Arthur Avalon Shakta And Shakti

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.The form is very un-Western indeed and in many ways utterly unfamiliar and perhaps bewildering.But the harmony ofthought, the greatness of the fundamental conceptions, the sublimity of endeavor embodied in it, areclear; and these qualities are certainly enough to gain for it admirers and friends -- perhaps here andthere a disciple -- even in our times so badly prepared to hear this Tibetan echo from that other world,which in many ways we in the West make it our strenuous business to forget and to discount.Next: Chapter Eleven: Shakti in Taoismhttp://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/sas/sas10.htm (7 of 7)07/03/2005 16:02:49Chapter Eleven: Shakti in Taoismpkmishra1961@rediffmail.comFor Learning Meditation , Kundalini Yoga etc.--> CONTACT :->> PH : GSM : +91-9990 90 8228Sacred-texts Tantra Index Previous NextChapter ElevenShakti in TaoismThe belief in Shakti or the Divine Power as distinguished from the Divine Essence (Svarupa), the formerbeing generally imagined for purposes of worship as being in female form, is very ancient.The conceptof Shakti in Chinese Taoism is not merely a proof of this (for the Shakti notion is much older) but is anindication of the ancient Indian character of the doctrine.There are some who erroneously think, theconcept had its origin in "Sivaic mysticism," having its origin somewhere in the sixth century of our era.Lao-tze or the "old master" was twenty years senior to Confucius and his life was said to have beenpassed between 570-490 B.C.A date commonly accepted by European Orientalists as that of the deathof Buddha (Indian and Tibetan opinions being regarded, as "extravagant") would bring his life into thesixth century s.c., one of the most wonderful in the world's history.Lao-tze is said to have written theTao-tei-king, the fundamental text of Taoism.This title means Treatise on Tao and Tei.Tao which Lao-tze calls "The great" is in its Sanskrit equivalent Brahman and Tei is Its power or activity or Shakti.AsFather P.L.Wieger, S.J., to whose work (Histoire des Croyances Religieuses et des OpinionsPhilosophiques en Chine, p.143 et seg.1917) I am here indebted, points out, Lao-tze did not inventTaoism no more than Confucius (557-419 B.C.) invented Confucianism.It is characteristic of these andother Ancient Eastern Masters that they do not claim to be more than "transmitters" of a wisdom olderthan themselves.Lao-tze was not the first to teach Taoism.He had precursors who, however, were notauthors.He was the writer of the first book on Taoism which served as the basis for the furtherdevelopment of the doctrine.On this account its paternity is attributed to him.There was reference tothis doctrine it is said in the official archives (p.743).The pre-Taoists were the analysts and astrologersof the Tcheou.Lao-tze who formulated the system was one of them (ib.69).The third Ministrycontaining these archives registered all which came from foreign parts, as Taoism did.For as FatherWieger says, Taoism is in its main lines a Chinese adaptation of the contemporary doctrine of theUpanishads ("or le Taoisme est dans ses grandes lignes une adaptation Chinoise de la doctrine Indiennecontemporaine des Upanisads").The actual fact of importation cannot in default of documents be provedbut as the learned author says, the fact that the doctrine was not Chinese, that it was then current inIndia, and its sudden spread in China, creates in favor of the argument for foreign importation almost acertain conclusion.The similarity of the two doctrines is obvious to any one acquainted with that of theUpanishads and the doctrine of Shakti.The dualism of the manifesting Unity (Tao) denoted by Yin-Yang appears for the first time in a text of Confucius, a contemporary of Lao-tze, who may haveinformed him of it.All Chinese Monism descends from Lao-tze.The patriarchal texts were developedby the great Fathers of Taoism Lie-tzeu and Tchong-tzeu (see "Les P�res du syst�me Taoiste" by thesame author) whom the reverend father calls the only real thinkers that China has produced.Both werepractically prior to the contact of Greece and India on the Indus under Alexander.The first developmentof Taoism was in the South.It passed later to the North where it had a great influence.According to Taoism there was in the beginning, is now, and ever will be an ultimate Reality, which ishttp://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/sas/sas11.htm (1 of 4)07/03/2005 16:02:52Chapter Eleven: Shakti in Taoismpkmishra1961@rediffmail.comFor Learning Meditation , Kundalini Yoga etc.--> CONTACT :->> PH : GSM : +91-9990 90 8228variously called Huan the Mystery, which cannot be named or defined, because human language is thelanguage of limited beings touching limited objects, whereas Tao is imperceptible to the senses and theunproduced cause of all, beyond which there is nothing: Ou the Formless, or Tao the causal principle,the unlimited inexhaustible source from which all comes, ("Tao le principe parceque tout derive de lui")Itself proceeds from nothing but all from It.So it is said of Brahman that It is in Itself beyond mind andspeech, formless and (as the Brahmasutra says) That from which the Universe is born, by which it ismaintained and into which it is dissolved.From the abyss of Its Being, It throws out all forms ofExistence and is never emptied.It is an infinite source exteriorizing from Itself all forms, by Its Power(Tei).These forms neither diminish nor add to Tao which remains ever the same.These limited beingsare as a drop of water in Its ocean.Tao is the sum of, and yet as infinite, beyond all individualexistences.Like Brahman, Tao is one, eternal, infinite, self-existent, omnipresent, unchanging(Immutable) and complete (Purna).At a particular moment (to speak in our language for It was thenbeyond time) Tao threw out from Itself Tei Its Power (Vertu or Shakti) which operates in alternatingmodes called Yin and Yang and produces, as it were by condensation of its subtlety (Shakti ghanibhuta),the Heaven and Earth and Air between, from which come all beings.The two modes of Its activity, Yinand Yang, are inherent in the Primal That, and manifest as modes of its Tei or Shakti.Yin is rest, andtherefore after the creation of the phenomenal world a going back, retraction, concentration towards theoriginal Unity (Nivritti), whereas Yang is action and therefore the opposite principle of going forth orexpansion (Pravritti).These modes appear in creation under the sensible forms of Earth (Yin) andHeaven (Yang).The one original principle or Tao, like Shiva and Shakti, thus becomes dual inmanifestation as Heaven-Earth from which emanate other existences.The state of Jinn is one of rest,concentration and imperceptibility which was the own state (Svarupa) of Tao before time and thingswere.The state of fang is that of action, expansion, of manifestation in sentient beings and is the state ofTao in time, and that which is in a sense not Its true state ("L'etat Yin de concentration, de repos,d'imperceptibilit�, qui fut celui du Principe avant le temps, est son �tat propre.L'etat Yang d'expansion etd'action, de manifestation dans les �tres sensibles, est son �tat dans le temps, en quelque sorteimpropre").All this again is Indian.The primal state of Brahman or Shiva-Shakti before manifestation isthat in which It rests in Itself (Svarupa-vishranti), that is, the state of rest and infinite formlessness.Itthen by Its Power (Shakti) manifests the universe [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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