The Doctrine of Vibration: An Analysis of the Doctrines and Practices of Kashmir Shaivism

306 Pages·1989·7.68 MB·English

The
Doctrine of Vibration
An Analysis of the Doctrines and Practices
of Kashmir Shaivism
MARK S. G. DYCZKOWSKI
MOTILAL BANARSIDASS
Delhi Varanasi Patna
Bangalore Madras
First Indian Edition: Oil hi, 1989
MOTILAL BANARSIDASS
Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi 110 007
branches
Chowk, Varanasi 221 001
Ashok Rajpath, Patna 800 004
24 Race Course Road, Bangalore 560001
120 Royapettah High Road, My la pore, Madras 600004
This edition is for sale in India only.
© 1987 State University of New York. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsover without written permission except in the case
of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dyczkowski, Mark S. G.
The doctrine of vibration
(SUNY series in Kashmir Saivism)
Includes index
1. Kashmir Saivism—Doctrines. I. Title. II. Series.
BL1281.l545.D93 1986 294.5'513'09546 86-14552
ISBN: 81-208-0596-8
PRINTED IN INDIA
BY JAINENDRA PR A K ASH JAIN AT SHR1 JAINPNDRA PRWK, A-45 NARAINA
INDUSTRIAL AREA, PHASE I, NEW DELHI 110 028 AND PUBLISHED BY
NARENDRA PRAKASH JAIN FOR MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, DBLHI 110 007.
This book is dedicated to m
PARENTS
For you every vision has become like the words of a sealed book.
You give it to someone able to rcud and *uy, "Read that."
He replies, 4i cannot, because the book is scaled."
Or else you give the book to someone who cunnot read and say,
"Read that."
He replies, "I cannot read."
Isaiah 29/11-12.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
The Land of Kashmir
The Saivism of Kashmir and Kashmiri Saivism
Abhinavagupta and the Flowering of Trika Saivism
Tantra, Kashmiri Saivism and Kashmiri Society
in the Eleventh Century
The Philosophy of Recognition and the Doctrine
of Vibration
The Doctrine of Vibration
Notes on Methodology and Synopsis of Contents
Chapter I The Integral Monism of Kashmiri Saivism 33
Saiva Idealism
Kashmiri Saiva Realism
Chapter II Light and Awareness: The Two Aspects 59
of Consciousness
Prakasa: The Light of Consciousness
Self-Awareness and Consciousness
Awareness and the Integral Nature of the Absolute
Chapter HI Spanda: The Universal Activity of Abnolutt 11
Consciousness
Three Moments in the Vibration of Connciouimcss
The Conative Power of Consciousness
The Cognitive Power of Consciousness
The Power of Action
Chapter IV Siva and Sakti 99
Sankara
The Nature of Sakti
Chapter V Sakti Cakra: The Wheel of Energies 117
The Wheel of Vamesvari
The Wheel of the Senses
Chapter VI The Divine Body and the Sacred Circle 139
of the Senses
Chapter VII The Path to Liberation 163
The Means to Realisation
No-Means (Anupaya)
The Divine Means (Sambhavopaya)
The Empowered Means (Saktopaya)
The Individual Means (Anavopaya)
Abbreviations 219
Notes 221
Bibliography 269
Index 281
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book was originally researched and written in Oxford. I will
always be grateful to Richard Gombrich, at present Boden professor of
Sanskrit at Oxford University, who gave me the opportunity to do this
work. I also wish to thank Mr. G. S. Sanderson, at present lecturer in
Sanskrit at the same university, whose zeal and scholarship inspired me.
My gratitude also extends to a close disciple of the Late Maha-
mahopadhyaya Gopinatha Kaviraj, Professor Heman Chakravarti
with whom I read my first Kashmiri Saiva works in India before going
to Oxford and the late Pandit Ambikadatta Upadhyaya who taught
me Sanskrit.
Above all I cannot be thankful enough to my parents whose support
has been constant and unremitting, both through my stay in Oxford,
and for more than fifteen years in India. Finally, I wish to acknowledge
the help of Giovanna, who has been both a wife for me and a mother
for our children.

Introduction
The Land of Kashmir
The ancient Himalayan kingdom of Kashmir is now part of the
province of Jammu and Kashmir situated in the extreme northwest of
India. The heart of modern Kashmir is, as it was in the past, the wide
and fertile valley of the river Vitasta. Set at an altitude of five thousand
feet, the valley's beautiful lakes and temperate climate nowadays attract
tourists in large numbers during the summer months when temperatures
rise high into the forties Centigrade on the North Indian plains. Although
most of the population is at present Muslim, before the advent of Islam in
the thirteenth century, Kashmir enjoyed an unparalleled reputation as a
centre of learning amongst both Buddhists and Hindus. Kashmiris
excelled not only in religious studies but also in the secular fields of
Sanskrit literature, literary criticism and grammar as well as the sciences,
including medicine, astronomy and mathematics. They had a uniquely
realistic sense of history clearly evidenced in Kalhana's twelfth century
chronicle of the kings of Kashmir, the Rqjataranginl, which is virtually
the only history of its kind in India.
Remarkable as Kashmir has been as a seat of Hindu spirituality
and learning, it was no less so as a centre of Buddhism. Possibly
introduced into Kashmir as early as the third century B.C., Buddhism
had already developed there to such a degree by the first century of our era
that the Kushan king, Kaniska, chose Kashmir as the venue of a major
Buddhist Council. It was a huge gathering, attended by more than five