2008 Beijing Mount Everest Olympic Torch: The Praxis of Religious Wisdom

K.S Chow

Introduction

The bracing and heartening news reached the world. It was a glorious day in May 8, 2008 especially for the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese 19-member landmark mountaineering team successfully ascended the summit of the Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, at a height of 29,035 feet. The specially designed torch was brought to the peak by the Chinese Olympic team consisting of both ethnic Han Chinese and Tibetans. This is another mission accomplished story of the alliance of civilizations between the Han Chinese and Tibetans. This is the beautiful side of human behaviour. This alliance of civilizations is the essence of dependently co-arisen Unity or Non-duality known as Tao in Chinese. Unity and harmony breed accomplishment. Chinese culture since time immemorial emphasizes the path of Tao to breed harmony.

Mountaineering Team

The mountaineering team captain was Niyima Cering, a Tibetan and the deputy was a Han Chinese. The last torch bearer ascending the icy incline leading to the mountain peak was also a Tibetan. It mirrored that the Chinese Olympic Council was mindful and vigilant not to marginize the minorities. I was heartened and rejoice to note some university students were also the constituting members of the team. We ought to esteem the accomplishment of these university students who are still young and inexperienced. Yet they could overcome all adversities, odds or challenges and emerged as Chinese national heroes. They ought to be extolled to have transmuted an impossibility into a possibility- crystallizing a very hard dream into a stark reality. The unity of the team enabled them to overcome extreme environmental adversities  to strive on incessantly to reach the final destination. Every human achievement or accomplishment is sustained by Unity. Unity breeds harmony; harmony breeds unity. The Ancient Chinese saints prescribed: A human being should regard ‘Harmony’ as lofty or divine because harmony breeds unity and unity breed success. The essence of unity is known as Tao in Taoism and God in Monotheism, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  

 It is actually not that easy to reach the summit of mount Everest. Many professional climbers had and have sacrificed their lives in their ascent to the highest mountain of the world. It is the perfect unity of moral and divine attributes that the mission can be accomplished. It must be zero-defect unity. When the climbers have conquered the Mount Everest, it is because the climbers have worshiped the unity of virtues. Any form of unity is the essence of God (Buddha or Tao). Fulfilling all the contigent conditions produces the necessary existence. Existence is existence because of Unity. Hence, unity is existence. Existence is God. Anything other than God are called phenomena. Phenomena are individuations or multiplicity. Individuations or multiplicity are illusions. They are only the shadows of God. As they are parts of God, they cannot be denied. The phenomena and Principle are reciprocal and inseparable. Worldiness is not pursued by the sacrifice of spirituality. Neither can spirituality be pursued by the sacrifice of worldliness. This wisdom is especially pertinent to the lay people.

 A conglomeration of individuations or multiplicity is unity. Metaphorically put, the beautiful floor is majestic as it is made up of diverge pieces of multi-colourful mosaics. The floor is a phenomenon constituted from the unity of the contigent conditions of masaics. The floor is permanent but the masaics are impermanent as they are replaceable or they are subject to decay with the passage of time. Thus, the unity of mosaics constituting the floor is the essence of God (Buddha or Tao). Floor is always a floor at the beginning and at the end. In this sense, it is not difficult to perceive that God or Buddha-nature is immanent and pervasive everywhere.

Thus, Sufi Ibn ‘Arabī promulgates that the existence or phenomenon is the totality or unity of all contigent conditions. This unity is the essence of God (Buddha or Tao). Unity preserves existence and disunity annihilates existence. God (Buddha or Tao) preserves the mould, anti-God (Buddha or Tao) breaks the mound. God is Unity and anti-God is disunity. The virtue, closely associated with unity, is harmony. Unity and Harmony are called the attributes of God (Buddha or Tao). Unity and Harmony are reciprocal. When Unity exists, Harmony also exists. When Harmony prevails, unity also prevails. Religious wisdom is the discernment of the relationship between phenomena and the Absolute, that is, between the many and the One.

Technological Breakthrough

Most significantly, the Olympic relay to the Mount Everest also marks the dawn of a new technological feat – a new created phenomenon from contigent conditions. The torch was specially, technologically designed by Chinese rocket scientists to endure the frigid, windly, oxygen-thin Himalaya air in an extremely icy environment. It is another technological feat mirroring the technological expertise of the Chinese scientists or technologists. Most significantly, it is the perfect function of the torch under extraordinary or extreme conditions of weather at the summit of the mountain. It mirrors that the new technological feat is a perfect harmony or unity of the contigent conditions. The contigent conditions are components. These components are the parts invented by the Chinese space scientists. It is the wisdom or mind of God (Buddha or Tao) of the scientists who unify the components into a perfect functional torch.

 Perfect contigent conditions are unified into a perfect performance. Perfect unity gives rise to a perfect phenomenon. The special torch is a perfect phenomenon of unity of parts created by mind of God of Man. It is the outward manifest of God (Buddha or Tao). This essence of Unity which preserves the mould of existence or becoming is the essence of God (Buddha or God). The essence of Unity can be designated with any name. In actuality, God (Buddha or Tao) is nameless. Tao Te Ching states that Tao (God or Buddha) which can be named is not the Tao. This is a very profound statement of Tao Te Ching. Tao Te Ching is the Chinese classic which expounds the Theosophy of all religions.

 It is not surprising that generally the monotheists perceive every perfection invented or innovated as the manifest of God. Such a religious view is right theosophically. According to the Theosophy of Sufi Ibn ‘Arabī, every perfection is a necessary existence or conditioned phenomenon dependently co-arisen from contigent conditions. This parallel to Doctrine of Emptiness (śūnyatā) in Mahāyāna Buddhism.

This worldview of Sufi Theosophy is identical with the Nāgārjuna’s worldview of Emptiness (śūnyatā). In fact, at the summit of spirituality, the Theosophy of all esoteric religions conveys the communal truth of Unity or Non-duality. Ibn ‘Arabī and subsequent Sufi exponents concur that every necessary existence or conditioned phenomenon is the Unity of God. God is that ultimate Reality of Unity which preserves the totality of existence. Unity rejects existence of discrete entities. Emptiness also denies the existence of individual, separate entities. Real existence is the ultimate Reality of Unity of contignent beings or conditions. The creation of God connotes that it is the Existence of Unity of contigent beings which create the necessary existent or conditioned phenomenon. Only Unity is real Existence and all contigent beings or conditions are mere concepts and imaginary. They are unreal. Unity is the essence of God (Buddha or Tao) which is the ultimate Truth of Emptiness. Such notion of God actually is the exposition of the Doctrine of ‘Unity of Being or Existence’ (Waḥdāt al-Wujūd) made  by Sufi Ibn ‘Arabī and his later Sufi disciples.

This doctrine of Unity of Being is compatible with Nāgārjuna’s Doctrine of Emptiness (śūnyavāda). It is also parallel to the Doctrine of Identity and Interdependence (Dharmadhātu-pratityasamutpāda) of Hua-yen Buddhism (Avataṃsaka-sūtra).This reciprocal truth of phenomena and principle is also vindicated by the Theosophy of Neo-confucianism which expounds the relationship between the principle (Li) and material Force (Qi). This reflects that Truth of Ultimacy is one and not two. Vedānta philosophy categorically asserts that various pathways lead to the communal Truth of Unity or Non-duality or the communion with God. Even Gotama Buddha affirms that Truth is one but not two (ekaṃ saccaṃ na dutīyaṃ).

 I would like to reinforce further that the foremost and the sole condition for liberation of a Buddhist is the annihilation of self-centric ego superimposed by ignorance of Truth of Unity or Non-duality. Likewise, a Monotheist can not be saved by his or her God if the self-centric ego has not been annihilated by Word of God. If two different absolute Truths are preached by two different religions, the ordinary masses will create havoc for the world. In actuality, current clashes of civilizations due to religious discrimination or political discrimination motivated by religious discrimination are the signs of havoc created by the polarity of religious view. Proper understanding of Theosophy can avert these unnecessary clashes of civilizations.

 Totality is the One and the contigent conditions are the many. Therefore, the knowledge of God is actually the wisdom of discerning the relationship between the whole and the parts or the One and the many. The relation between the One and the many is governed by the law of Dependent Co-arising or Emptiness of inherence existence. Please take my words seriously: Religion is the universal set and all other sciences are contigent beings of subsets to the universal set.

Thus, the  Chinese new technological feat of Olympic Mount Everest relay torch is not the success confined only to the Chinese people. It is, indeed, human success. To be more exact, it is in fact the success of the Totality of God facilitated by the minds of Chinese space scientists. Anyone who creates Unity has the mind of God. Human mind is the hidden essence of God (Buddha or Tao). It is this supremacy of God located in inner Heart of Man that ought to be worshipped by all. It is the Unity of diversity that is worship. Unity destroys individualism. Individualism is self or ego. Whoever annihilate the self or ego sees the God. Seeing God is seeing the essence of Unity which preserves mould of everything or every being. Disunity breaks the mould. This is the knowledge or reality of God to be understood by wisdom seekers of Religion.

Theosophically, the success of the technological feat is the unity of contigent conditions which dependently co-produce the necessary existence or conditioned phenomenon designated as the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch. This necessary existence or conditioned conditions is Unity. This dependently co-arisen unity is the essence of God. Thus, every necessary existence is itself the successful manifest of the Unity of God. Mahāyānists designate this Unity as Emptiness. Dissimilar designations are immaterial. Most significantly, the connotation is identical for all religions. Emptiness is void of self or ego or individualism.

From our theosophical analysis, the unity of God is actually the unifying force of the Buddhist law of Dependent Co-arising. Gotama Buddha promulgates that whoever sees Dependent Co-arising sees the Buddha. Hence, it follows that whoever perceives the Buddha perceives the God. Thus, we can conclude that God is synonymous with Buddha in terms of dependently co-arisen Unity. I also like to add that the monotheistic concept of the union (Baqā) with God is parallel to the Buddhist concept of non-duality.  The conclusion endorses that the theosophy of Sufism is similar to that of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Vedānta of Hinduism declares that all religions are esoterically identical. This communal truth of wisdom promotes and fosters sound inter-faith understanding to unite the world globally.

Theosophically put, the supremacy is not confined to the Chinese of the People’s republic of China; the innate supremacy exists in everyone of us. The innate supremacy is the essence of God which is immanent in all human beings.  Correspondingly, the innate supremacy of Man is also the essence of Buddha-nature from Buddhist perspective. Buddha-nature exists potentially in every human being.

The essence of God (Buddha or Tao) in the inner Heart of man is the unmanifest or hidden dimension of God (Buddha or Tao). The scientific product conglomerated from contigent aggregates is the outward manifest of God. Any existent or becoming from the unity of its parts embodies the essence of God. The holistic organic wholeness is God. God is immanent in necessary existent or conditioned phenomenon because it is empty of inherent existence and it is constituted from contigent parts. Emptiness or dependently co-arisen Unity is the Truth or Ultimate Reality of God.

Perfect technological feat mirrors perfection of the essence of God (Buddha or Tao). The Chinese scientists or technologists demonstrated and verified to the world that all human species are intrinsically supreme. New invention can be brought forth by conglomeration of contigent conditions by the power of human mind. Human mind is the temple of God (Buddha or Tao). The religious Supreme Masters and Prophets have promulgated that all human species are innately supreme or divine. The Chinese supermacy in this particular technological feat reflects the Word of God (Buddha or God) that human beings are inherently perfect. Only the mind of great perfection can only produce technological perfection. Consequently, the technologically designed Olympic torch functions perfectly under such adverse conditions in their ascent to the summit of the Mount Everest. The knowledge of this innate supremacy of man elevates human self-esteem and self-confidence. Such right vision of the potentiality of Man motivates human beings to strive persistently and to elevate their stations in life.

The participating athletes in the Olympic Games are those courageous sport men and sport women who have trained themselves so hard that they are able to push themselves to their utmost limits of perfection. The essence of Unity of God (Buddha or Tao) admits the possibility of refining or enhancing the contigent conditions of an aspiring athlete if all the sport and psychological trainings are improved or elevated to the standards of perfection of Unity or God (Buddha or Tao). When the ideal contigent conditions are united, the unity of contigent conditions produces a first class athlete.  

When one is conditioned by the essence of God which is the unity of necessary contigent conditions, accomplishment or harvest is a certainty. THE ESSSENCE OF GOD, BUDDHA OR TAO IS UNITY OR ONENESS OF CONTIGENT CONDITIONS. UNITY OR ONENESS OF CONTIGNET CONDITIONS IS EMPTINESS. Thus, we can conclude that God and Emptiness are synonymous.

Conclusion

Lately, the world witnesses the crisis or chaos of severe disasters or catastrophes, such as massive and epic floodings, fires, cyclones, famine, diseases, soaring prices of oil, and food, continual political disturbances and so forth. I believe many religious believers have either prayed silently as individuals at home or in congregations in the houses of God to seek the external rescue of al-mighty God. In their prayers, they expect the external al-mighty power of God to utilize His supreme power intercept and put a halt to theses catastrophes swamping the victims uninterruptedly. Why has God not answered the incessant prayers of the these afflicted victims ?

In actuality, all the catastropies swamping mankind today are the unities of adverse contigent conditions which are either explicit or implicit. The adverse conditions are related to ugly human behaviours ultimately. As the religious sages have unveiled that every unity of becoming is the play of God (Buddha or Tao). If a human being played positively, God (Buddha or Tao) would also play positively. If a human being played badly, God (Buddha or Tao) would also play badly. If a human being played virtuously, the unity would produce a virtuous fruit. If a human being played badly, the unity would produce a bad fruit. Thus, we witness that there are two Faces of God (Buddha or Tao). It is either the unity of virtues or the unity of vices. God (Buddha or Tao) either awards or publishes a human being according to his or her human behavour. Therefore, either we love God (Buddha or Tao) and fear God (Buddha or Tao). There is a third alternative: Neither love nor fear of God. If one neither loved nor feared God, that was sheer ignorance. The result is incessant suffering. No wonder, billions of devotees pay homage to God (Buddha or Tao) because God’s system of reward and punishment is not only the farest but also naturally automatic with absolute zero defect.

Editor’s Note:

This essay is worth reading as it syncretizes the discovery of Neuro-science with the wisdom of Theosophy. The fusion of both disciplines produces human being of the first class human capital. The knowledge of God (Buddha or Tao) or Theosophy ought to be applied to shatter the shell of individuality or ego so that one lives in unity with others always. Unity breeds harmony. Harmony breeds abundance of harvests for all. The essence of Unity or Emptiness in any phenomenon is the essence of God, Buddha or Tao.