Comparison and Contrast between The Essential Kabbalah and Tao Te Ching - Report Example

Order 342755 Topic: Comparison and Contrast between The Essential Kabbalah and Tao Te Ching Introduction:For the purpose of this paper, the issues that will be discussed are about the nature of the ultimate reality and the purpose of human life. These two issues are closely linked and with an inclusive discussion, an attempt to throw proper light on the subject is attempted. The fundamental point is, spirituality begins, divinity sparkles, where logic ends and arguments cease. The purpose of human life is to commence the spiritual journey and attain perfection. From perfection, reach self-realization. One of the important problems of the humankind is that people read the ideals and revelations of the Great Masters, never endeavoring to put them into practice. What is necessary is to grasp and assimilate the teachings of the great ones, and make them a part of the living culture of the society. Whatever is the station of one’s life, and whatever is the vocation, one’s prime concern needs to be to exemplify and demonstrate the validity oft he revelations of fathomless wisdom of the enlightened souls of the yore. The differences last up to the mind level. Once one transcends the mind and reaches the realm of bliss, confusion ceases and union of all existence prevails. In the world of God, there are no ifs and buts. It is the ocean of serenity and bliss. Can spirituality, as elucidated in various texts lead humankind to attain the level of hearts full lf love, eyes full of understanding and the life that refuses conflicts? 1st similarity The nature of ultimate reality: The nature of the ultimate reality is unfathomable. The author quotes, “Tao k’o tao fei ch’and tao, Tao called Tao is not Tao. Empty of desire, perceive mystery, Filled with desire, perceive manifestations, These have the same source, but different names Call them both deep— Deep and again deep.” (Addiss, p.10) There are many who, intoxicated by the intellectual achievements, disregard the reality of the Cosmic Supreme. It can not be searched in the world outside. It can be realized in the innermost chambers of the heart of the human being that too through specific spiritual procedures. God is not sitting in the sky granting rewards and passing sentences of punishment. One must develop a passionate and inextinguishable thirst to see, know and realize the Eternal Principle that engulfs and binds the entire creation. The author uses the words ‘deep’ twice to highlight emphasis. Every individual possesses a divine chest of spiritual gems treasured within him. Notwithstanding the possessor of the divine riches, a normal man, under the spell of ignorance, squanders his entire life without taking advantage of his inner affluences. 2nd work In the version regarding God’s encampment Matt explains, “Be aware that God fashioned everything and is within everything. There is nothing else.” (p.25) Every great master acquaints humankind with the same Universal Truth. The divine revelations are given in the form of text or scriptures. The great sages voiced the same ancient wisdom that is eternal. Every doctrine, though appearing unique and different because of being colored by the reflections of the age of its composition, if understood in letter and spirit, leads to the same Supreme Goal. The study of Holy Scriptures can explain a spiritual thought, but it can not convey the full intrinsic gamut of spirit. It can not take the reader to ecstasy experienced by the Sages and the visions they beheld. Continuing the explanation, the author comments, “If God’s gaze were withdrawn for even a moment, all existence would be nullified. This is the secret meaning of the verse: ‘You enliven everything.’ So divinity flows and inherent in each thing that exists. This is the secret meaning of the verse. God’s presence fills the entire world. Contemplating this, you are humbled, your thoughts purified.”(p.28) 2nd similarity Action and non-action: Every action has the reaction and the intensity of the reaction is in proportion to the intensity of the action. Stephen Addiss reports about the attitude of the Sage as for action/non-action thus: “Therefore the Sage is devoted to non-action, Moves without teaching, Creates ten thousand things without instruction, Lives but does not own, Acts but does no presume, Accomplishes without taking credit, When no credit is taken, Accomplishment endures. He puts it tersely, “ Ku yu wu hsiang sheng-Is and Isn’t produce each other.”(p.2) AS for action-reaction theory, no dispute exists between the scientists and the spiritualists. One of the rare agreements between the two contending forces! The two opposing forces! The forces that do not see eye to eye with each other! When an individual is unable to hear (tune to) the divine call arising from within, life turns out to be nothing more than a succession of sensations. He switches from one impulse to the other. An individual with incomplete comprehension of the Universe considers himself to be separated from others. He is like the person blindfolded by the black band of ignorance. Since the ‘actions performed’ by the Sage originate through the beyond-the-mind-level vibrations, they have nothing to do with the laws of actions governing the secular world. He is the liberator and so whatever he does contributes to the liberation requirements of the time. He revels free from the impact of the pairs of opposites. When an individual realizes one’s true identity, one realizes that one is a spiritual being and drops of the magnificent Ocean called God. 2nd work Daniel Matt writes about the same issue referring to Non-duality. “The essence of divinity is found in every single thing—nothing but it exists. Since it causes everything to be, no thing can live by anything else. It enlivens them, its exists in each existent….Before anything emanated, there was only Ein Sof. Ein Sof was all existed. Similarly, after it brought into being that which exists, there is nothing but it. You can not find anything that exists apart from it. There is nothing that is not pervaded by the power of divinity.”(p.24) The differences relate to out-thought processes only. The thoughts and responses of two individuals can not be identical for the same situation because they are guided by the level of their reasoning, which in turn is guided by the mind. Differences Finding similarities between the two spiritual revelations is not a difficult job as compared to finding the differences. The differences may be due to level of understanding of the individual who studies the issues. Assume two individuals are climbing a mountain. The visual reach of the person standing at a height of 1000 meters, is certainly less than the one who is established at a height of 2000 meters, though it is the same mountain. He can survey better and a bigger area. Similarly, the essence is the same but the details are different in response to the conditions prevailing in different centuries. The similarities and dissimilarities of the knotty spiritual concepts are sometimes difficult to capture through the printed pages. First text Tao-Ching Te is subject to open discussion and criticism. It is the third highest published book, next only to Bible and Bhagavad-Gita. The verses are terse and many label it as enigmatic. But such observations go to the credit of intellectuals only. Each one tries to understand and interpret the text from the level of one’s spiritual progression. Only the Sages, who have the direct experience of the Reality, can hope to know what the true essence of a spiritual revelation. To call content of the text as enigmatic would be like the fox calling the grapes sour, when it could not reach them. Only those who have flavor within (whose heart responds to the spiritual vibrations) can understand the flavor of the translated versions of Tao-Ching Te or of the original text. “But one should not approach the Tao- Ching Te expecting to find any systematic or logical exposition of ideas or careful definition of terms…” (Introduction xxviii….) and it is wrong on one’s part to expect it. How can one expect so, for an exposition that which is beyond the logic? Tao-Ching Te convinces a seeker with some beautiful examples that are easy to comprehend the intricate spiritual truths, like the one in chapter 11. “Thirty spokes join one hub. Clay is fired to make a pot. The pots use comes from emptiness. Windows and doors are cut to make a room. The rooms use comes from emptiness. Therefore, Having leads to profit, Not having leads to use.” Can there be a better way to explain the ‘fullness’ of the ‘emptiness?’ The All-pervading Emptiness! In Kabbalah also such spiritual truths are highlighted, but the explanations read like the commentary, and brevity is not the hallmark of the text. Kabbalah is often associated with secrecy and is labeled as a restricted knowledge. Kabbalists would not discuss, the knowledge of, let alone teach, to anyone less than forty years of age. Is it due to the conviction that an individual leans towards spirituality after the middle age? This is only the presumption. Spiritual child-prodigies existed in countries like India. But Kabbalists stick to their dogmatic principles. One needs to be an individual of high moral character, married with mental and emotional stability and prior rabbinic knowledge to be associated with the learning of Kabbalah. Kabbalah means receiving or that which is received. It is the combination of philosophical principles and divine instructions, infused with feminine-God imagery, to explore the mysteries of human relationship with God as father and mother, Lord and lover. It tries to take one to God, through the process of negation. Conclusion: Now, this is the punch line: The similarities between the two texts are many. The dissimilarities are only academic and human-made. Their spiritual essence is the same. The Sages/Realized souls have no differences at their level. ********* Works Cited: Matt, Daniel, C. The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism. Publisher: Harper One; 1 edition, 1996. Lao-Tzu (Author),Addiss Stephen(Translator), Lombardo, Stanley(Translator),Watson Burton(Translator), Tao Te Ching . Hackett Publishers, 1993. Read More