Paths to Transcendence: According to Shankara, Ibn Arabi & Meister Eckhart (Spiritual Masters)

282 Pages·2006·1.74 MB·English

by  Reza Shah-Kazemi

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“Paths to Transcendence is an important book in the school of z
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Sophia Perennis.” Transcendence
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—Martin Lings, author of the classic Muhammad: His Life Based h
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on the Earliest Sources
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“Th ose who need extrinsic proofs of what Frithjof Schuon called
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the ‘transcendent unity of religions’ have been rightly dissatisfi ed Shankara, Ibn Arabi, Meister Eckhart
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with chrestomathies of short quotations from the sacred texts and e
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spiritual authorities of the great traditions. Hence the irreplace-
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able value of Paths to Transcendence, a meticulous and far-reaching
study of three of history’s most important sages, each fi rmly rooted in the doctrines and
practices of his own religion … and each in turn rising to join with his counterparts at the
Divine summit of apophatic unanimity.”
—James S. Cutsinger, University of South Carolina, author of Advice to the Serious
Seeker: Meditations on the Teaching of Frithjof Schuon
“Here is a major landmark in comparative metaphysics. Th e universality of spiritual
realization through knowledge is rendered apparent with a rare combination of analytic
rigor and depth of synthesis. Th is book demonstrates that spiritual intuition can inform
and innervate academic discourse without compromising its conceptual demands.”
—Patrick Laude, Georgetown University, author of Singing the Way: Insights in Poetry T
and Spiritual Transformation
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“Paths to Transcendence is superlatively perspicuous despite the exalted nature of its n
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conceptual content and the great subtlety with which it is handled. Th e book brims with
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insight and is an exceptional addition to the fi eld.” ca
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—Tobias Mayer, the Institute of Ismaili Studies, co-author of Struggling with the eh
Philosopher: A Refutation of Avicenna’s Metaphysics n
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t
“Paths to Transcendence has the merit of gathering, in the same volume, the deepest think- eo
ing of the most intellectual and spiritual elite of three great traditions and civilizations: n
Shankara for Hinduism, Ibn Arabi for Islam, and Meister Eckhart for Christianity. It
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provides detailed analysis and lucid examination of the misinterpretations which fre-
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quently occur nowadays about these spiritual authorities.”
—Jean-Pierre Lafouge, Marquette University, editor of For God’s Greater Glory:
Gems of Jesuit Spirituality
ISBN-13: 978-0-941532-97-6
World Wisdom ISBN-10: 0-941532-97-6
World
Wisdom
$26.95 US / $34.95 CAN Reza Shah-Kazemi
World Wisdom
The Library of Perennial Philosophy
Th e Library of Perennial Philosophy is dedicated to the exposition of the time-
less Truth underlying the diverse religions. Th is Truth, oft en referred to as the Sophia
Perennis—or Perennial Wisdom—fi nds its expression in the revealed Scriptures as
well as the writings of the great sages and the artistic creations of the traditional
worlds.
Th e Perennial Philosophy provides the intellectual principles capable of explain-
ing both the formal contradictions and the transcendent unity of the great reli-
gions.
Ranging from the writings of the great sages of the past, to the perennialist au-
thors of our time, each series of our Library has a diff erent focus. As a whole, they
express the inner unanimity, transforming radiance, and irreplaceable values of the
great spiritual traditions.
Paths to Transcendence: According to Shankara, Ibn Arabi, and Meister Eckhart
appears as one of our selections in the Spiritual Masters: East and West series.
(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)
Spiritual Masters: East and West
Series
This series presents the writings of great spiritual masters of the
past and present from both East and West. Carefully selected essential
writings of these sages are combined with biographical information,
glossaries of technical terms, historical maps, and pictorial and photo-
graphic art in order to communicate a sense of their respective spiritual
climates.
Cover: “A Th ousand Li of Rivers and
Mountains,” hand scroll, Wan Xi Meng (c.1096-c.1120), Song Dynasty
PATHS TO
TRANSCENDENCE

According to Shankara, Ibn Arabi,
and Meister Eckhart

REZA SHAH-KAZEMI
Paths to Transcendence:
According to Shankara, Ibn Arabi, and Meister Eckhart
© 2006 World Wisdom, Inc.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner without written permission,
except in critical articles and reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shah-Kazemi, Reza.
Paths to transcendence : according to Shankara, Ibn Arabi, and Meister Eckhart / Reza
Shah-Kazemi.
p. cm. -- (Spiritual masters. East and West series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-941532-97-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-941532-97-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Transcendence of God. 2. Sankaracarya. 3.
Ibn al-’Arabi, 1165-1240. 4. Eckhart, Meister, d. 1327. I. Title. II. Series.
BL205.S24 2006
204’.2--dc22
2005033670
Printed on acid-free paper in Canada.
For information address World Wisdom, Inc.
P.O. Box 2682, Bloomington, Indiana 47402-2682
www.worldwisdom.com
Dedicated to the memory of
FRITHJOF SCHUON

CONTENTS
PREFACE ix
INTRODUCTION xi
CHAPTER 1 — SHANKARA: Tat tvam asi 1
Part I: Doctrine of the Transcendent Absolute 2
1. Designations and Defi nitions of the Absolute 2
2. Being and Transcendence 8
Part II: Th e Spiritual Ascent 12
1. Th e Role of Scripture 13
2. Action 17
3. Rites and Knowledge 21
4. Meditation 24
5. Concentration and Interiorization 28
6. Moksa 36
Part III: Existential “Return” 53
1. Th e Mind 54
2. “All is Brahman” 56
3. Action and Prarabdha Karma 59
4. Suff ering and the Jivan-Mukta 63
5. Devotion 65
CHAPTER 2 — IBN ARABI: La ilaha illa’Llah 69
Part I: Doctrine of the Transcendent Absolute 71
1. Doctrine as Seed or Fruit? 71
2. Unity and Multiplicity 75
Part II: Th e Spiritual Ascent 79
1. Sainthood and Prophethood 79
2. Ontological Status of the Vision of God 87
3. Fana’ 92
Part III: Existential “Return” 105
1. Poverty and Servitude 105
2. “Th e People of Blame” 111
3. Th eophany: Witnessing God’s “Withness” 113
4. Th e Heart and Creation 116
Part IV: Transcendence and Universality 118
CHAPTER 3 — MEISTER ECKHART: Th e Geburt 131
Part I: Doctrine of the Transcendent Absolute 132
1. Beyond the Notion of God 132
2. From God to Godhead 135
Part II: Th e Spiritual Ascent 142
1. Virtue and Transcendence 142
2. Unitive Concentration, Raptus, and the Birth 152
3. Intellect and Grace 160
Part III: Existential “Return” 172
1. Th ought and Action in the World 173
2. Seeing God Everywhere 175
3. Th e Saint and Suff ering 178
4. Poverty 182
CHAPTER 4 — THE REALIZATION OF TRANSCENDENCE: Essential
Elements of Commonality 193
Part I: Doctrines of Transcendence 193
1. Dogma and Beyond 193
2. One Absolute or Th ree? 196
Part II: Th e Spiritual Ascent 198
1. Virtue 198
2. Ritual and Action 198
3. Methods of Ascent 200
4. Bliss and Transcendence 203
5. Transcendent Union 205
6. Agency in Transcendent Realization 207
7. Grace 211
Part III: Existential “Return” 211
1. Poverty 211
2. Existence and Suff ering 214
3. Devotion and Praise 217
4. Vision of God in the World 218
EPILOGUE — RELIGION AND TRANSCENDENCE 221
APPENDIX — AGAINST THE REDUCTION OF TRANSCENDENCE: A
Critical Appraisal of Recent Academic Approaches to Mystical Experience 229
Part I: Against Reductionist Epistemology: Katz and “Contextualism” 229
Part II: Against Reductionist Experience: Forman’s “Pure Consciousness
Event” 237
Part III: Against Reductive Typologies: Stace, Zaehner, and Smart 241
1. Stace and the “Universal Core” 241
2. Zaehner: “Monism” vs. “Th eism” 243
3. Smart: Th e “Numinous” vs. the “Mystical”; “Union” vs. “Identity” 245
Part IV: Against Reductive Universalism: Staal and Huxley 248
BIBLIOGRAPHY 253
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 257
INDEX 259
PREFACE
Th e present book is based upon a doctoral thesis that was submitted to the
University of Kent at Canterbury in 1994. Th e central chapters and conclusions
remain fundamentally the same, but I have placed some of the material that
formed part of the original work at the back of the present book, in the form
of an appendix, entitled “Against the Reduction of Transcendence.” Here, the
focus is on recent important academic attempts to situate and explain mystical
experience; the perspectives associated with Steven Katz, Robert Forman, W.T.
Stace, R.C. Zaehner, Ninian Smart, and Fritz Staal are all critically examined. Th e
common element uniting all these approaches can be expressed by the phrase
“the reduction of transcendence,” inasmuch as they all, in diff erent ways, fail to
do justice to the summit of mystical realization. Th e reductionism—implicit or
explicit—of these perspectives is thrown into sharper relief by the conclusions
of this study.
Grateful acknowledgment of the support I received while conducting the
doctoral research that forms the basis of this book is due, above all others,
to two people: my supervisor, Dr. Peter Moore, of the University of Kent at
Canterbury, whose initial advice led to the conception of this research; and to
Ghazi bin Mohammed, without whose generous assistance, from 1991 to 1993,
the research could not have been so swift ly completed. I am also profoundly
grateful to Antony Alston for the many illuminating hours spent discussing
Shankara’s doctrines, which he so graciously accorded me. Finally, I cannot
suffi ciently thank Dr. Martin Lings for reading the present text in its entirety,
for making many valuable suggestions, and, most of all, for providing me with
a living embodiment of many of the principles, themes, and mysteries explored
in this book.
ix