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This paper proposes to study mystical experience by contrasting it with “ordinary” experience, i.e., with standard consciousness. It emphasises the construed nature of standard consciousness and the role that the mutual connectedness of... more
This paper proposes to study mystical experience by contrasting it with “ordinary” experience, i.e., with standard consciousness. It emphasises the construed nature of standard consciousness and the role that the mutual connectedness of mental contents plays in its construction. It then shows that removal of the factors that are responsible for the “making” of standard consciousness accounts for the principal features of mystical experience; these features are therefore mainly negative. The understanding of mystical experience as the suppression of factors that contribute to the construction of standard consciousness, along with a discussion of the mechanism that makes this possible, permits answers to some frequently asked questions, such as: why is mystical experience ineffable? what is its epistemic status? does it have implications for our understanding of mind, consciousness, and self?
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Research Interests: Buddhism, Hinduism, Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, Indian studies, and 3 moreIndia, Hindu Studies, and Indology
Ascetics have impressed foreign visitors to India from an early time onward. The Greek Megasthenes, who spent time in eastern India around the year 300 BCE, described ascetics that remained motionless for a whole day in one single... more
Ascetics have impressed foreign visitors to India from an early time onward. The Greek Megasthenes, who spent time in eastern India around the year 300 BCE, described ascetics that remained motionless for a whole day in one single position. More than a thousand years later, Arab travellers marvelled at men in India who remained motionless for years on end. After almost another millennium, in the seventeenth century CE, the Frenchman François Bernier saw ascetics who remained standing seven days and nights, without sitting or lying down, leaning against ropes while asleep. Today Indian ascetics still impress foreigners, but the latter no longer have to leave their armchairs and can observe the sādhus, yogis, or fakirs on their television or computer screens. This chapter will briefly present what we know about asceticism in early India. It will present the evidence schematically, because this is the only way in which an understanding of complicated historical processes can be conveyed.
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Patañjali's Mahābhāṣya gives twice, in identical terms, a description of what he calls Āryā-varta, which I translate "land of the Āryas": Mahā-bh I p. 475 l. 3 (on P. 2.4.10); III p. 174 l. 7-8 (on P. 6.3.109):... more
Patañjali's Mahābhāṣya gives twice, in identical terms, a description of what he calls Āryā-varta, which I translate "land of the Āryas": Mahā-bh I p. 475 l. 3 (on P. 2.4.10); III p. 174 l. 7-8 (on P. 6.3.109): kaḥ punar āryāvartaḥ / prāg ādarśāt pratyak kālakavanād dakṣiṇena himavan-tam uttareṇa pāriyātram /.
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L'A. repond dans cet article a une critique qui lui a ete adressee par Stephen H. Phillips au sujet de sa maniere d'interpreter le dogme indien affirmant que les textes vediques n'ont pas d'auteur.
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Résumé: Ce texte regarde la linguistique indienne de trois perspectives différentes: 1. Les réactions européennes à sa découverte vers la fin du XVIII siècle et après; 2. Ce qu’elle, et plus spécifiquement la grammaire sanscrite,... more
Résumé: Ce texte regarde la linguistique indienne de trois perspectives différentes: 1. Les réactions européennes à sa découverte vers la fin du XVIII siècle et après; 2. Ce qu’elle, et plus spécifiquement la grammaire sanscrite, signifiait dans son contexte indien; 3. L’influence qu’elle a exercée sur d’autres domaines de pensée, spécialement la philosophie indienne. Il s’avère que les auteurs européens avaient, et dans une certaine mesure continuent à avoir, tendance à comprendre la linguistique indienne en termes de positions propres à la linguistique telle que pratiquée en Occident, s’éloignant ainsi des préoccupations des auteurs indiens. L’étude de la linguistique indienne dans son propre contexte ne peut se faire sans prendre en considération les faits suivants: le lien entre langage et réalité était conçu comme étant très étroit et la dimension historique était complètement absente. Quant à l’influence que la grammaire sanscrite a exercée sur d’autres domaines de pensée en I...
This article looks at three texts — the Manava Dharmasastra, the Bhagavadgita, and a passage from the Mahabharata that records a discussion between two self-proclaimed liberated persons — and tries to determine whether liberation in them... more
This article looks at three texts — the Manava Dharmasastra, the Bhagavadgita, and a passage from the Mahabharata that records a discussion between two self-proclaimed liberated persons — and tries to determine whether liberation in them is thought to be possible while alive. It turns out that the first two of these texts have rather hazy notions of liberation and use the terms liberation and liberated ambiguously. The third one is categorical that liberation while alive is possible, but specifies that it concerns liberation from features such as attachment. A further comparison with Jainism and Buddhism brings to light hat liberation from rebirth typically is not possible while one is alive, but liberation from certain cumbersome features is.
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This article argues that a model of the mind held by a number of Indian and Tibetan philosophical schools, both Brahmanical and Buddhist, could be extremely useful, even today, and has, if suitably adjusted, great explanatory power with... more
This article argues that a model of the mind held by a number of Indian and Tibetan philosophical schools, both Brahmanical and Buddhist, could be extremely useful, even today, and has, if suitably adjusted, great explanatory power with regard to a number of phenomena that we usually call religious. According to this model, there are two fundamentally different levels of cognition: one “with conceptual constructs”, the other one without these. Slightly adjusted, the model comes close to predicting the following phenomena: the experiences of mystics, the almost universally attested use of ritual and of magical formulas, certain often recurring themes in mythology and philosophy, and the omnipresent conviction that there is a deeper reality hiding behind the world of our everyday experience. The article then discusses some possible objections one might raise against the model, and ends with a plea to take it seriously.
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The two grammarians Patañjali and Kātyāyana have been associated with two Vedic schools: that of the Paippalādins and that of the Vājasaneyins respectively. A renewed reflection on the dates and regions in which they lived and worked may... more
The two grammarians Patañjali and Kātyāyana have been associated with two Vedic schools: that of the Paippalādins and that of the Vājasaneyins respectively. A renewed reflection on the dates and regions in which they lived and worked may throw light on the whereabouts of these schools. I will not waste words on Patañjali’s date. I agree with those who believe that “Patañjali must have composed his work sometime around B.C. because of several references to historical events of his time” (Scharfe , ). About Patañjali’s whereabouts Scharfe states the following (ibid.): “Patañjali’s home may have been Mathurā, which figures prominently in his examples, or a place nearby because one travels, he says, to Pāt.aliputra via Sāketa.”1 He then continues: “This deduction is preferable to that of K. V. Abhyankar who concluded from astronomical data contained in the text that Patañjali lived north of Taxila and west of Shrinagar. Not being an astronomer himself, Patañjali would have taken this in...
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The puzzle presented by Musīla and Nārada (both have attained the same knowledge/insight, but one is an Arhat, the other one is not) has raised questions regarding the Buddhist path to liberation from the time of La Vallée Poussin onward.... more
The puzzle presented by Musīla and Nārada (both have attained the same knowledge/insight, but one is an Arhat, the other one is not) has raised questions regarding the Buddhist path to liberation from the time of La Vallée Poussin onward. The present paper argues that the final stages of this path had become obscure to at least certain members of the Buddhist community from an early date onward. It then raises the question of whether modern psychological understanding may shed light on this issue. It concludes with the observation that we may need some theoretical scaffolding, to be provided by modern scholarship, to understand what the early Buddhist texts are talking about.
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This article draws attention to the fact, often overlooked, that innovation is not foreign to the history of Indian philosophy. Three such episodes are briefly discussed (in reverse chronological order): (1) the innovations introduced by... more
This article draws attention to the fact, often overlooked, that innovation is not foreign to the history of Indian philosophy. Three such episodes are briefly discussed (in reverse chronological order): (1) the innovations introduced by Raghunātha and his followers in the Nyāya school of thought (ca. 1500 CE); (2) the innovations that gave rise to satkāryavāda, pariṇāmavāda, śūnyavāda, anekāntavāda and other philosophical positions (early centuries CE); (3) the innovations responsible for the first manifestations of rational philosophy in India (ca. second century BCE). Raghunātha’s innovations are most instructive in that a great deal is known about his politico- cultural surroundings. Lessons drawn from these help us to understand the beginnings of Indian rational philosophy better.
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This article first predicts, on the basis of an analysis of deep absorption, a number of features of mystical and related states of consciousness. It then observes that these very same features appear in beliefs held by people who have... more
This article first predicts, on the basis of an analysis of deep absorption, a number of features of mystical and related states of consciousness. It then observes that these very same features appear in beliefs held by people who have never experienced deep absorption. Moreover, many people engage in activities that, though not normally leading to deep absorption, bring about lesser states of absorption. The article will propose an answer to the question how it is that many people are influenced in their beliefs and practices by experiences (deep absorption) they have not had.
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