditation. Untersuchun-
gen zur Spiritualitt des Yoga. Wien 1977 (sterreichische Aka-
demie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse,
Sitzungsberichte, 322) (Verffentlichungen der Kommission fr
Sprachen und Kulturen Sdasiens, 132).
PTSD T. W. Rhys Davids and W. Stede, Pali-English Dictionary (Re-
print of the 1st ed.: The Pali Text Societys Pali-English Dictio-
nary. London 19211925). Delhi 1989.
pw O. Bhtlingk, Sanskrit-Wrterbuch in krzerer Fassung. (Reprint
of the ed. in 7 vols. St. Petersburg 18791889) Delhi 1991.
PY Ptajala Yogastra ed. Maas 2006.
Schmithausen 1968 L. Schmithausen, Zur advaitischen Theorie der Objekterkenntnis.
In: Beitrge zur Geistesgeschichte Indiens. Festschrift fr Erich
Frauwallner. Aus Anlass seines 70. Geburtstages herausgegeben
von G. Oberhammer. Wien 1968 (WZKSO 12).
TV Tattvavaiarad by Vcapatimira ed. ge 1904.
Vivaraa Ptajala-Yogastra-Bhya-Vivaraa of akara-Bhagavatp-
da. Critically ed. with Introduction by P. Sri Rama Sastri
and S. R. Krishnamurthi Sastri Madras 1952 (Madras Govern-
ment Oriental Series, 94).
VPura Viupura: The Critical Edition of the Viupuram. Vol. 12.
by M. M. Pathak. Vadodara. Vol.1: 1 to 3 Aas. 1997. Vol.
2: Aas 46 & Pda-Index prepared by P. Schreiner. 1999.
Wezler 1983 A. Wezler, Philological Observations on the So-Called Ptajala-
yogastrabhyavivaraa (Studies in the Ptajalayogastraviva-
raa I). Indo-Iranian Journal 25 (1983), 1740.
282 PHI LI PP ANDR MAAS
Woods 1914 J. H. Woods (transl. of PY and TV, engl.), The Yoga-System of
Patajali. Or the Ancient Hindu Doctrine of Concentration of
Mind, Embracing the Mnemonic Rules, Called Yoga-Stras, of
Patajali and the Comment, Called Yoga-Bhshya, Attributed to
Veda-Vysa, and the Explanation, Called Tattva-Vairad, of
Vchaspati-Mira. (Reprint. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass. 1914)
Delhi 1992 (Harvard Oriental Series, 17).
YBh Yogabhya, traditionally ascribed to Vysa.
YS Patajalis Yogastra.
YV Yogavrttika of Vijnabhiku. Text with English Translation and
Critical Notes along with the Text and English Translation of the
Ptajala Yogastras and Vysabhya. (Ed. and transl. by) T. S.
Rukmani. Vol. 1: Samdhipda. Delhi 1981.
YVi A Critical Edition of the Ptajalayogastravivaraa. First Part.
Samdhipda with an Introduction ed. by K. Harimoto. 1999. (A
Dissertation in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania).
MA R C U S S C H M C K E R
Yogic Perception According to the Later
Tradition of the Viidvaita Vednta