Table Of ContentThe Unity of Mystical Traditions
Numen Book Series
Studies in the History of Religions
Edited by
W.J. Hanegraaff and P.P. Kumar
Advisory Board
p. antes ‒ m. despland ‒ r.i.j. hackett ‒ m. abumalham mas
a.w. geertz ‒ g. ter haar ‒ g.l. lease
m.n. getui ‒ i.s. gilhus ‒ p. morris ‒ j.k. olupona
e. thomassen ‒ a. tsukimoto ‒ a.t. wasim
VOLUME 107
The Unity of Mystical
Traditions
The Transformation of Consciousness in
Tibetan and German Mysticism
by
Randall Studstill
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2005
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Studstill, Randall.
The Unity of mystical traditions : the transformation of consciousness in Tibetan
and German mysticism / by Randall Studstill
p. cm. — (Numen book series, ISSN 0169-8834 ; 107)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-14319-X (alk. paper)
1. Mysticism—China—Tibet. 2. Mysticism—Germany. I. Title. II. Series :
Studies in the history of religions ; 107.
BL1802.S74 2005
204’.22—dc22 2005045715
ISSN 0169-8834
ISBN 90 04 14319 X
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printed in the netherlands
For my wife and parents
Krishna Roman
Kenneth and Charlotte Studstill
Neither the mystic nor the philosopher can remain content with an
irreducible heterogeneity of mystical experience, the mystic because the
ultimate character of the experience implies a universal claim, the
philosopher because a diversity of ultimate claims is a challenge not
a resting-place. Thus, it is not an uneducated essentialist desire, but
religious integrity or philosophical urgency that leads those who no
longer find an exclusive claim by any single tradition convincing to
seek an underlying unity and to investigate the equivalence of sym-
bols under their diversity.
Charles Davis
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ...................................................................... xi
Chapter One Introduction: A Mystical Pluralist Theory
of Mysticism .............................................................................. 1
The Mystical Pluralist Thesis ................................................ 5
The Method: A Systems Approach to Mind ...................... 10
Mystical Pluralism Compared to other Essentialist
Approaches to Mysticism .................................................. 19
Mystical Pluralism and Epistemological Essentialist
Approaches ...................................................................... 20
Mystical Pluralism and Process-oriented Approaches ...... 21
Mystical Pluralism and John Hick’s Pluralism ................ 24
Robert Forman’s Perennial Psychology ............................ 26
Overview of the Book .......................................................... 33
Chapter Two A Critique Of Constructivism ................................ 35
Constructivism: An Outline .................................................. 35
Constructivism as a priori ...................................................... 36
Constructivism and the Phenomenological Content of
Mystical Experience ............................................................ 39
Mystical Experience and Mystical Language ...................... 45
Constructivism and the ‘Object’ of Mystical Experience .... 54
Rationales for Constructivist Epistemology .......................... 60
Philosophical Precedent ...................................................... 61
Mediation as Epistemological Necessity ............................ 63
Empirical Evidence and Constructivism .......................... 65
The Data ............................................................................ 67
Katz’s Manet Example .......................................................... 70
Constructivism is Self-contradictory ...................................... 71
Constructivism is Epistemologically Vague .......................... 72
Mystical Traditions Undermine their own Doctrines ........ 73
Similarities among Traditions and Experiences .................. 74
Conditioning as Cause? Failed Mystics and Spontaneous
Mystical Experiences .......................................................... 77
viii contents
Mystical Experiences as Novel .............................................. 79
‘Construction’ and the Mystical Experience of Unity ........ 81
Katz’s Misreading of the Traditions .................................... 81
Final Miscellaneous Problems ................................................ 83
Concluding Remarks on Constructivism .............................. 85
Chapter Three An Alternative Methodology: A Systems Approach
To Consciousness ........................................................................ 87
Systems Theory: An Overview .............................................. 87
What is a ‘System’? ............................................................ 92
Maintenance and Evolution of System Structure ............ 93
Justifying the Systems Approach to Mind ............................ 95
Intuitive Appeal: Mind Appears to be a System ............ 101
Mind Functions Like a Dynamical System ...................... 103
Applicability to a Wider Range of Data .......................... 104
A Systems Approach to Mind .............................................. 105
Mind: Definitions and Structure ...................................... 106
Processes of Mind .............................................................. 109
The Homeostatic Processes of Mind ................................ 114
Evolution through Positive Feedback ................................ 121
Summing Up the Model ........................................................ 123
Chapter Four Doctrine and Practice in the Dzogchen Tradition .... 125
Dzogchen’s Historical Origins .............................................. 131
Chinese Influence on Dzogchen? ...................................... 137
Dzogchen Origins and Tantra .......................................... 143
Final Remarks on Dzogchen Origins .............................. 145
Dzogchen Doctrine ................................................................ 146
Ultimate and Conventional Reality .................................. 147
The Four Kàyas ................................................................ 151
The Gzhi as Creator .......................................................... 154
The Dzogchen Path .............................................................. 160
Preliminary Practices .......................................................... 163
Dzogchen Practice .............................................................. 166
Systems Theory and Dzogchen ............................................ 169
Chapter Five Doctrine And Practice In German Mysticism .......... 173
The Historical Emergence of German Mysticism .............. 175
German Mysticism and the Nature of God ........................ 184
God’s Ineffability ................................................................ 191
contents ix
God’s Activity, Creativity, and Relation to Creatures .... 194
The Nature of the Soul ........................................................ 204
Mystical Practice in German Mysticism .............................. 206
‘Releasement’ and Self-annihilation .................................. 211
Rejection of ‘Ways’ ............................................................ 213
‘Birth’ and ‘Breakthrough’ ................................................ 219
Grace and Effort ................................................................ 222
Chapter Six Mystical Pluralism, Systems Theory, and the Unity
of Mystical Traditions ................................................................ 225
Dzogchen and German Mysticism: General Comparative
Observations ........................................................................ 226
Cognitive Deconstruction through Dzogchen and
German Mysticism .............................................................. 231
Systems Theory and Mystical Evolution .............................. 238
Mystical Pluralism vs. Alternative Theories of
Mysticism ............................................................................ 240
Conclusion .............................................................................. 244
Appendix A Defining ‘Mysticism’ and ‘Mystical Experience’ ........ 247
Appendix B Remarks On Essentialist and Typological
Approaches to Mysticism .............................................................. 255
Appendix C The Motivational Basis of Cognitive Confirmation .... 271
Bibliography ................................................................................ 275
Index ............................................................................................ 293
