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Crazy wisdom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crazy wisdom was a term coined by
Chögyam Trungpa.
[1]
Since Trungpa described crazy wisdom in various ways, some scholars
have suggested he did not have a fixed idea of crazy wisdom.
[1]
Various aspects
The student
In his book "Crazy wisdom", the Tibetan
tülku Chögyam Trungpa describes the phenomenon as a process of spiritual discovery:
Instead we explore further and further and further without looking
for an answer. [...] We don't make a big point or an answer out of any
one thing. For example, we might think that because we have discovered
one particular thing that is wrong with us, that must be it, that
must be the problem, that must be the answer. No. We don't fixate on
that, we go further. "Why is that the case?" We look further and
further. We ask: "Why is this so?" Why is there spirituality? Why is
there awakening? Why is there this moment of relief? Why is there such a
thing as discovering the pleasure of spirituality? Why, why, why?" We
go on deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper, until we reach the point
where there is no answer. [...] At that point we tend to give up hope of
an answer, or of anything whatsoever, for that matter. [...] This
hopelessness is the essence of crazy wisdom. It is hopeless, utterly
hopeless.[2]
Non-duality
From a particular Buddhadharma spiritual
lexicon and perspective, Georg Feuerstein implies
nonduality in his equating the essence of
Saṃsāra and
Nirvāṇa as the root of crazy wisdom: "Crazy wisdom is the articulation in life of the realization that the phenomenal world (
Sanskrit: संसार
saṃsāra) and the transcendental Reality (Sanskrit: निर्वाण
nirvāṇa) share the same essence."
[3] Generally, the difference between
Sanātana Dharma
and Buddhadharma conceptions of "Samsara" and "samsara", respectively,
are the former, a proper noun denoting a relative apparent locality, and
the latter, an interiority or state of mind, the two are resolvable
when understood from a nondual perspective.
Feuerstein then enters the spiritual lexicon of
Advaita Vedanta with what may in an
etic Anthropological discourse be proffered as its
culturally relative memes,
archetypes,
literary motifs and
cultural tokens of
Atman,
Brahman,
Paramatman and
Satcitananda (which Feuerstein glosses to the contraction of
Being-Consciousness with bliss implied or transcended) to identify the root of crazy wisdom:
Seen from the perspective of the unillumined mind, operating on the
basis of a sharp separation between subject and object, perfect
enlightenment is a paradoxical condition. The enlightened adept exists
as the ultimate Being-Consciousness but appears to inhabit a particular
body-mind. In the nondualist terms of the Indian teaching known as
advaita vedanta, enlightenment is the fulfillment of the two truths: the
innermost self (atman) is identical with the transcendental Self
(parama-atman); and the ultimate Ground (brahman) is identical with the
cosmos in all its manifestations, including the self.[3]
Avadhuta
Feuerstein frames how the term
Avadhuta (Sanskrit: अवधूत
avadhūta) came to be associated with the mad or eccentric holiness or "crazy wisdom" of some
antinomian paramahamsa who were often "skyclad" or "naked" (Sanskrit:
digambara):
The appellation "avadhuta," more than any other, came to be
associated with the apparently crazy modes of behaviour of some
paramahamsas, who dramatize the reversal of social norms, a behaviour
characteristic of their spontaneous lifestyle. Their frequent nakedness
is perhaps the most symbolic expression of this reversal.[4]
Feuerstein equates the Avadhuta with the "
sacred fool":
The crazy wisdom message and method are understandably offensive to
both the secular and the conventional religious establishments. Hence
crazy adepts have generally been suppressed. This was not the case in
traditional Tibet and India, where the "holy fool" or "saintly madman"
[and madwoman] has long been recognized as a legitimate figure in the
compass of spiritual aspiration and realization. In India, the avadhuta is one who, in his [or her] God-intoxication, has "cast off" all concerns and conventional standards.[4]
Crazy wisdom as a universal cultural phenomenon
Feuerstein lists
Zen-poet
Han-shan
(fl. 9th century) as one of the crazy-wise, explaining that when people
would ask him about Zen, he would only laugh hysterically. He also
counts
Zen master
Ikkyu (15th century), the Christian saint
Isadora, and the
Sufi storyteller
Mulla Nasruddin among the crazy wise teachers.
[5] Other adepts that have attained "mad" mental states, according to Feuerstein, include the
masts and
bauls of India, and the intoxicated Sufis associated with
shath.
[6]
June McDaniel, in her work on the divine madness of the medieval
bhakti saints in
Bengal, mentions multiple parallels to this phenomenon in other cultures:
Plato in his
Phaedrus, the
Hasidic Jews, Eastern Orthodoxy,
Western Christianity and the Sufi all bear witness to the phenomenon of divine madness.
[7] The
bhakti
divine madness may show itself in a total absorption in the divine,
complete renunciation and surrender to divinity and the participation in
the deity and divine pastime rather than its aping or imitation.
[8] Though the participation in the divine is generally favoured in
Vaishnava bhakti discourse throughout the
sampradayas rather than imitation of the divine 'play' (Sanskrit:
lila), there is the important anomaly of the
Vaishnava-Sahajiya sect.
[9]
Divine madness may also be seen in the biography, hagiography and poetry of the
Alvars and it has parallels in others religions, such as the
Fools for Christ in
Christianity, and the
Sufis (particularly
Malamati) in
Islam.
[10] The 9th-century Indian philosopher
Adi Shankara
also described that an enlightened man may act like a Jadvat (an inert
thing), a Balvat (child), an Unmat (a manic) or a Pissachvat (ghost).
[citation needed]
See also
Notes
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