Search Results (40)

The phrase “simply do not divine, that is all there is to it” (bu zhan er yi yi 不占而已矣) attributed to Confucius in the Analects has long puzzled scholars in terms of understanding the Yijing. This study reexamines the proposition through a systematic analysis of the Yijing’s cosmology, moral constraints, and cultivation practices. Drawing on the Yizhuan (Ten Wings) and successive commentaries from Han to Song scholars, the paper argues that divination in the Yijing is founded on a cosmological principle: the Yi matches Heaven and Earth, so the hexagram and line images can mirror the order of the cosmos. However, divination is also governed by three moral constraints: jing 敬 (reverence), fu 孚 (sincerity/trust/correspondence), and zhen 貞 (upright steadfastness), which transform it from a technical operation into a discipline of purifying the heart/mind (xin 心). The core finding is that constant virtue (heng de 恒德) renders formal divination unnecessary: when a person cultivates constancy to the point where every action spontaneously accords with the dao of Heaven, the external tools of yarrow and tortoise are transcended. This state is described as “not divining yet divining” (bu zhan er zhan 不占而占). The Yizhuan’s phrase “Be shen 神 to grasp the ineffable and to illuminate spiritually, it is to be sought in the men (who use it)” (shen er ming zhi, cun hu qi ren 神而明之，存乎其人) captures the internalization process through which the practitioner embodies the cosmic order. The study concludes that Confucius’s remark is not a slogan that transforms divination into philosophy but the Yijing’s own highest teaching: the goal of studying change is to become a person who no longer needs to consult the Yijing, because every step is already in rhythm with Heaven and Earth. This interpretation clarifies the Yijing’s distinctive moral philosophy, which neither negates divination nor reduces it to technique, but points toward a form of self-transcendence where the bridge of divination becomes the ground on which one walks. Full article

Background: Understanding the benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) will require scientific attention to the causal interaction between the therapeutic context and process. Measuring what actually happens during PAT in large-scale studies will be an essential component of this work. Objective: We aim to develop and preliminarily evaluate the feasibility and reliability of a direct observation coding system for narrations of awe experiences during PAT, one hypothesized therapeutic mechanism. Methods: We analyzed 32 PAT clinical trial encounter recordings involving eight participants from a Phase 2 clinical trial study of psilocybin-assisted therapy in advanced cancer. Using a conceptually grounded structured codebook, two human coders independently identified start and stop times for moments exhibiting definitional characteristics of awe narration, including expressions of vastness, need for accommodation and ineffability. We used coder agreement and degree of confidence to refine the coding system. Results: During 16,760 total minutes of video, coders collectively recorded 246 moments of awe narration. Of those moments, 42% (104/246) were identified by one coder and 58% (142/246) by two coders. Coders felt substantially more confident in their judgments about a moment of awe when vastness was present compared to when vastness was absent (OR: 4.3; 95% CI: 2.4, 7.8). Iterative refinement of the coding system led to accommodation being operationalized as two distinct components: an initial cognitive disruption followed by variable engagement in the process of accommodation. Conclusions: Awe narration is directly observable using explicit definitional criteria. This work provides the empirical foundation for scalable coding systems of awe narration during PAT. Full article

In the twenty-first century, academic approaches to mysticism often risk reducing the Mystery to an object of erudition and historical distance, as if mystical experience belonged solely to a pre-modern past. Yet, when one encounters the “natural metaphors” that emerge within mystical writings—images of rivers, gardens, fire, and wind—it becomes almost impossible to silence the invitation to perceive the sacred as still unfolding in the present. This article proposes an embodied and associative reflection that brings into conversation the poetry of John of the Cross (1542–1591), the intimate diaries of Etty Hillesum (1914–1943), and the musical and visual work of the contemporary artist Björk Guðmundsdóttir (b. 1965). Through this triadic encounter, I argue that natural metaphors are not mere literary ornaments but symbolic languages that articulate the ineffable through the elemental languages of the earth. They sustain a theology of embodiment, relationality, and transformation that traverses epochs and artistic media. The study also seeks to fracture rigid and hegemonic readings that have confined mystical texts within colonial geographies of interpretation—readings that domesticate spiritual experience through rigid doctrinal frameworks. In contrast, this essay advocates for a decolonial hermeneutics of the mystical imagination, one that recognizes how the natural, the esthetic, and the spiritual interweave in the polyphony of the world. By reading John of the Cross, Hillesum, and Björk together, I suggest that mystical experience continues to unfold today through poetry, diary, and sound—where theology becomes not only a matter of thought but of vibration, beauty, and embodied openness to the Mystery. Full article

The study begins with the questions “Where was Paradise?” and “How was the Garden cultivated?”, and the relationship between different modes of interpretation. It compares the biblical data (Gen. 2) with patristic testimonies (John Chrysostom, Ambrose, Ephrem, Gregory of Nyssa, John of Damascus) and symbolic readings (Philo, Cyprian, Hippolytus), in order to assess whether the plurality of meanings generates confusion or coherence. Situated within the divergent approaches of these patristic authors—especially concerning literal and figurative aspects—I aim to outline an integral theological reading of the Eden tradition and of the aforementioned questions. The methods used in this research are comparative biblical and patristic exegesis, structured through a four-step framework: (1) retaining the literal sense when the text provides anchors (rivers, orientation); (2) shifting from description to vocation in the moral-liturgical sense (“to work”/“to keep”); (3) accepting the ineffable (2 Cor. 12) as a boundary; (4) articulating an ontology of paradisiacal matter. The findings of this study are as follows: Eden is an earthly reality, but one with transfigured materiality; “work” is an inner activity (obedience, contemplation) without toil; and the diversity of interpretations proves to be complementary: the literal anchors the “where/what”, while the spiritual illuminates the “why/how”, together avoiding both inert geography and ungrounded symbolism. Full article

The reason I chose this particular theme is because I considered that Plotinus’ One cannot fully satisfy the demand for an ultimate principle. This becomes evident when we study the Areopagite and even more so Damascius, whose notion of the ultimate principle refers to a metaphysical source that precedes the Neoplatonic One. The selection of these three philosophers was based on the following rationale: Firstly, Plato is the founder of the concept of the One. Then comes Dionysius, who speaks of the supra-essential One and connects it with God. Finally, I turn to Damascius, who almost explicitly states that there exists an ineffable reality that precedes the One and is the ineffable One. This endeavor unfolds through a reasoning process developed in three escalating stages, as follows: Initially, in Plato, we encounter the “One that is not one”, which corresponds to light. Next, in Dionysius the Areopagite, we encounter the “supra-essential One”, which corresponds to the invisible light (the place where we can only stand, but cannot see). Finally, in Damascius, we encounter the “ineffable, inexpressible One”, which is not even invisible. In Damascius, what makes this “One before the One” unique is not that we do not know it because, by nature, it is, e.g., invisible, but because it does not allow us to know the reason why we do not know it. Through the connection of these three philosophers, I will aim to demonstrate that this “one” possesses a self-referential existence, establishing its superiority in relation to the One of Plotinus. In the final analysis, the article aims to connect the concept of the supreme principle as God, in relation to this highly apophatic One. Therefore, I will develop the reasoning according to which this “One before the One” can exist. Full article

This paper examines the philosophy of language in The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (六祖壇經), demonstrating its centrality to Zen Buddhism and Buddhist sinicization. The sutra emphasizes the ineffability of ultimate truth (至道無言) and the principle that words falter in encapsulating the Dao (言語道斷), framing language as a provisional “raft” (筏) that must be instrumentalized yet transcended through a dialectic of employing and abandoning (用離辯證). It ontologically grounds this view in Buddha-nature’s (佛性) pre-linguistic essence, advocating transcending reliance on words and letters (不假文字) while strategically deploying language to dismantle its own authority. Historically, this constituted a revolt against Tang scholasticism’s textual fetishism. The text adopts a dynamic dialectic, neither clinging to nor rejecting language, exemplified by Huineng’s awakening through the Diamond Sutra, where recitation catalyzes internal insight. Operationally, it utilizes negational discourse, the “Two Paths Mutually Condition” method (二道相因) embedded in the “Twelve Pairs of Dharmic Forms” (法相語言十二對) in particular, to systematically deconstruct dualisms, while promoting embodied unity of speech, mind, and action (口念心行) to critique empty recitation. Ultimately, the sutra orchestrates language as a self-subverting medium: balancing acknowledgment of its limitations with pragmatic instrumentality, it presents an Eastern paradigm where language actively disrupts conceptual fetters to facilitate direct insight into Buddha-nature, reframing it as a dynamic catalyst for “illuminating the mind and seeing one’s nature” (明心見性). Full article

This study examines how the Japanese writer Furui Yoshikichi engages with Western mystical experiences, particularly through his reading of Martin Buber’s Ecstatic Confessions and his broader engagement with Meister Eckhart and medieval German mysticism. Furui’s literary inquiry revolves around the inherent tension between the ineffability of mystical experiences and their articulation through language. He critically engages with the paradox of verbalization, recognizing that while mystical experiences transcend linguistic and temporal boundaries, they nevertheless achieve resonance through written and spoken expressions. His reflections converge with Buddhist notions of Sūnyatā, underscoring intersections between Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. Drawing upon his background as a translator of German literature, Furui mediates mystical experiences within a comparative framework, navigating cultural and linguistic boundaries. His approach elucidates the concept of the multiplicity of qualities in mystical experiences, demonstrating particularity and universality simultaneously. By analyzing Furui’s interpretation of mystical texts, this study contributes to broader discussions on the limitations of language in conveying transcendence and the role of literary imagination in rendering the ineffable. Full article

This paper aims to challenge interpretivism as an inadequate approach to legal hermeneutics, offering a novel response to the issue through the lens of mysticism. We will follow the premise, developed by thinkers from the traditional philosophical canon such as Derrida, Schmitt and Gadamer (among others), that every act of legal interpretation contains an apophatic dimension. However, we will delve deeper into this notion from the perspective of mysticism itself (rather than deconstructionism or hermeneutics). That is, we will approach interpretivism from a perspective different from the one usually found in the legal-philosophical canon—namely, mysticism—with the aim of understanding and illuminating some of its dimensions. Specifically, we will explore the mystical idea that, while recognizing the dynamic and vital nature of existence is essential, it is even more fundamental to orient existential vitality toward truth through an act of concentration and will. This will allow us to justify that the concept of “mystic order”, which we formulate and develop in this paper, is useful in addressing the challenges of juridical hermeneutics, as it combines conceptual rigor in approaching law (hence “order”) with the vitality, immeasurability, ineffability, and dynamism inherent in concrete reality (the “mystical” aspect). Full article

The article examines my artist’s struggle for inner freedom in practice-led artistic research through the medium of drawing. This inquiry, framed within a Catholic perspective, investigates the idea that the quest for inner freedom is vital for artistic work that aims to create and communicate the ineffable. This article focuses on my strive to reach deeper levels of spiritual experience and to work from that state of consciousness. I explore the artist’s role as a mediator, connecting the invisible, intuitively understood dimensions, and making them visible through artistic creations. I conducted research by closely observing the artmaking process and the conditions in which it is undertaken. Research methodologies specific to the artistic field (visual arts) and the qualitative narrative research method were predominantly used. The process of preparation for the drawing by engaging in contemplative practice is also a subject of inquiry. The article highlights contemplative practices as tools for achieving inner freedom and unlocking creative potential. Full article

The character “即 (jí)” in Chinese shares the meaning of “is”, indicating an identity or equivalence between two concepts. In this framework, one might expect the antecedent and the consequent of “即” to be identical in meaning, or at least for a term with a positive connotation not to be paired with one of negative connotation. However, in Tiantai Buddhism, many core propositions follow the structure “x 即 y”, where x is negative and y is positive, or vice versa. This suggests an identity between opposites, creating a paradoxical feature in the system. This essay argues that the paradox within Tiantai Buddhism is a veridical paradox, as defined by Quine, meaning it can be resolved in various ways and does not reflect a genuine contradiction in reality. While Western Buddhist philosophers and logicians have focused primarily on the paradoxes in Nāgārjuna’s thought, this essay demonstrates that Chinese Tiantai Buddhism offers practical resolutions to these paradoxes. The paper first explicates the paradox by examining its roots in Buddhist history, then explores responses to it. Finally, different methods for resolving the paradox are compared and evaluated. Full article

The mystical experiences in various forms are fundamental to major religious traditions. The idea of “mysticism” brings up the concept of the ineffable mysterium, which is seen as the central theme around which religions are based. The comparative studies of Rabia al-Adawiyya and Catherine of Genoa do not intend, as with phenomenological and essentialist approaches to the study of religion, to only focus on the similarities of the mystics in order to find universal structures and essential meanings. Nor does it seek to concentrate solely on the differences between the mystics as done by constructivist scholars. Instead, the comparative methodology used in this article highlights the similarities and differences between the respective mystics, Rabia and Catherine, and uses these comparisons to draw attention to an example of interreligious spirituality that cuts across religious traditions. To illustrate this point, it helps to compare two mystics: Rabia from the Islamic tradition and Catherine from the Christian tradition. This study is structured in four parts: an introduction to the concept of mystical experiences, a brief overview of the lives of Rabia and Catherine, a comparative analysis of their mystical characteristics, and a discussion of how their experiences can serve as a model for interreligious spirituality and friendship. Full article

This article contextualizes the meaning of nāmamātra in the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārabhāṣya and explores the history of modifications of this term in the Yogācāra literature. The term already exists in the pre-Yogācāra literature, such as the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā and the Bhavasaṃkrāntisūtra, where it means name only. The chapter Bodhisattvabhūmi of the Yogācārabhūmi applies this meaning and explains how to interpret it to understand the true nature of the contemplative object; that is, what is named is nothing but a name, and what exists is the inexpressible thing (vastu). When people lack this understanding and regard for the expressed object as existent, they suffer subsequent afflictions and suffering. A similar but slightly modified explanation is also found in the Madhyāntavibhāgabhāṣya, where the author states that a single object has two intrinsic characteristics (svalakṣaṇas), the conventional and the ultimate, and that the former is expressed by a mere name and is non-existent, while the latter is ineffable and existent. However, the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārabhāṣya and Sthiramati’s commentary on it, the *Sūtrālaṃkāravṛttibhāṣya, insert another meaning of nāmamātra: there are only mental factors. They also describe two contemplation phases, whereby practitioners should first understand the non-existence of the expressed object before recollecting the term nāmarūpa in the context of the five constituents (pañcaskandha) and concluding that material and physical factors (rūpa) do not exist; rather, only the mental factors do (nāmamātra). Finally, this second meaning of nāmamātra should be further contemplated, and the mere mental factors should also be regarded as ultimately non-existent because the external objects causing them were already considered non-existent. This examination of various Yogācāra explanations of nāmamātra sheds light on the multiple phases of modifications of Buddhist terms that occurred in the Yogācāra literature during the systematization of Yogācāra contemplation. Full article

This study addresses Roger Scruton’s understanding of what he called “moments of revelation”. In two short essays, both entitled “Effing the ineffable”, Scruton framed his discussion of moments of revelation with reference to the medieval Christian mystical discourse. Introducing the medieval discussion of this topic, this study provides an analysis of Scruton’s approach to the theme. In tune with the traditional discourse on revelation, his general aim was to demonstrate that there are ways of revealing important truths about the supernatural, of the world “beyond the window”, that do not require words to be pronounced. He calls our experiences of such phenomena moments of revelation and identifies four different transitory sources of revelation. This study deals with them one by one, after considering whether it is right to label such a revelation transcendental. The four sources of Scruton’s moments of revelation are natural beauty, the beauty of painting, the beauty of music, and personal encounters. The first three examples are connected to his thoughts on art and beauty as a substitute of divine revelation. Perhaps the most surprising of these is the last ones, moments of intersubjective human relationships, “our knowledge of each other”. Relying on both Buber and Levinas, Scruton makes the strong claim that it is in the other that we can experience that world “beyond the window”. His phenomenological exploration of human encounters sheds light on concepts like grace, shekhinah, or real presence and gift. He explains the Christian understanding of the human–divine relationship as well along the lines of the nature of interpersonal human relationship, both of them being in a certain sense, he claims, transcendental. From grace, his account moves forward to self-sacrifice and finally arrives at his idiosyncratic understanding of gratefulness for life. His moments of revelation in art and interpersonal exchange turn out to be, indeed, late and secular versions of the Christian understanding of revelation. In its summary, this study claims that revelation, understood by Scruton as a form of general human experience, allows to catch a glimpse of that which is beyond the window, by the direct, sensually based experience of either the existence of another person or of the beauty of nature and art. Full article

Throughout church history, there have been those who stressed the limits of our ability to speak with confidence about God and extolled the nobility of silence in the face of God’s ineffability. Dionysius the Areopagite famously asserted, “With regard to the divine, negations are true, whereas affirmations are inadequate”. Apophatic silence is presented as respectful of the mysterious otherness of God. Christian preaching is a practice that refutes all attempts at negative, apophatic theology. Every sermon participates in the wonder of the uniquely Jewish and Christian claim that God not only speaks but also invites, even commands, humanity to speak about God as well. Christian preaching is suspicious of any attempt to sentimentalize silence in the name of humble acknowledgement of human limitations to speak truthfully about God. Preaching therefore requires the courage to speak up and speak out with the God who, in Jesus Christ, has spoken to us. The silencing of the voices of women, persons of color, and others who claim to know that God is with them is an aspect of neocolonial oppression that preaching cannot abide. Preaching is a protest against all those who would tell the voiceless that some things are better left unsaid. Full article

The article addresses the ambivalent relationship of Tiantai Buddhist thought to Daoist ideas from the Daode jing and the Zhuangzi. On the one hand, Tiantai incorporates Daoist rhetoric and some concepts of the Daoist-influenced Xuanxue 玄學 into its Buddhist doctrine of mind contemplation (guanxin 觀心); on the other, drawing on the Buddhist notion of the tetralemma (catuṣkoṭi, siju 四句), Tiantai criticizes the Daoist ineffable as a misconception that does not really transcend linguistic representation. Thus, Tiantai attempts to develop the view that Buddhist inconceivable liberation (bukesiyi jietuo 不可思議解脫) is neither separate from nor identical with linguistic meaning, implying the recognition of the non-duality of the real and the unreal. In this way, according to the Tiantai teaching, the doctrinal exegesis of the sūtra and śāstra texts can serve as an exercise in spiritual contemplation that frees the practitioners’ minds from the shackles of their self-induced delusions, but this liberation does not mean eradicating unreality. To illustrate that view, Tiantai draws on Daoist parables and combines them with Buddhist imagery. Hence, the article attempts to clarify the intricate relationship between Tiantai’s reception and critique of Daoist ideas. Full article