Buddhist Exegesis : Rumi’s Exposition of the Four Divine Journeys
Madhyama
Introduction
Turkish Sufi writer, Sefik Can, composed the work ‘Fundamentals of Rumi’s Thoughts : A Mevlevi Sufi Perspective’ . This work contains the Sefik Can’s commentary literature on the Rumi’s Teachings of Sufism. Sufism (‘Irfān) is the science of inner Heart or the esoteric teaching of Islam. Succinctly put, Sufism is the religion of the inner Heart (Ara.: Madhihab-idil). The portion of this exegetical literature which has captivated my attention most is the Rumi’s exposition of the ‘Four Divine Journeys ’ which is compatible with Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy. This discovery has brought me ineffable Dharmic exuberance. It has inspired and motivated me to write more articles on inter-faith understanding so as to promote and foster alliance of civilization between the west and the east.
The first three Divine journeys correspond theosophically to Mahāyāna Buddhist Diamond Sūtra’s tenet of Three-fold Truth of ‘One Mind in Three Contemplations’ (一心三觀). One Mind in Three Contemplation is the progressive development of perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā般若波羅蜜多). The development of perfection of wisdom is spiritual ascent of enlightenment (上求佛道) of a Buddhist Bodhisattva (菩薩). The first contemplation is discernment of the illusion of the world (假觀); the second contemplation is the discernment of the Emptiness of the world (空觀) ; the third contemplation is the discernment of the Middle View (中觀). The fourth journey is theosophically parallel to the Mahāyāna’s teaching of Bodhisattva’s descent due to great compassion (下化眾生) to guide and save others through preaching.
The discovery of the compatibility between Rumi’s Sufi doctrine of Four-fold Divine Journey and Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy of ascent of enlightenment and descent of great compassion further corroborate my frequent reiteration in my inter-faith articles that all world’s religions are exoterically dissimilar but are esoterically similar.
The four-fold Divine Journey expounded by renowned Sufi Rumi is enumerated as follows :
- The Journey to God (Sayr Ilallah)
The State of Seeing Unity in Multiplicity
- The Journey in God (Sayr Fillah)
The State of Seeing Multiplicity in Unity
- The Journey with God (Sayr Ma’allah)
The State of Seeing Both
- The Journey from God (Sayr Anillah)
The State of Transformation from Unity to Humanism
The Journey to God
‘The Journey to God’ is first level of discerning the ultimate Truth of Unity in the conventional multiplicity of forms that discrete entities are ultimately illusory and unreal. It is the journey from perception of multiplicity (Ara.:al-Kathrah) to that of Unity (Ara.: Aḥadī̄ya) of Existence. This first level of contemplation of multiple forms of all phenomena (dharmas) corresponds to Diamond Sūtra’s dialectic exposition of deconstruction or negation of all phenomena to unveil the Emptiness (‘Sūnyatā) of all phenomena or to see Unity in the multiplicity. Sefik Can explains this first level of spiritual contemplation thus :
On attaining this level, the Lover of God (Discerner of Truth) throws away their excessive love for materialism, the world and riches from their Heart. He raises the veil of plurality (multiplicity of forms) from the face of Unity. In other words, he delivers himself from the perception of plurality (multiplicity). He sees Unity in everything.
Seeing Unity in everything connotes seeing Emptiness in all things or all phenomena. Buddhistly put, the level of spiritual contemplation is parallel to Mahāyāna Diamond Sūtra’s dialectic exposition of deconstruction or negation of phenomena (Dharmas). The deconstruction or negation of the empirical phenomena is to unveil the ultimate Truth of Emptiness (‘Sūnyatā). Emptiness is Unity of existence of a main cause (hetus) and a set of conditions (pratyayas) dependently co-producing every phenomenon. Every phenomenon does not exist as a discrete entity or an autonomous entity. Devoid of inherent existence, every phenomenon is ultimately empty of corporeal forms (rūpas). In other words, perception of plurality or multiplicity is wrong view. Perception of Unity is right view. The key function of religion is rectify our wrong view of the multiplicity and restore the right view of Unity. Salvation or emancipation (vimutti) is derived from right view of the multiplicity of the empirical world so that we are not deluded by the illusion or unreality of the multiplicity of the empirical world.
The transformation of the wrong view of multiplicity into the right view of Unity is described by Rumi as the ‘Journey to God’. God connotes the Unity of Existence. Whoever sees multiplicity is alienated or separated from God. Whoever intuitively discerns Unity annihilates his or her self-centric ego and reunites with God.
Rumi’s esoteric wisdom of Sufism is mirrored from the fact that his Sufi teaching is universal. I, as a devout Mahāyāna as well as a Theravāda Buddhist, not only feel so at home with his Sufi philosophy, but also the Sufi’s exegesis of his Sufi Thought has further invigorated and corroborated my theosophical or perennial comprehension of Mahāyāna’s esoteric philosophy. In fact, Sufism does not differ from Mahāyāna Buddhism esoterically even though their exoteric or outward dimensions are glaringly so distinct.
The exoteric or external teachings of ‘head’ of world’s religions have divided the world through unecessary religious discrimination. It is high time that we return also to the esoteric or internal teachings of the ‘Heart’ of diverse religions to reunite the world. I have repeatedly reiterated that all religions are exoterically dissimilar but are esoterically identical. All apparently dissimilar religious paths shepherd all believers to an identical esoteric destination – the communal haven of our inner Heart in which the Lord or eternal Truth dwells. There are many roads. All roads lead us to the same city.
Having completed the first spiritual Journey to God, one should proceed further to undertake the second ‘Spiritual Journey in God’. Buddhistly put, having deconstructed the Dharma, one should dialectically reconstruct or re-affirm the Dharma so that the multiplicity and Unity are acknowledged simultaneously to avoid a pair of extreme view of either multiplicity or Unity.
Journey in God
In the ‘Journey in God’, Sifik Can expounds it thus :
In this second journey, the veil of Unity is lifted from the face of plurality. In this journey, plurality is seen in Unity whereas in the first journey, Unity is seen in plurality.
Buddhistly put, at this second level of contemplation, the illusive multiplicity of the phenomenal world is reconstructed or reaffirmed to enter into the second level of contemplation to see the multiplicity in the Unity. The veil of multiplicity is lifted to unveil the underlying Unity. The reconstruction or reaffirmation dialectic permits the Gnostic or Knower of Truth to see the multiplicity of forms in the Unity. The Unity of Existence is the only ultimate absolute sustaining the entire cosmos. In other words, the conventional truth (saṃvṛti satya) of multiplicity is perceived at the level of ultimate Truth (paramārtha Satya) of Unity.
The conventional realities of plurality, such as concepts, and linguistic designations, appellations or names, though illusory, are still pragmatic means for human beings to intercommunicate their feelings and thoughts in human business interactions or social intercourses. In other words, living in spirituality or Unity, one does not abandon secularity or multiplicity. Human beings need the knowledge of multiplicity of forms to communicate and interact effectively. Human beings also need to discern and live in the ultimate Truth of Unity to gain salvation through the annihilation of self-centric ego. The bipolar Truth of religion, in fact, enlightens us that the secular phenomena of multiplicity and the spiritual Principle of Unity can not be divorced. The knowledge of multiplicity is required to sustain mundane or secular life. The knowledge of Unity is required to liberate us from being deluded from our exposure to the illusory and unreal multiplicity. This is the right view of bipolar Reality expounded in esoteric religions, such as Monotheism, Hinduism and Buddhism.
Journey with God
In this third ‘Journey with God’, Sufi Sefik Can elucidates it as follows :
The third journey leads to deliverance from all dualities, exoteric or esoteric, viewing all the power and acts in God and attaining the level of ‘the very union itself’ .
In the third spiritual Journey with God, reunion with God is gained. Monotheistic concept of reunion or reunity with God is synonymous with Buddhist concept of entrance into the door of Non-duality. It is the summit of spiritual wisdom which the Delivered One transcends even multiplicity and Unity to completely purge the self-centric ego from the mind. Thus, the purification of the mind is consummated . Both a-Dharma and Dharma are not to be attached to. This is the consummated state of Emptiness of Emptness (‘Sūnyata-‘sūnyatā).
Buddhistly put, the Gnostic or the Knower of Truth perceives the non-duality between the perceiver and the perceived or the unity of object and subject. Consequently, duality between unity and multiplicity is also transcended. It is perfect reunion of the Gnostic with God. God is the Truth of Unity of Existence. Philosophically and theosophically, God and Emptiness are synonymous as Mahāyāna Buddhists conceive Emptiness as the Unity of Existence. The notion of reunion with God is consonant with Buddhist concept of Gnosis, that is, the entrance into the door of Non-duality through non-discriminative wisdom.
The Diamond Sūtra designates the Buddhist Gnostic or Truth Knower as a Bodhisattva. A Bodihisattava is called an al Insān al Kāmil (Perfect Man) in Sufism. A Bodhisattva is a Wisdom Being who has entered the door of Non-duality. Non-duality is the inner Heart in which Nirvāṇa dwells. Nirvāṇa is the state of complete silence of the human mind in which self-centric ego has been annihilated. In the inner Heart, the self-centric ego is completely obliterated. One dies before one dies. The false self is dead and the True Self is resurrected.
In order to enter the door of Non-duality, one must intuitively discern the Emptiness or Unity of Existence. Buddhistly, Emptiness is the Insubstantiality, Selflessness or Egolessness (Anattā). Monotheistically or Sufily put, Unity of Existence is the existence of God. Thus, whoever lives in Emptiness or Unity of Existence lives in the Truth or Spirit of God. In the Spirit of God, the notion of self-centric ego is completely obliterated.
The annihilation of self-centric ego is designated in Sufi teaching as al- Fanā’ (destruction of self-centric ego). In order to consummate mental purification, even the notion of al-Fanā’ must be eliminated. This is the complete mental purity of not grasping upon even the notion of al-Fanā’ realized . This destruction of destruction of self-centric ego is known as al-Fanā’ al-Fanā’ parallel to Mahāyāna tenet of Emptiness of Emptiness (‘Sūnyatā-‘sūnyatā). Having realized Emptiness of self-centric ego, one also ceases grasping upon the notion of Emptiness as this is I; this is Mine ; this belongs to Me. Having crossed with the raft from this shore of delusion to other shore of Gnosis , one must abandon the raft.
Fourth Journey from God
In this fourth Journey from God , Sufi Sufik Can elaborates that the Gnostic or Truth Knower makes a complete journey of a semi circle of ascent and descent . In the ascent, the Gnostic moves from separation to point of reunion with God. After having reached the summit of spirituality, the Gnostic or Truth Knower descends from the world of unity and returns to the world of separation to unveil, guide and teach the bipolar Truth to others to liberate them. Buddhistly put, a Bodhisattva ascends because of self-enlightenment or wisdom and then descends because of great compassion to diffuse the Truth to the sentient beings who are spiritually imprisoned by their carnal selves or egoes.
Conclusion
Interestingly, these four-fold journey of self-demption and preaching are consistent with the Buddhist Bodhisttava’s career of deconstruction, reconstruction, middle path and saving oneself and others. Having purified himself, the Bodhisttva sets his Dharmaduta career to purify the defiled Heart of sentient beings. This four–fold journey of a Sufi is the complete esoteric journey of return to see God and guide the unsaved believers.
Self-redemption at the inner Heart is seeing God. Seeing God is the acquisition of the attributes of God. Buddhitsly put, an esoteric return to the inner Heart to redeem oneself is to see the Buddha-nature in a sentient being. Seeing Buddha-nature is seeing the ultimate Truth of Emptiness. Emptiness is the ultimate Truth of dependently co-arisen Unity or Non-duality. In fact, esoterically, Buddhism and Sufism are not distinct. In actuality, they are perfectly identical esoterically even though they are dissimilarly paraphrased. The spiritual goal of esotericism is identical – reunion with the cosmic Unity of Existence.
At the third station of the spiritual journey, the delivered believer sees God-face or Buddha-nature everywhere at all times. The final station of preaching the Truth of the four-fold spiritual journey is most significant. It is Dhamically significant in the sense that the teaching helps eliminate the moral fallibilities and vulnerabilities of the sentient beings or believers . Teaching is done to liberate those who are not yet saved.
The spiritual career of ascent-descent semi-circle is perfectly identical for Mahāyāna Buddhism and Sufism. Most importantly, this esoteric equation helps bridge all major world’s religions in term of the bipolar Reality of profane truth of phenomena and the ultimate Truth of the eternal Principle. This inter-faith understanding can help promote and foster the civilizations between the west and the east.
Conclusion
The world is currently imperiled with dire global crises, such as financial meltdown, teetering economy, eco-crisis of global warming and climate change, wars, terrorism, extremism, sectarianism, separatism and so forth. The main culprit is that the educational philosophy of our modern world is excessively lopsided. There is an excessive emphasis on the knowledge of multiplicity of secular truth and a grave neglect of the knowledge of Unity of ultimate Truth. Neuro-spiritualists or Brain-scientists have reached a concensus that acquisition of the former requires only the utility of the left-brain functioning; the discernment of the knowledge of Unity involves the right-brain functioning.
A balanced knowledge of multiplicity and Unity and both left and right brains are to be harmoniously syncretized to mitigate and fix global crises today. Intellectual or conceptual knowledge alone can not effectively address global problems. We need both intellectual or conceptual knowledge of the head supported by intuitive wisdom and virtue of the inner Heart to preserve the incessantly sustainable and creative advance of the world. The bipolar balance of Yin and Yang called Tao is required to preserve sustainable development of the world in any field. The head is Yang and the Yin is the Heart. Secular knowledge is Yang and spiritual knowledge is Yin. The manifest phenomena is Yang; the hidden Principle is Yin. Tao Te Ching of Lao-tzu is the ‘Heart’ sūtra of Chinese classical philosophy which commences with a powerful exposition: The Truth (Tao) that can be spoken is not the eternal Truth. The eternal Truth is ineffable. However, it can be intuitively realized through Gnosis – seeing the Truth face to face.
Likewise, the ongoing 2008-2009 financial meltdown ought to be bipolarly addressed. The financial meltdown occurs because the Yang of secularity far exceeds the Yin of spirituality. A sustainable financial concrescence is an equilibrium between Yin ad Yang called Tao. Thus, we witness that apparently dissimilar religious faiths can be reconciled through the Process Thought of Bipolar Reality of the interpenetration between phenomena and Principle.
Editor’s Note:
I hope that this article will fuel more profound research on inter-faith understanding especially between Buddhism and Sufism in relation to other world’s religions, such as Vedānta of Hinduism, Taoism, Neo-confucianism, eastern Christianity and Islam. The area of research should be focused on process philosophy of perennial wisdom with serious reference to Whiteheadian process philosophy. Such inter-faith research can contribute effectively to promote and foster alliance of civilizations between the west and the east to avert unnecessary clash of civilizations. Any form of clash resulting in disunity is anti-God or the obliteration of Emptiness. God or Emptiness is the cornerstone of global sustainable development in all fields and global concrescence. |
