Conclusions

V. Conclusions

The mystical physiological systems of the three traditions examined do not by any means present one uniform psycho-physical scheme, though there are certainly many points of comparison. Each uses the concept of a mystical body in its own way and indicates through its use something about its theoretical basis as well as soteriological procedure. Much evidence suggests mutual influence between the traditions of India and China, though adequate historical data is lacking.

The object-language of the descriptions of mystical physiology points beyond itself to something quite immediate experiential value. Brahman, of course, is not confined to the heart region nor is Siva or the Tao "above." As indices they point to microcosmic correlations (homologizations) of ineffable truths. Not only do they point to an experiential domain, but they also serve as guides, a map, so to speak, of the way to the domain.

In keeping with the operational teaching of the Buddhist dharma, the mystical physiological teachings are to be understood as a "raft," not to be confused with the destination or "shore" of liberation. It is instrumental, not to be taken as a fact.

Inasmuch as... the 'conductors,' 'motility,' and 'bioenergetic input' [thig-le], belong to the realm of imagination which is the capacity to set up a mental image, they are not absolute truths about human nature, nor are they ever meant to be absolute truths. Rather, they are a kind of 'hypothesis,' put forth to explain what has been found to be invariant and to facilitate further [emphasis his] probings which take place within the person himself. As a 'hypothesis' they have a good chance of being correct (functionally true, though not representationally true) in a domain that reaches beyond the ordinary level of the relatively invariant.

Thus, in Buddhism the psycho-physical scheme of the 'mystical body' is understood as an operational model which needs be tested by experiment, not taken literally. This emphasis is illustrated by the mystical body conceived of in terms of a visualization, whereas in Taoist yoga 'interior vision' reveals a pre-existing structure, and in the Hindu system the mystical physiological structure takes on a concreteness of its own. To speak of a "mystical body" or "mystical physiology" in Buddhist Tantra is to use terms of concreteness that do not apply.

Since, according to Buddhist Tantra, nothing exists in itself or, rather, the essence of a thing is the thing itself and everything participates in a process-product continuum, the mystical physiological structure would provide no exception. This differs sharply from the autonomy and creativity attributed to prakrti by Samkhya. The radical dualism of Samkhya and the transcendental dualism of Taoism cater to a more concrete interpretation of the subtle body; 'mystical physiology' thus not constituting as inappropriate a term for these two as for Buddhist Tantra.

Nevertheless, all three traditions unite in their use of these concepts of 'structure' to lead to experimentation along a mapped out route back to a "Source." Unlike in the West, the "East uses the concept as a stimulus to retrieve the experience from which it has been abstracted." The 'map' nature of a particular tradition's system also seeks in part to prevent incorrect or unnecessary experimentation. If, in Buddhist Tantra for instance, the innate bliss-wisdom of the navel is taken as goal, it prevents further progress and leaves the aspirant with a mediocre and transient attainment. Each tradition also indicates its soteriological conception through its mystical physiological paradigm.

Hindu Tantra with its 'ladder to liberation, conceives of Siva and liberation as a state of bodiless consciousness. As a representational diagram of the radical dualism of Samkhya, the ladder begins at the earth center and leads on the opposite pole to the insubstantial expanse of pure consciousness. The goal here is an other-worldly beyond comparable to the Samkhyan notion of isolation (kaivalya). In Avalon's elucidation of the tantras in The Serpent Power he states that phenomena is Sakti as maya-sakti and thus is identical to Siva, the monistic principle. This identity of the phenomenal and absolute 'worlds' is common doctrine to both Buddhist and Hindu Tantra according to Bharati. This is a questionable emphasis, however, and certainly finds little substantiation in the texts herein examined which point rather to an exclusive monistic principle free of phenomenal relations.
The Nath siddhas, on the other hand, while conceiving of the absolute liberation along the same lines as Hindu Tantra, also finds the perfection of the body as instrumental in that attainment and useful in a functionally compassionate way, along the same lines as the Mahayanan Bodhisattva. Thus, there is an emphasis on the 'nectar' which magically transforms the body into an indestructible non-material divine form (divya-deha). "It is associated with the principles of visuddha-maya which prevents it from becoming absolutely static and acts as the absolutely purified dynamic principle for its further evolution through subtler stages to lead it to the final state of para-mukti." The importance of a perfect body is correlated with a new emphasis in the structure and psycho-physical manipulation of the mystical body. In regard to the Nath emphasis on the importance of the body, it should be noted that the traditional founder of the Nath order, Gorakhnath, is thought to have been a convert to Saivism from Buddhist Tantra and certainly there are Buddhist influences to be found in the Nath teachings. Another possible Chinese influence for this emphasis will be examined below.

Buddhist Tantra embodies the Mahayanan transition from the negative, non-ontological language of early Buddhism to a more positive emphasis on bliss and compassion. The change in perspective can be illustrated by this passage from the Heart Sutra (Prajnaparamitahridaya): "O Sariputra, form is here emptiness, emptiness is form; form is no other than emptiness, emptiness is no other than form; that which is form is emptiness, that which is emptiness is form." The heart as the indice of the dharmakaya places Being in the center of man's existence rather than as something transcendental, to be realized exclusively through negation. As Immanence it is form itself and unlike Hindu Tantra, Buddhist Tantra seeks perfection at every level. Both the descending and ascending conduits are integral to the sadhana which seeks to purify every level. The fourth kaya correlated with the head center is not a goal but the integration of all three structural patterns of Being.

Taoism with its microcosmic-macrocosmic alchemical refinement of the three elements seeks both a bodily immortality as well as a return to the Transcendental Tao. The yellow court is the 'crucible' where both are distilled while the chemistry of the process is governed by the fire of the furnace in the lower belly. The ideal of a bodily immortality necessitated the birth of a refined body, the embryo of which grew in the belly to be born through the fontanelle. The "emptiness" that one may leap into from the fontanelle points to the Taoist transcendental dualism which is similar to Samkhya in that phenomena, is not identical to the goal. That phenomena may ultimately be reduced in the unlocalized yellow court to the Tao marks the Tao as the transcendental source regardless of its non-identity with the objects generated from it.

The exit from the body of the immortal spirit is very similar to the Tibetan transformation yoga and the use of the term "transformation body" to designate the condition attained seems to be a borrowing from Buddhism. The Tibetan is greatly discouraged from leaving via this exit until it is certain that his physical body will soon expire. This is because it would be equivalent to suicide prior to that moment. The Taoist adept, of course, does not abandon his body either but rather refines his consciousness through regular egress from the head.

All three traditions in their mystical physiological correlations make use of microcosmic-macrocosmic homologizations. Ching, ch'i, and shen have a primordial dimension. The five organs each are identified with an element. The universe is a living being who like man breaths and circulates the breath. The Buddhist thig-le is the creative principle par excellence. In its microcosmic dimension it creates the human form and regulates its development and continuous functioning; on its macrocosmic side it is a dimensionless "field" of creative potential. The hatha sun of the navel and the moon of the crown create time while their disappearance or destruction destroys it. Ramana Maharshi's sun of the heart enlightens the moon of the mind, illustrating the priorness of Brahman even to mind.

The three traditions are in particular accord on some points of practical application. Each recognizes the importance of manipulating the vital energy via regulated breathing and concentration-visualization. Each finds the sex energy focalized it the head and dissipated downward in orgasm. They all seek to make use of this energy through sexual congress or via other manipulations. Each tradition begins its operations at the navel which becomes the site of a transforming or catalytic heat. And all seek to undo the psycho-physical correlates of a bondage which results from an evolutionary unfoldment.

Of course there are more parallels between the Hindu and Buddhist systems as they both possess the same heritage. Motility and Sakti are very much alike in their functions. The theory of the prana mind or interrelation of prana and mind serves as the foundation for the practice of breath retention in the Indian traditions. Though the same was practiced by the Chinese, it was in relation to a different theoretical framework, that of the absorption of breath and nourishment of the immortal embryo. The Indian traditions sought to immobilize the mind via the breath; the Taoist sought to create a 'vehicle' of immortality within his own body. Another characteristic that distinguishes the Indian traditions from the Taoist is the great emphasis placed on bliss by the former. Rarely in the Taoist texts does one find any mention of an emotional component, even in connection with yogic contemplation. Serenity is mentioned, but that surely is a mild word for what the Indian traditions speak of.

Many problems arise when trying to ascertain chronological influences in the spread of mystical physiological notions. Certainly the earliest references are found in the principle Upanishads and one may be tempted to see India as the source for Taoist yoga, but this would be premature. More evidence, in fact, points to the dissemination of influence in the opposite direction.

In China by the time of Chuang Tzu (fourth century B.C.) there existed techniques for cultivating immortality through breathing exercises and gymnastics. Also of this century one of the basic medical works, the Ling-shu, contains diagrams of the involuntary and controlled courses with centers marked along it for use in acupuncture. The Jade Classic of the Yellow Chamber (Huang T'ing Yu Ching) which deals with the three fields of cinnabar dates perhaps as early as the second century A.D. The sexual practices are also at least as old as the second century.

Already mentioned as possible responsible for the Nath emphasis on a transmaterial immortality was Buddhist Tantrism of which it is said Gorakhnath was once an adherent. However, a factor equally noteworthy in this regard is the Indian school of Rasayana the founding of which is, by one popular tradition, attributed to "a pre-Christian Taoist immigrant from China" named Bhoga. According to the tradition, Bhoga was responsible for "methods of keeping up the body of impure matter through 'reverberation' and 'projection' to the pitch of practically canceling demise... the transfiguration of the immortalized ethereal body into a permanent garment of celestial virtue, in order to fit it to associate to eternity with the Tao." The Rasayana school assigned no validity to the possibility of liberation after death as there was no positive proof for it and, thus, for true liberation the body must be perfected and rendered immutable. This liberation, according to the Rasayana, was only possible through the agency of rasa, mercury, and through the control of the vital wind. This alchemical prescription leads to a dematerializing and spiritualizing of the body. Mercury is, of course, the cinnabar of the Taoists and alchemical ingestion as well as retention of breath were anciently practiced in China. That there could have been a connection, then, between Taoist disciplines and the Indian systems seems plausible.

That the sexual practices of Hindu and Buddhist Tantra originated in China has much evidence to support it. Joseph Needham after a look at the tantras went so far as to decide the entire system is of Taoist origin. R.H. Gulik in a comparison of the Indian and Chinese sexual practices concludes that sexual mysticism is of Chinese origin. He cites much evidence that suggests that the Taoist technique of coitus reservatus was introduced into India and taken up by the tantric schools. One particularly strong point of evidence is that the sexual discipline is referred to as cinacara, the "Chinese discipline," in the Hindu tantra Rudrayamala. Though this tantra is, as are all the Hindu tantras, of a comparably late date (eleventh century or later), other earlier texts claim Mahacina possibly China as the originator of ritualistic and meditative methods that were "either very strange or repulsive to the Indian aspirant.."

That influence went both ways is indicated by the use of the term ni-wan, a transliteration of the Sanskrit word nirvana, to represent the superior field of cinnabar. Gulik cites two periods when sexual mysticism, having undergone transformation at the hands of the Buddhists, was re-imported into China along with other tantric elements. Certainly recent Taoism as presented in The Secret of the Golden Flower (18th cent.) represents a large Buddhist influence.

Whatever the chronology and precedent of influence, these three systems of mystical physiology have contributed to the formation of a variety of sects and teachings today. Hatha yoga is well known round the world, though certainly in a watered-down version as mere physical exercises (asanas). Numerous books exist on the subject of yoga as well as on "correct breathing," the source of which is the Eastern traditions discussed in this thesis. Even the Chinese sexual practices have been made available in a popular, non-mystical form in The Tao of Love and Sex by Jolan Chang.

At least one form of subtle physiology is well known and widely employed the Chinese system of acupuncture. Of course, it is unrelated to soteriological concerns, but it does illustrate the functional quality of these teachings. How these models arose is a question that, no doubt, will never be satisfactorily answered. The possibility of confusing physiological functions with psychological events is untenable for the Indians, at least, were well aware of the purposes served by the circulation of the blood, the pumping of the heart, etc. as there is a history of the examination of the internal organs of sacrificed animals. "They were therefore in no danger of confusing the circulation of the blood with that of air in the body, or of believing that the heart was the organ of thought, a fact important to bear in mind if one is to arrive at a correct evaluation of what is said about the subtle body." The Taoist physiological system is even more archaic than that of the Chinese medical theories. In the same way that one can only suggest experimentation as the source of such a useful but baffling practice as acupuncture, so to must one consider experimentation as the mother of the subtle body. In bodily terms, then, the mystical physicians. went on to offer the ultimate prescription: immortality and the end of all sorrow.

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