In Indian religions, nirvana is synonymous with moksha and mukti.
All Indian religions assert it to be a state of perfect quietude,
freedom, highest happiness as well as the liberation from attachment and
worldly suffering and the ending of samsara, the round of existence. However, non-Buddhist and Buddhist traditions describe these terms for liberation differently. In Hindu philosophy, it is the union of or the realization of the identity of Atman with Brahman, depending on the Hindu tradition.In Jainism, nirvana is also the soteriological goal, representing the release of a soul from karmic bondage and samsara. In Buddhism, nirvana refers to the abandonment of the 10 fetters, marking the end of rebirth by stilling the "fires" that keep the process of rebirth going.
Etymology
The
ideas of spiritual liberation, with the concept of soul and Brahman,
appear in Vedic texts and Upanishads, such as in verse 4.4.6 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
The term nirvana in the soteriological sense of "blown
out, extinguished" state of liberation appears at many places in the
Vedas and even more in the post-Buddhist Bhagavata Purana, however populist opinion does not give credit to either the Vedas or the Upanishads. Collins states, "the Buddhists seem to have been the first to call it nirvana."
This may have been deliberate use of words in early Buddhism, suggests
Collins, since Atman and Brahman were described in Vedic texts and
Upanishads with the imagery of fire, as something good, desirable and
liberating. Collins says the word nirvāṇa is from the verbal root vā "blow" in the form of past participle vāna "blown", prefixed with the preverb nis meaning "out". Hence the original meaning of the word is "blown out, extinguished". (Sandhi changes the sounds: the v of vāna causes nis to become nir, and then the r of nir causes retroflexion of the following n: nis+vāna > nirvāṇa). However the Buddhist meaning of nirvana also has other interpretations.
L. S. Cousins
said that in popular usage nirvana was "the goal of Buddhist
discipline,... the final removal of the disturbing mental elements which
obstruct a peaceful and clear state of mind, together with a state of
awakening from the mental sleep which they induce."
Overview
Nirvāṇa is a term found in the texts of all major Indian religions – Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. It refers to the profound peace of mind that is acquired with moksha, liberation from samsara, or release from a state of suffering, after respective spiritual practice or sādhanā.
The liberation from Saṃsāra developed as an ultimate goal and
soteriological value in the Indian culture, and called by different
terms such as nirvana, moksha, mukti and kaivalya. This basic scheme
underlies Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, where "the ultimate aim is the
timeless state of moksa, or, as the Buddhists first seem to have called it, nirvana."
Although the term occurs in the literatures of a number of ancient
Indian traditions, the concept is most commonly associated with
Buddhism.
Some writers believe the concept was adopted by other Indian religions
after it became established in Buddhism, but with different meanings and
description, for instance the use of (Moksha) in the Hindu text Bhagavad Gita of the Mahabharata.
The idea of moksha is connected to the Vedic culture, where it conveyed a notion of amrtam, "immortality",and also a notion of a timeless,
"unborn", or "the still point of the turning world of time". It was
also its timeless structure, the whole underlying "the spokes of the
invariable but incessant wheel of time".
The hope for life after death started with notions of going to the
worlds of the Fathers or Ancestors and/or the world of the Gods or
Heaven.
The earliest Vedic texts
incorporate the concept of life, followed by an afterlife in heaven and
hell based on cumulative virtues (merit) or vices (demerit). However, the ancient Vedic Rishis
challenged this idea of afterlife as simplistic, because people do not
live an equally moral or immoral life. Between generally virtuous lives,
some are more virtuous; while evil too has degrees, and either
permanent heaven or permanent hell is disproportionate. The Vedic
thinkers introduced the idea of an afterlife in heaven or hell in
proportion to one's merit, and when this runs out, one returns and is
reborn. The idea of rebirth following "running out of merit" appears in Buddhist texts as well. This idea appears in many ancient and medieval texts, as Saṃsāra, or the endless cycle of life, death, rebirth and redeath, such as section 6:31 of the Mahabharata and verse 9.21 of the Bhagavad Gita. The Saṃsara, the life after death, and what impacts rebirth came to be seen as dependent on karma.
Traditional mural painting depicting Gautama Buddha entering parinirvana, Dharma assembly pavilion, Wat Botum Wattey Reacheveraram, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Nirvana (nibbana) literally means "blowing out" or "quenching".
It is the most used as well as the earliest term to describe the
soteriological goal in Buddhism: the extinguishing of the passions,
which also gives release from the cycle of rebirth (saṃsāra). Nirvana is part of the Third Truth on "cessation of dukkha" in the Four Noble Truths doctrine of Buddhism. It is the goal of the Noble Eightfold Path.
The Buddha is believed in the Buddhist scholastic tradition to have realized two types of nirvana, one at awakening, and another at his death. The first is called sopadhishesa-nirvana (nirvana with a remainder), the second parinirvana or anupadhishesa-nirvana (nirvana without remainder, or final nirvana).
In the Buddhist tradition, nirvana is described as the extinguishing of the fires, which are also said to cause rebirths and associated suffering. The Buddhist texts identify these "three fires" or "three poisons" as raga (greed, sensuality), dvesha (aversion, hate) and avidyā or moha (ignorance, delusion).
The state of nirvana is also described in Buddhism as cessation
of all afflictions, cessation of all actions, cessation of rebirths and
suffering that are a consequence of afflictions and actions, a fire going out for lack of fuel, abandoning weaving (vana) together of life after life, and the elimination of desire.
Liberation is described as identical to anatta (anatman, non-self, lack of any self). In Buddhism, liberation is achieved when all things and beings are understood to be with no Self. Nirvana is also described as identical to achieving sunyata (emptiness), where there is no essence or fundamental nature in anything, and everything is empty. Yet, in Theravada Buddhism it is also seen as the only unconditioned existent, not just "destruction of desire" but a separate existent which is "the object of the knowledge" of the Buddhist path.
Hinduism
The most ancient texts of Hinduism such as the Vedas and early Upanishads do not mention the soteriological term Nirvana. This term is found in texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Nirvana Upanishad, likely composed in the post-Buddha era. The concept of Nirvana is described differently in Buddhist and Hindu literature. Hinduism has the concept of Atman – the soul, self – asserted to exist in every living being, while Buddhism asserts through its anatman doctrine that there is no Atman in any being.
Nirvana in Buddhism is "stilling mind, cessation of desires, and
action" unto emptiness, states Jeaneane Fowler, while nirvana in
post-Buddhist Hindu texts is also "stilling mind but not inaction" and
"not emptiness", rather it is the knowledge of true Self (Atman) and the
acceptance of its universality and unity with Brahman.
The ancient soteriological concept in Hinduism is moksha, described
as the liberation from the cycle of birth and death through
self-knowledge and the eternal connection of Atman (soul, self) and
metaphysical Brahman. Moksha is derived from the root muc* (Sanskrit: मुच्) which means free, let go, release, liberate; Moksha means "liberation, freedom, emancipation of the soul".In the Vedas and early Upanishads, the word mucyate (Sanskrit: मुच्यते) appears, which means to be set free or release – such as of a horse from its harness.
The traditions within Hinduism state that there are multiple paths (Sanskrit: marga) to moksha: jnana-marga, the path of knowledge; bhakti-marga, the path of devotion; and karma-marga, the path of action.
Brahma-nirvana in the Bhagavad Gita
The term Brahma-nirvana appears in verses 2.72 and 5.24-26 of the Bhagavad Gita. It is the state of release or liberation; the union with the Brahman. According to Easwaran, it is an experience of blissful egolessness.
According to Zaehner, Johnson and other scholars, nirvana in the Gita is a Buddhist term adopted by the Hindus.
Zaehner states it was used in Hindu texts for the first time in the
Bhagavad Gita, and that the idea therein in verse 2.71–72 to "suppress
one's desires and ego" is also Buddhist. According to Johnson the term nirvana
is borrowed from the Buddhists to confuse the Buddhists, by linking the
Buddhist nirvana state to the pre-Buddhist Vedic tradition of
metaphysical absolute called Brahman.
According to Mahatma Gandhi, the Hindu and Buddhist understanding of nirvana are different because the nirvana of the Buddhists is shunyata, emptiness, but the nirvana of the Gita means peace and that is why it is described as brahma-nirvana (oneness with Brahman).
Kalpasutra folio on Mahavira Nirvana. Note the crescent shaped Siddhashila, a place where all siddhas reside after nirvana.
The terms moksa and nirvana are often used interchangeably in the Jain texts.
Rishabhanatha, believed to have lived millions of years ago, was the first Tirthankara to attain nirvana.
Uttaradhyana Sutra provides an account of Sudharman – also called
Gautama, and one of the disciples of Mahavira – explaining the meaning
of nirvana to Kesi, a disciple of Parshva.
There is a safe place in view of
all, but difficult of approach, where there is no old age nor death, no
pain nor disease. It is what is called nirvāṇa, or freedom from pain, or
perfection, which is in view of all; it is the safe, happy, and quiet
place which the great sages reach. That is the eternal place, in view of
all, but difficult of approach. Those sages who reach it are free from
sorrows, they have put an end to the stream of existence. (81–4) –
Translated by Hermann Jacobi, 1895
Sikhism
The concept of liberation as "extinction of suffering", along with the idea of sansara as the "cycle of rebirth" is also part of Sikhism. Nirvana appears in Sikh texts as the term Nirban. However, the more common term is Mukti or Moksh, a salvation concept wherein loving devotion to God is emphasized for liberation from endless cycle of rebirths.
In Sikhism Nirvana is not an after life concept but a goal for the
living. Furthermore, Sikh nirvana/mukti is achieved through devotion to
satguru/truth who sets you free from reincarnation
bharam/superstition/false belief.
Manichaenism
The term Nirvana (also mentioned is parinirvana) is in the 13th or 14th century Manichaean work "The great song to Mani" and "The story of the Death of Mani", referring to the realm of light.
A religious experience (sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, mystical experience) is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense against the growing rationalism of Western society. William James popularised the concept. In some religions, this is said to sometimes result in unverified personal gnosis.
Many religious and mystical traditions see religious experiences (particularly the knowledge which comes with them) as revelations caused by divine agency rather than ordinary natural processes. They are considered real encounters with God or gods, or real contact with higher-order realities of which humans are not ordinarily aware.
Skeptics may hold that religious experience is an evolved feature of the human brain amenable to normal scientific study.
The commonalities and differences between religious experiences across
different cultures have enabled scholars to categorize them for academic
study.
Transient – the experience is temporary; the individual
soon returns to a "normal" frame of mind. Feels outside normal
perception of space and time.
Ineffable – the experience cannot be adequately put into words.
Noetic –
the individual feels that he or she has learned something valuable from
the experience. Feels to have gained knowledge that is normally hidden
from human understanding.
Passive – the experience happens to the individual, largely
without conscious control. Although there are activities, such as
meditation (see below), that can make religious experience more likely,
it is not something that can be turned on and off at will.
Rudolf Otto
The German philosopher and theologian Rudolf Otto
(1869–1937) argues that there is one common factor to all religious
experience, independent of the cultural background. In his book The Idea of the Holy (1923) he identifies this factor as the numinous. The "numinous" experience has two aspects:
mysterium tremendum, which is the tendency to invoke fear and trembling;
mysterium fascinans, the tendency to attract, fascinate and compel.
The numinous experience also has a personal quality to it, in that
the person feels to be in communion with a holy other. Otto sees the
numinous as the only possible religious experience. He states: "There is
no religion in which it [the numinous] does not live as the real
innermost core and without it no religion would be worthy of the name".
Otto does not take any other kind of religious experience such as
ecstasy and enthusiasm seriously and is of the opinion that they belong
to the 'vestibule of religion'.
Norman Habel
Biblical scholar Norman Habel
defines religious experiences as the structured way in which a believer
enters into a relationship with, or gains an awareness of, the sacred
within the context of a particular religious tradition. Religious experiences are by their very nature preternatural;
that is, out of the ordinary or beyond the natural order of things.
They may be difficult to distinguish observationally from
psychopathological states such as psychoses or other forms of altered awareness.
Not all preternatural experiences are considered to be religious
experiences. Following Habel's definition, psychopathological states or
drug-induced states of awareness are not considered to be religious
experiences because they are mostly not performed within the context of a
particular religious tradition.
Moore and Habel identify two classes of religious experiences: the immediate and the mediated religious experience.
Mediated – In the mediated experience, the believer experiences the sacred through mediators such as rituals, special persons, religious groups, totemic objects or the natural world.
Immediate – The immediate experience comes to the believer without any intervening agency or mediator. The deity or divine is experienced directly.
Richard Swinburne
In his book Faith and Reason, the philosopher Richard Swinburne formulated five categories into which all religious experiences fall:
Public – a believer 'sees God's hand at work', whereas other explanations are possible e.g. looking at a beautiful sunset
Public – an unusual event that breaches natural law e.g. walking on water
Private – describable using normal language e.g. Jacob's vision of a ladder
Private – indescribable using normal language, usually a
mystical experience e.g. "white did not cease to be white, nor black
cease to be black, but black became white and white became black."
Private – a non-specific, general feeling of God working in one's life.
Swinburne also suggested two principles for the assessment of religious experiences:
Principle of Credulity – with the absence of any reason
to disbelieve it, one should accept what appears to be true e.g. if one
sees someone walking on water, one should believe that it is occurring.
Principle of Testimony – with the absence of any reason to
disbelieve them, one should accept that eyewitnesses or believers are
telling the truth when they testify about religious experiences.
Related terms
Ecstasy, trance – In ecstasy the believer is understood to have a soul
or spirit which can leave the body. In ecstasy the focus is on the soul
leaving the body and to experience transcendental realities. This type
of religious experience is characteristic for the shaman.
Enthusiasm – In enthusiasm – or possession –
God is understood to be outside, other than or beyond the believer. A
sacred power, being or will enters the body or mind of an individual and
possesses it. A person capable of being possessed is sometimes called a
medium. The deity, spirit or power uses such a person to communicate to the immanent
world. Lewis argues that ecstasy and possession are basically one and
the same experience, ecstasy being merely one form which possession may
take. The outward manifestation of the phenomenon is the same in that
shamans appear to be possessed by spirits, act as their mediums, and
even though they claim to have mastery over them, can lose that mastery.
Mystical experience –
Mystical experiences are in many ways the opposite of numinous
experiences. In the mystical experience, all 'otherness' disappear and
the believer becomes one with the transcendent. The believer discovers
that he or she is not distinct from the cosmos, the deity or the other
reality, but one with it. Zaehner has identified two distinctively
different mystical experiences: natural and religious mystical
experiences.
Natural mystical experiences are, for example, experiences of the
'deeper self' or experiences of oneness with nature. Zaehner argues that
the experiences typical of 'natural mysticism' are quite different from
the experiences typical of religious mysticism.
Natural mystical experiences are not considered to be religious
experiences because they are not linked to a particular tradition, but
natural mystical experiences are spiritual experiences that can have a
profound effect on the individual.
Spiritual awakening – A spiritual awakening usually involves a
realization or opening to a sacred dimension of reality and may be a
religious experience. Often a spiritual awakening has lasting effects
upon one's life. It may refer to any of a wide range of experiences
including being born again, near-death experiences, Liberation (moksha), and Enlightenment (bodhi).
History of the concept
Origins
The notion of "religious experience" can be traced back to William James, who used the term "religious experience" in his book, The Varieties of Religious Experience.
It is considered to be the classic work in the field, and references to
James' ideas are common at professional conferences. James
distinguished between institutional religion and personal religion.
Institutional religion refers to the religious group or organization,
and plays an important part in a society's culture. Personal religion,
in which the individual has mystical experience, can be experienced regardless of the culture.
The origins of the use of this term can be dated further back.
In the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, several historical figures put
forth very influential views that religion and its beliefs can be
grounded in experience itself. While Kant held that moral experience justified religious beliefs, John Wesley in addition to stressing individual moral exertion thought that the religious experiences in the Methodist movement (paralleling the Romantic Movement) were foundational to religious commitment as a way of life.
Wayne Proudfoot traces the roots of the notion of "religious experience" to the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher
(1768–1834), who argued that religion is based on a feeling of the
infinite. The notion of "religious experience" was used by
Schleiermacher and Albert Ritschl
to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique,
and defend the view that human (moral and religious) experience
justifies religious beliefs.
The notion of "religious experience" was adopted by many scholars of religion, of which William James was the most influential.
According to the Perennial philosophy, the mystical experiences in
all religions are essentially the same. It supposes that many, if not
all of the world's great religions, have arisen around the teachings of
mystics, including Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tze, and Krishna.
It also sees most religious traditions describing fundamental mystical
experience, at least esoterically. A major proponent in the 20th century
was Aldous Huxley, who "was heavily influenced in his description by Vivekananda's neo-Vedanta and the idiosyncratic version of Zen exported to the west by D.T. Suzuki. Both of these thinkers expounded their versions of the perennialist thesis", which they originally received from western thinkers and theologians.
Existentialism
Søren Kierkegaard argued that dying to the world and possessions is a foundational aspect of religious experience in Christianity.
Transcendentalism was an early 19th-century liberal Protestant movement, which was rooted in English and German Romanticism, the Biblical criticism of Herder and Schleiermacher, and the skepticism of Hume. The Transcendentalists emphasised an intuitive, experiential approach of religion. Following Schleiermacher, an individual's intuition of truth was taken as the criterion for truth.
In the late 18th and early 19th century, the first translations of
Hindu texts appeared, which were also read by the Transcendentalists,
and influenced their thinking. They also endorsed universalist and Unitarianist ideas, leading to Unitarian Universalism,
the idea that there must be truth in other religions as well, since a
loving God would redeem all living beings, not just Christians.
The Theosophical Society was formed in 1875 by Helena Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge and others to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy.
The Theosophical Society has been highly influential in promoting
interest, both in west and east, in a great variety of religious
teachings:
No single organization or movement has contributed so many components to the New Age Movement as the Theosophical Society ... It has been the major force in the dissemination of occult literature in the West in the twentieth century.
The Theosophical Society searched for 'secret teachings' in Asian
religions. It has been influential on modernist streams in several Asian
religions, notably Hindu reform movements, the revival of Theravada Buddhism, and D.T. Suzuki, who popularized the idea of enlightenment as insight into a timeless, transcendent reality. Another example can be seen in Paul Brunton'sA Search in Secret India, which introduced Ramana Maharshi to a western audience.
The interplay between western and eastern notions of religion is an
important factor in the development of modern mysticism. In the 19th
century, when Asian countries were colonialised by western states, a
process of cultural mimesis began.
In this process, Western ideas about religion, especially the notion of
"religious experience" were introduced to Asian countries by
missionaries, scholars and the Theosophical Society, and amalgamated in a
new understanding of the Indian and Buddhist traditions. This amalgam
was exported back to the West as 'authentic Asian traditions', and
acquired a great popularity in the west. Due to this western popularity,
it also gained authority back in India, Sri Lanka and Japan.
"Religious empiricism" is seen as highly problematic and was – during the period in-between world wars – famously rejected by the theologian Karl Barth.
In the 20th century, religious as well as moral experience as
justification for religious beliefs still held sway. Some influential
modern scholars who held this liberal theological view were Charles Raven and the Oxford physicist/theologian Charles Coulson.
Robert Sharf writes that "experience" is a typical Western term,
which has found its way into Asian religiosity via western influences.
The notion of "experience" introduces a false notion of duality between
"experiencer" and "experienced", whereas the essence of kensho is the
realisation of the "non-duality" of observer and observed. "Pure experience" does not exist; all experience is mediated by intellectual and cognitive activity.
The specific teachings and practices of a specific tradition may even
determine what "experience" someone has, which means that this
"experience" is not the proof of the teaching, but a result of the teaching. A pure consciousness without concepts, reached by "cleansing the doors of perception", would be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input without coherence.
The American scholar of religion and philosopher of social scienceJason Josephson Storm has also critiqued the definition and category of religious experience, especially when such experiences are used to define religion. He compares the appeal to experience to define religion to failed attempts to defend an essentialist definition of art by appeal to aesthetic experience, and implies that each category lacks a common psychological feature across all such experiences by which they may be defined.
Meditation: Meditative practices are used to calm the mind, and attain states of consciousness such as nirvikalpa samadhi. Meditation can be focused on the breath, concepts, mantras, symbols.
Questioning or investigating (self)representations/cognitive schemata, such as Self-enquiry, Hua Tou practice, and Douglas Harding's on having no head.
Neoplatonism is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, founded by Plotinus and based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists.
Neoplatonism teaches that along the same road by which it
descended the soul must retrace its steps back to the supreme Good. It
must first of all return to itself. This is accomplished by the practice
of virtue, which aims at likeness to God, and leads up to God. By means of ascetic
observances the human becomes once more a spiritual and enduring being,
free from all sin. But there is still a higher attainment; it is not
enough to be sinless, one must become "God" (see henosis). This is reached through contemplation of the primeval Being, the One – in other words, through an ecstatic approach to it.
It is only in a state of perfect passivity and repose that the
soul can recognize and touch the primeval Being. Hence the soul must
first pass through a spiritual curriculum. Beginning with the
contemplation of corporeal things in their multiplicity and harmony, it
then retires upon itself and withdraws into the depths of its own being,
rising thence to the nous, the world of ideas. But even there it
does not find the Highest, the One; it still hears a voice saying, "not
we have made ourselves." The last stage is reached when, in the highest
tension and concentration, beholding in silence and utter forgetfulness
of all things, it is able as it were to lose itself. Then it may see
God, the foundation of life, the source of being, the origin of all
good, the root of the soul. In that moment it enjoys the highest
indescribable bliss; it is as it were swallowed up of divinity, bathed
in the light of eternity. Porphyry tells us that on four occasions
during the six years of their intercourse Plotinus attained to this
ecstatic union with God.
Alcoholics Anonymous Twelfth Step
The
twelfth step of the Alcoholics Anonymous program states that "Having
had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to
carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all
our affairs". The terms "spiritual experience" and "spiritual awakening" are used many times in The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous which argues that a spiritual experience is needed to bring about recovery from alcoholism.
Christianity
In Evangelical Christianity,
becoming "Born Again" is understood to be essential for a Believer to
enter Heaven upon death. The effect is life-changing, and can also be
called a conversion experience.
Noting that religious experience should not be separated from care for one's neighbour, Pope Francis has observed that "there can be no true religious experience that is deaf to the cry of the world".
Christian doctrine generally maintains that God dwells in all
Christians and that they can experience God directly through belief in
Jesus. Christian mysticism aspires to apprehend spiritual truths inaccessible
through intellectual means, typically by emulation of Christ. William Inge divides this scala perfectionis into three stages: the "purgative" or ascetic stage, the "illuminative" or contemplative stage, and the third, "unitive" stage, in which God may be beheld "face to face."
The third stage, usually called contemplation
in the Western tradition, refers to the experience of oneself as united
with God in some way. The experience of union varies, but it is first
and foremost always associated with a reuniting with Divine love. The underlying theme here is that God, the perfect goodness, is known or experienced at least as much by the heart as by the intellect since, in the words of 1 John
4:16: "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in
him." Some approaches to classical mysticism would consider the first
two phases as preparatory to the third, explicitly mystical experience;
but others state that these three phases overlap and intertwine.
Hesychasm
Based on Christ's injunction in the Gospel of Matthew to "go into your closet to pray", hesychasm
in tradition has been the process of retiring inward by ceasing to
register the senses, in order to achieve an experiential knowledge of
God (see theoria).
The highest goal of the hesychast is the experiential knowledge
of God. In the 14th century, the possibility of this experiential
knowledge of God was challenged by a Calabrian monk, Barlaam,
who, although he was formally a member of the Orthodox Church, had been
trained in Western Scholastic theology. Barlaam asserted that our
knowledge of God can only be propositional. The practice of the
hesychasts was defended by St. Gregory Palamas.
Islam
While
all Muslims believe that they are on the pathway to God and will become
close to God in Paradise – after death and after the "Final Judgment" –
Sufis believe that it is possible to become close to God and to experience this closeness while one is alive.
The tariqa,
the 'path' on which the mystics walk, has been defined as 'the path
which comes out of the Shariah, for the main road is called shar, the
path, tariq.' No mystical experience can be realized if the binding
injunctions of the Shariah are not followed faithfully first. The tariqa however, is narrower and more difficult to walk. It leads the adept, called salik (wayfarer), in his suluk (wandering), through different stations (maqam) until he reaches his goal, the perfect tauhid, the existential confession that God is One.
Buddhism
The Buddha demonstrating control over fire and water. Gandhara, 3rd century CE
In Theravada Buddhism practice is described in the threefold training of discipline (śīla), meditative concentration (samādhi), and transcendent wisdom (prajñā). Zen-Buddhism emphasises the sole practice of meditation, while Vajrayana Buddhism utilizes a wide variety of practices. While the main aim of meditation and prajna is to let go of attachments, it may also result in a comprehension of the Buddha-nature and the inherent lucidness of the mind.
Different varieties of religious experience are described in detail in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. In its section on the fifty skandha-maras,
each of the five skandhas has ten skandha-maras associated with it, and
each skandha-mara is described in detail as a deviation from correct
samādhi. These skandha-maras are also known as the "fifty skandha
demons" in some English-language publications.
It is also believed that supernormal abilities are developed from meditation, which are termed "higher knowledge" (abhijñā), or "spiritual power" (ṛddhi). One early description found in the Samyutta Nikaya, which mentions abilities such as:
... he goes unhindered through a
wall, through a rampart, through a mountain as though through space; he
dives in and out of the earth as though it were water; he walks on water
without sinking as though it were earth; seated cross-legged, he
travels in space like a bird; with his hands he touches and strokes the
moon and sun so powerful and mighty; he exercises mastery with the body
as far as the brahmā world.
Hinduism
Building on European philosophers, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan reduced religion "to the core experience of reality in its fundamental unity". According to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, "Hinduism is not just a faith. It is the union of reason and intuition that cannot be defined, but is only to be experienced."
This emphasis on experience as validation of a religious worldview is a
modern development, which started in the 19th century, and was
introduced to Indian thought by western Unitarian missionaries. It has been popularized in Neo-Vedanta (also known as neo-Hinduism), which has dominated the popular understanding of Hinduism since the 19th century. It emphasizes mysticism. Swami Vivekananda presented the teachings of Neo-Vedanta as radical nondualism, unity between all religions and all persons.
Early studies in the 1950s and 1960s attempted to use EEGs to study brain wave patterns correlated with spiritual states. During the 1980s Dr. Michael Persinger stimulated the temporal lobes of human subjects with a weak magnetic field. His subjects claimed to have a sensation of "an ethereal presence in the room." Some current studies use neuroimaging to localize brain regions active, or differentially active, during religious experiences. These neuroimaging studies have implicated a number of brain regions, including the limbic system, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, superior parietal lobe, and caudate nucleus.
Based on the complex nature of religious experience, it is likely that
they are mediated by an interaction of neural mechanisms that all add a
small piece to the overall experience.
Neuroscience of religion, also known as neurotheology, biotheology or spiritual neuroscience, is the study of correlations of neural phenomena with subjective experiences of spirituality and hypotheses to explain these phenomena. Proponents of neurotheology claim that there is a neurological and evolutionary basis for subjective experiences traditionally categorized as spiritual or religious.
The neuroscience of religion takes neural correlates as the basis
of cognitive functions and religious experiences. These religious
experiences are thereby emergent properties
of neural correlates. This approach does not necessitate exclusion of
the Self, but interprets the Self as influenced or otherwise acted upon
by underlying neural mechanisms. Proponents argue that religious
experience can be evoked through stimulus of specific brain regions and/or can be observed through measuring increase in activity of specific brain regions.
According to the neurotheologist Andrew B. Newberg
and two colleagues, neurological processes which are driven by the
repetitive, rhythmic stimulation which is typical of human ritual, and
which contribute to the delivery of transcendental feelings of
connection to a universal unity.[clarification needed]
They posit, however, that physical stimulation alone is not sufficient
to generate transcendental unitive experiences. For this to occur they
say there must be a blending of the rhythmic stimulation with ideas.
Once this occurs "...ritual turns a meaningful idea into a visceral
experience."
Moreover, they say that humans are compelled to act out myths by the
biological operations of the brain due to what they call the "inbuilt
tendency of the brain to turn thoughts into actions."
An alternate approach is influenced by personalism, and exists contra-parallel to the reductionist approach. It focuses on the Self as the object of interest, the same object of interest as in religion. According to Patrick McNamara, a proponent of personalism, the Self is a neural entity that controls rather than consists of the cognitive functions being processed in brain regions.
A biological basis for religious experience may exist. References to the supernatural or mythical beings first appeared approximately 40,000 years ago. A popular theory posits that dopaminergic brain systems are the evolutionary basis for human intellect and more specifically abstract reasoning.
The capacity for religious thought arises from the capability to
employ abstract reasoning. There is no evidence to support the theory
that abstract reasoning, generally or with regard to religious thought,
evolved independent of the dopaminergic axis.
Religious behavior has been linked to "extrapersonal brain systems that
predominate the ventromedial cortex and rely heavily on dopaminergic
transmission."
A biphasic effect exists with regard to activation of the dopaminergic
axis and/or ventromedial cortex. While mild activation can evoke a
perceived understanding of the supernatural, extreme activation can lead
to delusions characteristic of psychosis. Stress can cause the depletion of 5-hydroxytryptamine, also referred to as serotonin.
The ventromedial 5-HT axis is involved in peripersonal activities such
as emotional arousal, social skills, and visual feedback.
When 5-HT is decreased or depleted, one may become subject to
"incorrect attributions of self-initiated or internally generated
activity (e.g. hallucinations)."
A 2011 paper suggested that psychiatric conditions associated with psychotic
spectrum symptoms may be possible explanations for revelatory driven
experiences and activities such as those of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and
Saint Paul.
Temporal lobe epilepsy has become a popular field of study due to its correlation to religious experience. Religious experiences and hyperreligiosity are often used to characterize those with temporal lobe epilepsy. Visionary religious experiences, and momentary lapses of consciousness, may point toward a diagnosis of Geschwind syndrome.
More generally, the symptoms are consistent with features of temporal
lobe epilepsy, not an uncommon feature in religious icons and mystics. It seems that this phenomenon is not exclusive to TLE, but can manifest in the presence of other epileptic variates as well as mania, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia, conditions characterized by ventromedial dopaminergic dysfunction.
A number of studies by Roland R. Griffiths and other researchers have concluded that high doses of psilocybin and other classic psychedelics trigger mystical experiences in most research participants. Mystical experiences have been measured by a number of psychometric scales, including the Hood Mysticism Scale, the Spiritual Transcendence Scale, and the Mystical Experience Questionnaire.
The revised version of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire, for
example, asks participants about four dimensions of their experience,
namely the "mystical" quality, positive mood such as the experience of
amazement, the loss of the usual sense of time and space, and the sense
that the experience cannot be adequately conveyed through words.
The questions on the "mystical" quality in turn probe multiple aspects:
the sense of "pure" being, the sense of unity with one's surroundings,
the sense that what one experienced was real, and the sense of
sacredness.
Some researchers have questioned the interpretation of the results from
these studies and whether the framework and terminology of mysticism
are appropriate in a scientific context, while other researchers have
responded to those criticisms and argued that descriptions of mystical
experiences are compatible with a scientific worldview.
Several psychologists have proposed models in which religious experiences are part of a process of transformation of the self.
Carl Jung's
work on himself and his patients convinced him that life has a
spiritual purpose beyond material goals. One's main task, he believed,
is to discover and fulfil deep innate potential, much as the acorn
contains the potential to become the oak, or the caterpillar to become
the butterfly. Based on his study of Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, Taoism,
and other traditions, Jung perceived that this journey of
transformation is at the mystical heart of all religions. It is a
journey to meet the self and at the same time to meet the Divine. Unlike
Sigmund Freud, Jung thought spiritual experience was essential to
well-being.
The notion of the numinous
was an important concept in the writings of Carl Jung. Jung regarded
numinous experiences as fundamental to an understanding of the
individuation process because of their association with experiences of synchronicity in which the presence of archetypes is felt.
McNamara proposes that religious experiences may help in
"decentering" the self, and transform it into an integral self which is
closer to an ideal self.
In 2002, episcopal priest and Christian humanist Reverend Fletcher Harper interviewed hundreds of people of various faiths about divine experiences involving nature. These were incorporated into his 2015 book, GreenFaith: Mobilizing God’s People to Protect the Earth. His 1992 global grassroots organization, GreenFaith, includes interfaith
activists and clergy with over 100 chapters in 40 countries in the
Pacific Islands, North America, Australia, Asia, Latin America, Africa,
and Europe, all of whom advocate for the environment on a religious
basis.
In the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as the King of the Jews, both at the beginning of his life and at the end. In the Koine Hellenic of the New Testament, e.g., in John 19:3, this is written as Basileus ton Ioudaion (βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων).
The initialism INRI (Latin: Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum) represents the Latin inscription (in John 19:19 and Matthew 27:37), which in English translates to "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews", and John 19:20 states that this was written in three languages—Jewish tongue, Latin, and Hellenic (ΙΝΒΙ = Ιησούς Ναζωραίος Βασιλεύς Ιουδαίων)—during the crucifixion of Jesus.
The title "King of the Jews" is only used in the New Testament by gentiles, namely by the Magi, Pontius Pilate, and the Roman soldiers. In contrast, the Jews in the New Testament use the title "King of Israel" or the Hebrew word Messiah, which can also mean king.
Although the phrase "King of the Jews" is used in most English translations, it has also been translated "King of the Judeans" (see Ioudaioi).
In the account of the nativity of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, the Biblical Magi go to King Herod in Jerusalem and (in Matthew 2:2) ask him: "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" Herod asks the "chief priests and teachers of the law", who tell him in Bethlehem of Judea.
The question troubles Herod who considers the title his own, and in Matthew 2:7–8 he questions the Magi about the exact time of the Star of Bethlehem's
appearance. Herod sends the Magi to Bethlehem, telling them to notify
him when they find the child. After the Magi find Jesus and present
their gifts, having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they
returned to their country by a different way.
An angel appears to Joseph in a dream and warns him to take Jesus and Mary into Egypt (Matthew 2:13). When Herod realizes he has been outwitted by the Magi he gives orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who are two years old and under. (Matthew 2:16)
In the Passion narratives
In the accounts of the Passion of Jesus, the title King of the Jews
is used on three occasions. In the first such episode, all four Gospels
state that the title was used for Jesus when he was interviewed by
Pilate and that his crucifixion was based on that charge, as in Matthew 27:11, Mark 15:2, Luke 23:3 and John 18:33.
Acronyms for "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" written in three languages (as in John 19:20) on the cross, Ellwangen Abbey, Germany
The use of the terms king and kingdom and the role of the Jews in using the term king to accuse Jesus are central to the discussion between Jesus and Pilate. In Matthew 27:11, Mark 15:2, and Luke 23:3
Jesus responds to Pilate, "you have said so" when asked if Jesus is the
King of the Jews and says nothing further. This answer is traditionally
interpreted as an affirmative. Some scholars describe it as ambiguous and enigmatic.
Other scholars say it was calculated not to anger Pilate while allowing
the gospel reader to understand that the answer is affirmative. In John 18:34, he hints that the king accusation did not originate with Pilate but with "others" and, in John 18:36, he states: "My kingdom is not of this world". However, Jesus does not directly deny being the King of the Jews.
In the New Testament, Pilate writes "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews" as a sign to be affixed to the cross of Jesus. John 19:21
states that the Jews told Pilate: "Do not write King of the Jews" but
instead write that Jesus had merely claimed that title, but Pilate wrote
it anyway. Pilate's response to the protest is recorded by John: "What I have written, I have written."
The continued reliance on the use of the term king by the Judeans to press charges against Jesus is a key element of the final decision to crucify him. In John 19:12
Pilate seeks to release Jesus, but the Jews object, saying: "If thou
release this man, thou art not Caesar's friend: every one that maketh
himself a king speaketh against Caesar", bringing the power of Caesar to
the forefront of the discussion. In John 19:12, the Jews then cry out: "Crucify him! ... We have no king but Caesar."
The use of the term "King of the Jews" by the early Church
after the death of Jesus was thus not without risk, for this term could
have opened them to prosecution as followers of Jesus, who was accused
of possible rebellion against Rome.
The final use of the title only appears in Luke 23:36–37. Here, after Jesus has carried the cross to Calvary and has been nailed to the cross, the soldiers look up on him on the cross, mock him, offer him vinegar and say: "If thou art the King of the Jews, save thyself." In the parallel account in Matthew 27:42,
the Jewish priests mock Jesus as "King of Israel", saying: "He is the
King of Israel; let him now come down from the cross, and we will
believe in him."
King of the Jews vs King of Israel
In
the New Testament, the "King of the Jews" title is used only by the
gentiles, by the Magi, Pontius Pilate, and Roman soldiers. In contrast,
the Jews in the New Testament prefer the designation "King of Israel" as
used reverentially by Jesus' Jewish followers in John 1:49 and John 12:13, and mockingly by the Jewish leaders in Matthew 27:42 and Mark 15:32.
From Pilate's perspective, it is the term "King" (regardless of Jews or
Israel) that is sensitive, for it implies possible rebellion against
the Roman Empire.
In the Gospel of Mark
the distinction between King of the Jews and King of Israel is made
consciously, setting apart the two uses of the term by the Jews and the
gentiles.
The initialism INRI represents the Latin inscription IESVS NAZARENVS REX IVDÆORVM (Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum), which in English translates to "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews" (John 19:19). John 19:20 states that this was written in three languages – Aramaic-Hebrew, Latin, and Greek – and was put on the cross of Jesus. The Greek version of the initialism reads ΙΝΒΙ, representing Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ βασιλεύς τῶν Ἰουδαίων (Iēsoûs ho Nazōraîos ho basileús tôn Ioudaíōn).
In Western Christianity, most crucifixes and many depictions of the crucifixion of Jesus include a plaque or parchment placed above his head, called a titulus, or title, bearing only the Latin lettersINRI, occasionally carved directly into the cross and usually just above the head of Jesus.
The initialism INRI (as opposed to the full inscription) was in use by the 10th century (Gero Cross, Cologne, ca. 970).
Eastern Christianity
In Eastern Christianity, both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholicparticular churchessui iuris use the Greek lettersΙΝΒΙ, based on the Greek version of the inscription Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ βασιλεύς τῶν Ἰουδαίων. Some representations change the title to "ΙΝΒΚ," ὁ βασιλεύς τοῦ κόσμου (ho Basileùs toû kósmou, "The King of the World"), or to ὁ βασιλεύς τῆς Δόξης (ho Basileùs tês Dóxēs, "The King of Glory"), not implying that this was really what was written but reflecting the tradition that icons depict the spiritual reality rather than the physical reality.
The Romanian Orthodox Church uses INRI, since abbreviation in Romanian is exactly the same as in Latin (Iisus Nazarineanul Regele Iudeilor).
Eastern Orthodox Churches that use Church Slavonic in their liturgy use ІНЦІ (INTsI, the equivalent of ΙΝΒΙ for Church Slavonic: І҆и҃съ назѡрѧни́нъ, цр҃ь і҆ꙋде́йскїй) or the abbreviation Царь Сла́вы (Tsar Slávy, "King of Glory").
And set up over His head His accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS
And the superscription of His accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
And a superscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing
was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many
of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the
city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
In Spanish, the word inri denotes any insulting or mocking word or phrase; it is usually found in the fixed expressionpara más/mayor inri (literally "for more/greater insult"), which idiomatically means "to add insult to injury" or "to make matters worse". Its origin is sometimes made clearer by capitalisation para más INRI.
The initials INRI have been reinterpreted with other expansions (backronyms). In an 1825 book on Freemasonry, Marcello Reghellini de Schio alleged that Rosicrucians gave "INRI" alchemical meanings:
Latin Igne Natura Renovatur Integra ("by fire, nature renews itself"); other sources have Igne Natura Renovando Integrat
Latin Igne Nitrum Roris Invenitur ("the nitre of dew is found by fire")
Hebrewימים, נור, רוח, יבשת (Yammīm, Nūr, Rūaḥ, Yabešet, "water, fire, wind, earth" — the four elements)
Later writers have attributed these to Freemasonry, Hermeticism, or neo-paganism. Aleister Crowley's The Temple of Solomon the King includes a discussion of Augoeides, supposedly written by "Frater P." of the A∴A∴:
For since Intra Nobis Regnum deI [footnote in original:
I.N.R.I.], all things are in Ourself, and all Spiritual Experience is a
more of less complete Revelation of Him [i.e. Augoeides].
Latin Intra Nobis Regnum deI literally means "Inside Us the Kingdom of god".
Leopold Bloom, the nominally Catholic, ethnically Jewish protagonist of James Joyce's Ulysses, remembers his wife Molly Bloom interpreting INRI as "Iron Nails Ran In". The same meaning is given by a character in Ed McBain's 1975 novel Doors. Most Ulysses translations preserve "INRI" and make a new misinterpretation, such as the French Il Nous Refait Innocents "he makes us innocent again".
Isopsephy
In isopsephy, the Greek term (βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων)
receives a value of 3343 whose digits seem to correspond to a suggested
date for the crucifixion of Jesus, (33, April, 3rd day).
