Goethe and Hafiz: West–Eastern Diwan & The Ghazal

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"Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832).....The encounter of Goethe with Hafiz's ghazals became so inspiring to Goethe, that he produced his own West-östlicher Diwan and "led the way to the discovery of Persian poetry by the Romantics", ....His west-ostlicher, and collection of poetry in general, gradually came to function as "an influential model for religious and literary syntheses between the ‘occident’ and the ‘orient’ in the 19th century"....Shusha Guppy, Three Journeys in the Levant, 2001

"West–östlicher Divan (West–Eastern Diwan) is a diwan, or collection of lyrical poems, by the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It was inspired by the Persian poet Hafez....West–Eastern Diwan was written between 1814 and 1819, the year when it was first published. It was inspired by Goethe's correspondence with Marianne von Willemer and the translation of Hafez' poems by the orientalist Joseph von Hammer. An expanded version was printed in 1827. It is part of Goethe's late work and the last great cycle of poetry he worked on.....The work can be seen as a symbol for a stimulating exchange and mixture between Orient and Occident. The phrase "west–eastern" refers not only to an exchange between Germany and the Middle East, but also between Latin and Persian culture, as well as the Christian and Muslim cultures. The twelve books consist of poetry of all different kinds: parables, historical allusions, pieces of invective, politically or religiously inclined poetry mirroring the attempt to bring together Orient and Occident.....For a better understanding, Goethe added "Notes and Queries", in which he comments on historical figures, events, terms and places."

English Version Online.....https://archive.org/details/westeasterndivan00goetuoft

"The Ghazal (Arabic/Persian/Urdu: غزل) is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in Arabic poetry in Arabia long before the birth of Islam. The term ghazal is of North African and Middle Eastern origin. Its root term in Arabic is " gh-zl " and is derived from the Arabian panegyric qasida. The structural requirements of the ghazal are similar in stringency to those of the Petrarchan sonnet. In style and content it is a genre that has proved capable of an extraordinary variety of expression around its central themes of love and separation...Understanding the complex lyrics of ghazals required education typically available only to the upper classes. "

"Ghazals were written by Rumi and Hafiz of Persia; the Azeri poet Fuzûlî in the Ottoman Empire; Mirza Ghalib and Muhammad Iqbal of North India; and Kazi Nazrul Islam of Bengal. Through the influence of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), the ghazal became very popular in Germany during the 19th century; the form was used extensively by Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866) and August von Platen (1796–1835). The Kashmiri poet Agha Shahid Ali was a proponent of the form, both in English and in other languages; he edited a volume of "real Ghazals in English". Ghazals were written by Moti Ram Bhatta (1866 - 1896 A.D.), the pioneer for Ghazal writing in Nepali language."

"Sufism....It is not possible to gain a full understanding of ghazal poetry without at least being familiar with some concepts of Sufism.[citation needed] Many of the major historical ghazal poets were either avowed Sufis themselves (like Rumi or Hafiz), or were sympathizers with Sufi ideas. Most ghazals can be viewed in a spiritual context, with the Beloved being a metaphor for God or the poet's spiritual master. It is the intense Divine Love of Sufism that serves as a model for all the forms of love found in ghazal poetry.....Most ghazal scholars today recognize that some ghazal couplets are exclusively about Divine Love (ishq-e-haqiqi). Others are about "earthly love" (ishq-e-majazi), but many of them can be interpreted in either context."

"Hafiz represented to Nietzsche a prime example of Dionysian ecstatic wisdom, which he extolls so extensively in his philosophy. Goethe's admiration for Hafiz and his "Oriental" wisdom, as expressed in the West-östlischer Divan, has been the main source of attracting Nietzsche's interest in this Persian poet. There is even a short poem in Nietzsche's Collected Works, entitled An Hafis. Frage eines Wassertrinkers (To Hafiz: Questions of a Water Drinker)."

"Nietzsche held very high interest and respect for Persians. For example, where he speaks about the Persian notion of history and cyclical Eternal Time, he writes: "I must pay tribute to Zarathustra, a Persian, for Persians were the first who thought of history in its full entirety." and further adds: ""It was much more fortunate if Persians became masters of the Greeks, than the very Romans."

"The study of Avestic and ancient Persian literature in the west began in the 18th century with scholars investigating Zoroastrian texts brought in from Bombay, India. It was the Frenchman Anquetil Duperron who first translated the Vendidad in 1759, followed by works of Sir William Jones and Sylvestre de Sacy, who worked on Pahlavi texts."

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"Amir Khusro's Persian ghazal Nami danam chi manzil buud shab:

nemidanam che manzel bood shab jayi ke man boodam; be har soo raghse besmel bood shab jayi ke man boodam. pari peykar negari sarv ghadi laleh rokhsari; sarapa afat-e del bood shab jayi ke man boodam.

I wonder what was the place where I was last night, All around me were half-slaughtered victims of love, tossing about in agony. There was a nymph-like beloved with cypress-like form and tulip-like face, Ruthlessly playing havoc with the hearts of the lovers."

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Email....wijijiarts@gmail.com

Northern New Mexico

October 2016

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Zarathustra, Zoroaster and Friedrich Nietzsche

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"Nietzsche (1844-1900), is best known as a philosopher of culture. His insightful critique of Western civilization in its different stages, classical, medieval, and modern, bears witness to his vast erudition and profound concern regarding the historical development of human culture, particularly in relation to ethical norms. But his spirit of enquiry goes well beyond European borders and in many instances and contexts he refers to the great Asiatic cultures of China, India, and Persia.....Nietzsche was a brilliant student of classical philology and later occupied its chair at the University of Basel. His profound knowledge of Greco-Roman culture and history permeates his writings, appearing in innumerable discussions and references. His studies of classical philology and his deep immersion in Greek and Latin literature also introduced him to the ancient history of Persia and its culture, .....fragments left in his notebooks (Nachgelassene Fragmente), there are many references to the ancient Persians. Nietzsche’s concern with Persia is well reflected in his choice of “Zarathustra” as the prophet of his philosophy and the eponymous hero of his most popular work, Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra). He shows no particular interest in Persian history after the rise of Islam, though he does make occasional allusions to Moslems, including one reference to the Assassins (Zur Genealogie der Moral [On the Genealogy of Morals], Part III, Fragment 24). Among the prominent figures of Persian history from the Islamic era the name of the poet Sa‘di is mentioned once in his notebooks, while there are several references to Hafez." ....... http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None (German: Also sprach Zarathustra: Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen, also translated as Thus Spake Zarathustra) is a philosophical novel by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, composed in four parts between 1883 and 1885 and published between 1883 and 1891. Much of the work deals with ideas such as the "eternal recurrence of the same", the parable on the "death of God", and the "prophecy" of the Übermensch, which were first introduced in The Gay Science."

"The book chronicles the fictitious travels and speeches of Zarathustra. Zarathustra's namesake was the founder of Zoroastrianism, usually known in English as Zoroaster (Avestan: Zaraϑuštra). Nietzsche is clearly portraying a "new" or "different" Zarathustra, one who turns traditional morality on its head. He goes on to characterize "what the name of Zarathustra means in my mouth, the mouth of the first immoralist:"
For what constitutes the tremendous historical uniqueness of that Persian is just the opposite of this. Zarathustra was the first to consider the fight of good and evil the very wheel in the machinery of things: the transposition of morality into the metaphysical realm, as a force, cause, and end in itself, is his work. [...] Zarathustra created this most calamitous error, morality; consequently, he must also be the first to recognize it. [...] His doctrine, and his alone, posits truthfulness as the highest virtue; this means the opposite of the cowardice of the "idealist” who flees from reality [...]—Am I understood?—The self-overcoming of morality, out of truthfulness; the self-overcoming of the moralist, into his opposite—into me—that is what the name of Zarathustra means in my mouth.
— Nietzsche, Ecce Homo, "Why I Am a Destiny", trans. Walter Kaufmann

"ZOROASTER iii. ZOROASTER IN THE AVESTA Zaraθuštra is considered the founder of the Mazdayasnian religion who lived in Eastern Iran during the end of the second millenium BC.... According to Zoroastrian tradition, at the age of 30 Zaraθuštra encountered Ahura Mazdā .....About Zaraθuštra’s time and homeland we have to refer primarily to the Old Avestan texts.....The Younger Avesta describes or refers to an ideal Zaraθuštra: He is the person who lived fully according to the will of Ahura Mazdā and practiced the religion he was fostering in a perfect way......http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zoroaster-iii-zoroaster-in-the-avesta

"HAFT KEŠVAR (seven regions), the usual geographical division of the world in Iranian tradition....The concept of the “seven regions” had Indo-Aryan roots (Geiger, pp. 302-3) and despite some claims (e.g., Herzfeld, pp. 684-85), was independent of Mesopotamian world view (Boyce, Zoroastrianism I, p. 134, n. 29), ......http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/haft-kesvar

"A second tradition handed down by the Greeks goes back to the Hellenistic era, saying that Zaraθuštra appeared 258 years before the “coming of Alexander....(356 BC – 323 BC)” Most probably, this dating originated with Aristoxenos, who lived at the end of the fourth century BC and was a disciple of Aristotle...Apollodoros gave a more precise calculation: in 570 BCE Pythagoras met with Zaraθuštra."......http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zoroaster-iii-zoroaster-in-the-avesta

"Zoroaster’s homeland. Avestan geography only refers to eastern Iranian regions, and within the texts there is a clear preference for the land of Airyanəm Vaējah......Arguments that put Zaraθuštra’s homeland in the region east of Mashad and in the area of Bactria in Afghanistan (Humbach, 1991, pp. 40-44) have gained greater acceptance. W. Hinz (1961, pp. 22-23) reckons with Zaraθuštra’s origin from Chorasmia or Bactria, before he left his homeland (Y. 46) and went to Kešmar (i.e., modern Kāšmar in Khorasan Province, Iran), where the Šāh-nāma places his activity (see, e.g., Jackson, p. 255 ff.). ".....http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zoroaster-iii-zoroaster-in-the-avesta

"Nietzsche’s deepest interest and admiration for the Persians manifest themselves where he discusses their notion of history and cyclical time. This Persian concept of time resembles to some degree his own concept of the circle of the Eternal Recurrence, expressed in a highly poetic and dramatic manner in his Zarathustra. Through this concept Nietzsche emphasizes the cyclical nature of cosmic time and the recurrence of all beings in every “circle”: “I must pay tribute to Zarathustra, a Persian (einem Perser): Persians were the first to have conceived of History in its full extent” (Sämtliche Werke, XI, p. 53). In this fragment Nietzsche uses the Persian word hazār referring to the millennial cycles (hazāra) in ancient Persian religious beliefs, “each one presided by a prophet; every prophet having his own hazar, his millennial kingdom.” In Also Sprach Zarathustra, he speaks of the great millennial (“grosser Hazar”) kingdom of his own Zarathustra, as “our great distant human kingdom, the Zarathustra kingdom of a thousand year,” (“Das Honigopfer”[The Honey Sacrifice,] Part IV)."....http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"In another posthumously published fragment, he deplores a lost historical opportunity: “It would have been much more fortunate had the Persians become masters (Herr) of the Greeks, rather than have the Romans of all people [gerade die Römer] assume that role” (Sämtliche Werke, VIII, p. 65). In this note, Nietzsche implicitly expresses once more his radical opposition to Greek metaphysical thought, as developed by Socrates and Plato, and its later prevalence in Western world through the supremacy of Greek culture within the Roman Empire. This process ultimately led, at the hands of the Church Fathers, to the integration of the Platonic metaphysics, as developed in Rome by the Neoplatonists, within the theological doctrines of Christianity. Nietzsche considered this whole historical development as constituting an ascetic and nihilistic worldview that denied and reviled the reality of this-worldly existence in the name of an illusory, eternal, and other-worldly life. Therefore, he thought that if the Persians rather than the Romans had been successful in gaining dominance over Greece, the predominance of their positive outlook towards worldly life and time would have prevented such a lamentable event in human history.".......http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"Nietzsche, as a student of philology, lived at the time of great advancement in the study of the Avesta and Indo-Iranian philology, and he was certainly not oblivious of the achievements in this field. But it is by no means certain that he had ever read Anquetil-Duperron’s translation of Zend Avesta. It could be said that his selection of the name of Zarathustra and allusions to his solitude in the mountains for ten years, and a concept like hazār (see above), testify to a broad acquaintance with Zoroastrian traditions and doctrines.".....http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"In the entire text of Nietzsche’s Zarathustra one finds only one indirect allusion to the Persians and their beliefs (Zarathustra I, “On the Thousand and One Goal”), while there is an abundance of references and allusions to the Bible, reflecting his perennial struggle and obsessive concern with Judeo-Christian beliefs and their impact on human history....Zarathustra is a central figure in Nietzsche’s poetical representation of his philosophy because the opposition to morality and moralism stands at the heart of his critical historical thought..".....http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"Nietzsche made several references to “Zoroaster” in his early writings. This familiar name in European languages, of Greek origin, was used in his notebooks of 1870-71, about a decade before writing Also Sprach Zarathustra. There he speaks with great admiration of Zoroaster and his religion and, in a short note, as elsewhere (see above), implicitly expresses his sympathy for the historically not improbable possibility that Zoroastrianism could have well triumphed in ancient Greece: “Zoroaster’s religion would have prevailed in Greece, if Darius had not been defeated.” (Sämtliche Werke, VII, p. 106). Also in his posthumously published work of the same period, Die Philosophie im tragischen Zeitalter der Griechen (Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks), he refers to the probable influence of Zoroaster on Heraclitus (Sämtliche Werke, I, p. 806; English tr. P. 29). The name of “Zarathustra,” as such, first appears in Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (The Gay Science, fragment 342), published in 1882. Nietzsche inserts here the first fragment of the prologue to Also Sprach Zarathustra, i.e. Zarathustra’s prayer before the sun. This fragment appears in the following year in the published text of the first part of Zarathustra."........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"As Nietzsche admits himself, by choosing the name of Zarathustra as the prophet of his philosophy in a poetical idiom, he wanted to pay homage to the original Aryan prophet as a prominent founding figure of the spiritual-moral phase in human history, and reverse his teachings at the same time, according to his fundamental critical views on morality....The original Zoroastrian world-view interpreted being on the basis of the universality of the moral values and saw the whole world as an arena of the struggle between two fundamental moral elements, Good and Evil, depicted in two antagonistic divine figures. Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, in contrast, puts forward his ontological immoralism and tries to prove and reestablish the primordial innocence of beings by destroying philosophically all moralistic interpretations and evaluations of being."..........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

" In the intellectual outline of his life and works, Ecce Homo, Nietzsche describes his reasons for choosing Zarathustra as harbinger of his philosophy:.....What the name of Zarathustra means in my mouth, the mouth of the first immoralist: for what constitutes the tremendous historical uniqueness of that Persian is just the opposite of this. Zarathustra was the first to consider the fight of good and evil the very wheel in the machinery of things: the transposition of morality into the metaphysical realms as a force, cause, and end in itself... Zarathustra created this most calamitous error, morality, consequently, he must also be the first to recognize it.... To speak the truth and to shoot well with arrows, that is, Persian virtue ----Am I understood? ---The self-overcoming of morality, out of truthfulness; the self-overcoming of the moralist, into his opposite---into me---that is what the name of Zarathustra means in my mouth (trans. Kaufmann, pp. 327-28)."............http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, like the original Zarathustra according to Zoroastrian tradition, goes to the mountain for meditation when he is thirty years old, and, like him, descends ten years later to convey his message to humanity. The early Zarathustra, at the dawn of the metaphysical history of humanity, after having long dialogues with his God of goodness, descends from the mountain to proclaim the heavenly message that interprets being in moralistic terms of Good and Evil; while the “second” Zarathustra, at the end of this history, descends to announce, first of all, the dreadful news which has immense consequences for human life and thought: the death of God."...............http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"Sa‘di and Hafez are the only Persian names of the Islamic era mentioned in Nietzsche’s writings.....Goethe’s admiration for Hafez and his “Oriental” wisdom, as expressed in West-östlisches Divan, has been the main source of attracting Nietzsche to the Persian poet. ....There is even a short poem in Nietzsche’s collected works, entitled An Hafis. Frage eines Wassertrinkers (To Hafez: Questions from a Water Drinker). The poem celebrates the insightfulness of Hafez and his poetical achievements. At the end, he asks Hafez, as a “water drinker,” why he demands wine while he himself has the power of making everybody intoxicated (Sämtliche Werke, XI, p. 316). It must be remembered that, for health reasons, Nietzche himself was apparently a lifelong abstainer. He considered “alcohol and Christianity” as the two harmful narcotics for the European soul, and particularly pernicious in regards to the German Geist (see “Was den Deutschen abgeht,” fragment 2, in Götzen-Dämmerung [Twilight of the Idols])."............http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

Northern New Mexico

October 2016

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Tibetan Literature

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Journal Éveillé is an Informal Exploration of the Natural Mind in the Arts of Language and Poetics

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"Despite a literary tradition going back thirteen centuries, Tibet generally has had a culture in which many important types of knowledge—not just of personal experience, but of history, philosophy and science, too—were transmitted orally..... "Verse"—metrically regulated composition—is an excellent mnemonic device, and so it should not surprise us that a tremendous amount of Tibetan literature is in verse. From among the vast number of versified works found in their language, Tibetans have separated out certain pieces because of their greater concentration of rhythm, image and meaning, their heightened "imagery" (gzugs), "vitality" (srog) and "ornamentation" (rgyan). These works are designated in Tibetan by at least three separate terms: glu (songs), mgur (poetical songs) and snyan ngag (ornate poetry).

Poetry: "a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm" (Webster's: 887a) that in the West we call "poetry," .....

"Glu, mgur and snyan ngag are interrelated in subtle and important ways, but they are distinguishable. Indeed, one may see the movement from glu to mgur to snyan ngag as reflecting both the evolution of "poetry" in Tibet from ancient to more recent times and the spectrum of poetic styles, from that of popular, oral, indigenously rooted works, to that of monastic, literary, Indian-inspired compositions."

The Gesar epic (sgrung).

"Glu, mgur and snyan ngag (along with the Gesar epic corpus) together roughly comprise the Tibetan poetic canon. Glu, which remains in Tibetan as a general term for "song," is the earliest, most indigenous, most secular, and most orally and musically oriented of the genres. mGur, which originally was either a synonym or a subdivision of glu, came eventually to denote a more Buddhistic type of "song," and might be either Tibetan or Indian in its inspiration, oral or written in its style. sNyan ngag, "speech [agreeable] to the ear," is an ornate, written, Indian-inspired type of Buddhist (and occasionally secular) poetry that did not appear until the thirteenth century, well after the other two genres."

Excerpts are from: Tibetan Literature...Studies in Genre, pp. 368-392....by Roger R. Jackson http://www.thlib.org/encyclopedias/literary/genres/genres-book.php#!book=/studies-in-genres/b22/

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"The Tibetan script was developed from an Indic script in the 7th century during the Tibetan Imperial period......Chinese authorities impose Lhasa Tibetan on Amdo Tibetan speakers, because they are both considered part of the same language for political reasons.....Throughout most of Tibetan history, its literary works have been strongly influenced by Buddhist thought: they are mostly religious, historical, and biographical texts, or a mixture of these genres. There are also collections of folktales (for example, those involving the trickster figure Akhu Tönpa), and works dealing with the ancient Bön religion, which preceded Tibetan Buddhism..... The Gesar epic in particular is the key subject of study by the Chinese state, and was revived with the end of the clergy's monopoly on political power, since the Gelugpa monasteries forbade the epic literary genre......The most popular Tibetophone literary magazine in Qinghai, "Light Rain" (Drang Char), was founded in 1981, popularizing the short story genre in Tibet....... The influence of Chinese poetry, and of Western poetry in Chinese translation, began to make itself felt after the Four Modernizations. Despite these influences, critics and editors gave priority to stories and poems with traditional settings. Most new work takes the form of poetry."....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_literature

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The Language Divide: Identity and Literary Choices in Modern Tibet ...by P Schiaffini - ‎2004

The Exotic Other and Negotiation of Tibetan Self: Representation of Tibet in ... By Kamila Hladíková

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Email....wijijiarts@gmail.com

Northern New Mexico

September 2016

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Rudaki (c. 880 -941 AD) ... Father of Persian Poetry

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Journal Éveillé is an Informal Exploration of the Natural Mind in the Arts of Language and Poetics....

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"Rudaki......(Persian: ابوعبدالله جعفر ابن محمد رودکی‎‎, Tajik: Абӯабдуллоҳ Ҷаъфар Ибни Муҳаммад, entitled آدم الشعرا Ādam ul-Shoara or Adam of Poets), also written as Rudagi (858 - c. 941), was a Persian poet, and is regarded as the first great literary genius of the Modern Persian, who composed poems in the "New Persian" alphabet. Rudaki is considered a founder of Persian classical literature. His poetry contains many of the oldest genres of Persian poetry including the quatrain..... Only a small percentage of his extensive poetry has survived....He was the first who impressed upon every form of epic, lyric and didactic poetry its peculiar stamp and its individual character. He is also said to have been the founder of the diwan, or the typical form of the complete collection of a poet's lyrical compositions in a more or less alphabetical order, which all Persian writers use even today. He was also very adept singer and instrumentalist.".... Sassan Tabatabai, "Father of Persian Verse: Rudaki and His Poetry", Amsterdam University Press

"Abu 'Abdollâh' Jafar ibn Mohammad Rudaki (c. 880 CE-941 CE) was a poet to the Samanid court which ruled much of Khorâsân (northeastern Persia) from its seat in Bukhara. He is widely regarded as "the father of Persian poetry, for he was the first major poet to write in New Persian language, following the Arab conquest in the seventh and eighth centuries, which established Islam as the official religion, and made Arabic the predominant literary language in Persian-speaking lands for some two centuries. In the tenth century the Caliphate power, with headquarters in Bagdad, gradually weakened. The remoteness of Khorâsân, where Rudaki was based, provided a hospitable atmosphere for a "renaissance" of Persian literature. Persian poetry-now written in the Arabic alphabet-flourished under the patronage of the Samanid amirs, who drew literary talent to their court. Under the rule of Nasr ibn Ahmad II (r. 914-943), Rudaki distinguished himself as the brightest literary star of the Samanid court. This book presents Rudaki as the founder of a new poetic aesthetic, which was adopted by subsequent generations of Persian poets. Rudaki is credited with being the first to write in the rubâi form; and many of the images we first encounter in Rudaki's lines have become staples of Persian poetry.".....Father of Persian Verse: Rudaki and His Poetry (Iranian Studies Series) ......by Sassan Tabatabai (Editor)

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Ju-yi Muliyan

The Ju-yi Mulian we call to mind,
We long for those dear friends long left behind.
The sands of Oxus, toilsome though they be,
Beneath my feet were soft as silk to me.
Glad at the friend's return, the Oxus deep
Up to our girths in laughing waves shall leap.
Long live Bukhara! Be thou of good cheer!
Joyous towards thee hasteth our Amir!
The moon's the prince, Bukhara is the sky;
O Sky, the Moon shall light thee by and by!
Bukhara is the Mead, the Cypress he;
Receive at last, O Mead, thy Cypress tree!

Abu Abullah Rudaki (d. AD 940)

Translated by A. J. Arberry, 1958

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Email....wijijiarts@gmail.com

Northern New Mexico

September 2016

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Longchenpa (1308-1364)....Natural Perfection and Radical Dzogchen

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Journal Éveillé is an Informal Exploration of the Natural Mind in the Arts of Language and Poetics....

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Longchenpa (Tib. ཀློང་ཆེན་པ་, Wyl. klong chen pa), also known as Longchen Rabjam (Tib. ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་, klong chen rab 'byams), ‘Infinite, Vast Expanse of Space’, or Drimé Özer (1308-1364), was one of the most brilliant teachers of the Nyingma lineage. He systematized the Nyingma teachings in his ‘Seven Treasures’ and wrote extensively on Dzogchen. He transmitted the Longchen Nyingtik cycle of teachings and practice to Jikmé Lingpa, and it has since become one of the most widely practised of traditions.

The Natural Freedom of the Nature of Mind (Tib. སེམས་ཉིད་རང་གྲོལ་, Semnyi Rangdrol; Wyl. sems nyid rang grol) - part of Longchenpa's Trilogy of Natural Freedom. It has three chapters, related to the Ground, Path and Fruition, and it contains the oft-quoted lines:

Since everything is but an illusion,
Perfect in being what it is,
Having nothing to do with good or bad,
Acceptance or rejection,
One might as well burst out laughing!

ཐམས་ཅད་མཉམ་རྫོགས་སྒྱུ་མའི་རང་བཞིན་ལ། །
བཟང་ངན་བླང་དོར་མེད་པས་དགོད་རེ་བྲོ། །

thams cad mnyam rdzogs sgyu ma'i rang bzhin la//
bzang ngan blang dor med pas dgod re bro//

Translation: Longchen Rabjam, The Practice of Dzogchen, translated by Tulku Thondup, Snow Lion, 2002

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Email....wijijiarts@gmail.com

Northern New Mexico

September 2016

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Poetry and the Practice of Discovering Space

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Journal Éveillé is an informal exploration of awakened mind in the art of poetry....

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"The everyday practice of dzogchen is simply to develop a complete carefree acceptance, an openness to all situations without limit. We should realise openness as the playground of our emotions and relate to people without artificiality, manipulation or strategy.....When we engage in the practice of discovering space, we should develop the feeling of opening ourselves out completely to the entire universe. We should open ourselves with absolute simplicity and nakedness of mind. This is the powerful and ordinary practice of dropping the mask of self-protection.....Vast unoriginated self-luminous wisdom space is the ground of being - the beginning and the end of confusion. The presence of awareness in the primordial state has no bias toward enlightenment or non-enlightenment. This ground of being which is known as pure or original mind is the source from which all phenomena arise. It is known as the great mother, as the womb of potentiality in which all things arise and dissolve in natural self-perfectedness and absolute spontaneity. All aspects of phenomena are completely clear and lucid. The whole universe is open and unobstructed - everything is mutually interpenetrating..... The nature of phenomena appears naturally and is naturally present in time-transcending awareness. Everything is naturally perfect just as it is. All phenomena appear in their uniqueness as part of the continually changing pattern. These patterns are vibrant with meaning and significance at every moment; yet there is no significance to attach to such meanings beyond the moment in which they present themselves...This is the dance of the five elements in which matter is a symbol of energy and energy a symbol of emptiness. We are a symbol of our own enlightenment. With no effort or practice whatsoever, liberation or enlightenment is already here.....The everyday practice of dzogchen is just everyday life itself. Since the undeveloped state does not exist, there is no need to behave in any special way or attempt to attain anything above and beyond what you actually are. There should be no feeling of striving to reach some "amazing goal" or "advanced state.".... We are intrinsically enlightened and lack nothing......All phenomena are completely new and fresh, absolutely unique and entirely free from all concepts of past, present and future. They are experienced in timelessness.....Our experience becomes the continuity of nowness. Why bother with attempting to establish an illusion of solid ground?"

Dzogchen Practice in Everyday Life
by HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
http://www.nyingma.com/dzogchen1.htm

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"The relationship of mahasukha, great bliss, to vajra passion?.....It is the meeting point, ultimate communication. There is no chaos to the dance any more....Vajra passion doesn't particularly inspire you to fill the space at all, rather than use the space....in terms of limitless passion, I don't think you can do anything at all, because you become completely powerless....Vajra passion, open passion, transcendental passion...doesn't inspire you to fill the space immediately at all....It inspires you to create more space. So you don't decesssarily have to do anything immediately... instead you enjoy the space more.....Passion contains wonderful, skillful communication...we feel completely natural and open...it is like pure gold because you don't see only the surface, you see the whole way through...Applying passion with wisdom, you could see the whole process and not only be fascinated and overwhelmed by the exterior alone...."(Volume Two: The Path Is the Goal...page 621)
..."...the ground or canvas on which experience is painted....the canvas had never known colors yet, it's an open canvas. Even if you paint on the canvas, it remains white, fundamentally speaking. You could scrape off the paint."... Volume Six: Glimpses of Space ...(page 34)

"....Complete trust in confusion...seeing the confused quality as the truth of its own reality...that is the ground. You begin to develop space."...... Volume Six: Glimpses of Space ...(page 35)

The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa

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"The Longde (klong-sde) or "Space Series" of Dzogchen teachings.....Longdé is translated as "Space Division" or "Space Series" of Dzogchen and emphasises the emptiness (Wylie: strong pa) or spaciousness (Wylie: klong) aspect of the Natural State...... the basic primordial state; the nature of mind-itself (which is contrasted with normal conscious mind). .....

Excerpted from Space, Awareness, and Energy: An Introduction to the Bonpo Dzogchen Teachings of the Oral Tradition from Zhang-zhung, by John Myrdhin Reynolds, Snow Lion Publications

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Dzogchen Poem from "Eye of the Storm"

The Revelation of All Things As One:
The Root of All Experience

As one, completely free of attributes,
the yogin is like the flight-path of a bird in the sky;
in the unstructured, unoriginated, matrix
how can there be any inflated projections?

The Identity of Samsara and Nirvana:
The Fallacy of Inner and Outer

Inner and outer are one, the inner the outer itself,
so there is no ulterior field to realize;
under the power of a mistaken dichotomy,
samadhi lacks ultimate sameness.

The Reality of Vajrasattva

Vajrasattva, vast exalted spaciousness,
in the all-good expanse of existential space,
is the utterly pristine, dynamic process of liberation,
never begun, never-ending and conceiving nothing.

Complete and Perfect Dzogchen

Totally complete, nothing excluded,
unchanging, Dzogchen is simply present;
boundless, like space,
nothing is dependant upon anything else.

Immediate and Spontaneous Enlightenment

In the field of ordinary understanding lies pure pleasure,
which itself is the pristine purity of mundane existence;
through the concentration of finite light focused therein
the entire ten directions of space are illuminated.

These are the first five verses of the Dorje Sempa Namkhache Lung in the order given in the Dochu and translated accordingly to the Dochu commentary.... The Namkha Che is the realization of Garab Dorje who recited it when a child. It was given to Pagor Vairochana by Shri Singha in Oddiyana and was one of the first five translations of the Semde tantras made at Samye in Tibet. It is considered to be the root text of the Semde Series.

Eye of the Storm: Bairotsana's Original Transmissions
by Keith Dowman

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"The Buddha, wandering in the forest one day, was approached by a man who was struck by his countenance, and who asked, "What are you? Are you a saint, a yogi, a savior?" And the Buddha replied: "I am awake."....This simple original wakefulness is empty of all fixed qualities other than its own nature...This is "basic space'.....Longchenpa: "Everything is the adornment of basic space and nothing else."

Moonlight Leaning Against an Old Rail Fence: Approaching the Dharma as Poetry

(2015).....By Paul Weiss

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"Lungta and the four dignities symbolize the play of the five elements, out of which all phenomena are formed. The lungta symbolizes space, the ground of all manifestation; in fact, in astrological texts lung ta is sometimes spelt ཀློང་རྟ་, longta, 'horse of space'. "

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Email....wijijiarts@gmail.com

Northern New Mexico

September 2016

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Dzogchen Texts, Clear Perception & Poetic Expression

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Journal Éveillé is an informal exploration of awakened mind in the art of poetry....

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"The mark of one's speech at this point is that one's voice is soothing and enchanting, like songs sung by the children of kumbhandhas. In addition, various words of Dharma, legends, and knowledge of linguistics, poetry, and composition naturally emerge."...Dudjom Lingpa (1835-1904)

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"In general, the Dzogchen teachings are found only in the old unreformed Tibetan schools of the Buddhist Nyingmapas and the non-Buddhist Bonpos. In both cases, these teachings are substantially the same in meaning and terminology, and both traditions claim to have an unbroken lineage coming down to the present time from the eighth century and even before. Both of these schools assert that Dzo gchen did not originate in Tibet itself, but had a Central Asian origin and was subsequently brought to Central Tibet by certain masters known as Mahasiddhas or great adepts.".....http://vajranatha.com/articles/traditions/dzogchen.html

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Heart of the Great Perfection: Dudjom Lingpa's Visions of the Great Perfection......By Dudjom Lingpa (1835-1904)...
"This is the citta lamp of the flesh and whose trunk is the hollow crystal kati channel. The term fluid distant lasso lamp is collectively given to all three, which are known as the three lamps of the vessel ...The Lamp of the Flesh, Citta (Tibetan: tsitta sha'i sgron ma) is located at the heart......

Naked Awareness: Practical Instructions on the Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.....By Karma Chagme:
"Inside it is the so-called "lamp of the empty bindus," and it is like the ... the citta lamp of the flesh, located in the heart; the lamp of the hollow crystal kati channel, ..."

"The quintessence of the apertures is called the fluid Lasso lamp. That consists of three kinds of lamps of the vessel. Although the three kinds of lamps of the vessel are given three names, in reality they refer to the same thing, like a root, trunk, and fruit. Thus, in the context of the path, they are simply called the fluid lasso lamp....The mark of one's speech at this point is that one's voice is soothing and enchanting, like songs sung by the children of kumbhandhas. In addition, various words of Dharma, legends, and knowledge of linguistics, poetry, and composition naturally emerge. Appearances arise as symbols and as scriptures, and the meaning of all oral transmissions and practical instructions flows forth like the current of a river. Words of melodious songs and so on inspire others' perceptions of the world, and their minds are blessed."...Dzogchen: Thodgal (Leap-Over) Instructions by Dudjom Lingpa... ....http://www.theopendoorway.org/Dzogchen-Thodgal.htm

"Quoting from the Jinzhu jing .. or Tantra of the Golden Pearls (Tib. gSer phreng), Fahai on the basis of the Dayuanman guanding (82a) explains thus :
From the Jewel Palace of the Heart (xin baogong) to the Ocean of the Eyes [yanhai, i.e., the pupils] there is a connecting vessel which is called in Tibetan "Kati." It is opalescent, transparent, and soft. Empty in its interior (neikong), it is not engendered by the mother’s red blood and the father’s white semen (fumu hongbai jingxue), which "some people call sun and moon." ...http://texts.00.gs/rDzogs-Chen_in_China.htm

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John Myrdhin Reynolds. The Golden Letters, p. 307......kati: “a crystalline translucent nerve or channel connecting the heart with the eyes.” John Myrdhin Reynolds. The Golden Letters, p. 307.

Crystal Kati Channel....."According to the custom of some teaching traditions, you are first introduced to the view, and upon that basis you seek the meditative state. This makes it difficult to identify awareness. In the tradition presented here, you first establish the meditative state, then on that basis you are introduced to the view. This profound point makes it impossible for you not to identify awareness. Therefore, first settle your mind in its natural state, then bring forth genuine quiescence in your mind-stream, and reveal the nature of awareness.

Position your body with the seven attributes like before. Steadily fix your gaze in the space in front of you, into the vacuity at the level of the tip of your nose, without any disorderliness or duplicity. This is the benefit of this gaze: in the center of the hearts of all beings there is the hollow crystal kati channel, which is a channel of primordial wisdom. If it points down and is closed off, primordial wisdom is obscured, and delusion grows. Thus, in animals that channel faces downwards and is closed off, so they are foolish and deluded. In humans that channel points horizontally and is slightly open, so human intelligence is bright and our consciousness is clear. In people who have attained siddhis and in bodhisattvas that channel is open and faces upwards, so there arise unimaginable samādhis, primordial wisdom of knowledge, and vast extrasensory perceptions. These occur due to the open quality of that channel of primordial wisdom. Thus, when the eyes are closed, that channel is closed off and points down, so consciousness is dimmed by the delusion of darkness. By steadily fixing the gaze, that channel faces up and opens, which isolates pure awareness from impure awareness. Then clear, thought-free samādhi arises, and numerous pure visions appear. Thus, the gaze is important.

In all treatises other than the Tantra of the Sun of the Clear Expanse of the Great Perfection and the Profound Dharma of the Natural Emergence of the Peaceful and Wrathful from Enlightened Awareness, the hollow crystal kati channel is kept secret, and there are no discussions of this special channel of primordial wisdom. This channel is unlike the central channel, the right channel, the left channel, or any of the channels of the five chakras; it is absolutely not the same as any of them. Its shape is like that of a peppercorn that is just about open, there is no blood or lymph inside it, and it is limpid and clear. A special technique for opening this is hidden in the instructions on the natural liberation pertaining to the lower orifice, great bliss, and desire. The lower yānas do not have even the name of this channel.

Thus, while steadily maintaining the gaze, place the awareness unwaveringly, steadily, clearly, nakedly, and fixedly, without having anything on which to meditate, in the sphere of space. When stability increases, examine the consciousness that is stable. Then gently release and relax. Again place it steadily, and steadfastly observe the consciousness of that moment. What is the nature of that mind? Let it steadfastly observe itself. Is it something clear and steady, or is it an emptiness that is nothing? Is there something there to recognize? Look again and again, and report your experience to me! Natural Liberation: Padmasambhava's Teachings on the Six Bardos Paperback – June 15, 1998

Note: kati: “a crystalline translucent nerve or channel connecting the heart with the eyes.” John Myrdhin Reynolds. The Golden Letters, p. 307.

Golden Letters: The Three Statements of Garab Dorje, First Dzogchen Master by John Myrdhin Reynolds (Translator)

"The teachings of Dzogchen, which directly introduces the practitioner to the Nature of Mind, were first expounded by Garab Dorje in the country of Uddiyana and later went to India and Tibet. The essence of Garab Dorje's message is "The Three Statements that Strike the Essential Points." Patrul Rinpoche wrote a brilliant commentary, together with practices entitled "The Special Teaching of the Wise and Glorious King"

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The Flight of the Garuda: The Dzogchen Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism by Keith Dowman (Translator)

Translations of four sacred texts of the Dzogchen tradition: Secret Instruction in a Garland of Vision, The Flight of the Garuda, Emptying the Depths of Hell, and the Wish-Granting Prayer of Kuntu Zangpo.

Flight of the Garuda conveys the heart advice of one of the most beloved nonsectarian masters of Tibet. Ordained as a Gelug monk, the itinerant yogi Shabkar was renowned for his teachings on Dzogchen, the heart practice of the Nyingma lineage. He wandered the countryside of Tibet and Nepal, turning many minds toward the Dharma through his ability to communicate the essence of the teachings in a poetic and crystal-clear way. Buddhists of all stripes, including practitioners of Zen and Vipassana, will find ample sustenance within the pages of this book, and be thrilled by the lyrical insights conveyed in Shabkar's words.

Along with the song by Shabkar, translator Keith Dowman includes several other seminal Dzogchen texts. Dzogchen practice brings us into direct communion with the subtlemost nature of our experience, the unity of samsara in nirvana as experienced within our own consciousness. Within the Nyingma school, it is held higher than even the practices of tantra for bringing the meditator face to face with the nature of reality.

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Exerpt of an interesting discussion online via dharmawheel.net.....Ordinary Mind, Thamal Gyi Shepa and 'Baby Rigpa'......

Post By monktastic.....
"Hello, me again with questions regarding the natural state :) (As a disclaimer: I attended Norbu Rinpoche's teachings online last week, and will be visiting Lama Yeshe next year, so I'm not trying to avoid formal instruction!)......It has been said that one's initial experiences of rigpa may deserve the title "baby rigpa," and even before that, perhaps "natural mind" or "ordinary mind". Tsoknyi Rinpoche says:
"This short moment of recognizing can surely be called mind essence. You can also name it natural mind or ordinary mind, although natural mind is better in this case. It might be a little too early to call it the rigpa of the Great Perfection. But as this state gets more clarified -- you could say more refined -- and becomes the authentic state of rigpa according to Dzogchen teachings, then at that point it will deserve its name. On the other hand, it is also possible that someone might recognize the state of rigpa from the very beginning.

In the beginning, just let it be whatever it is, however it is; just let whatever is known be that, without hope and fear. We call this continuity, however brief it might be, Baby Rigpa. … In the same way, whatever is initially seen as being the view is exactly what you allow to continue.

Dzogchen meditation is to sustain the continuity. It is to give Baby Rigpa breathing space. Up till now, he has been suffocating...

In the Dzogchen tradition, of course, it is imperative to get a pointing out instruction first. In Mahamudra (particularly in the style of Thrangu Rinpoche, who was my first Mahamudra teacher), one may arrive at a first glimpse of thamal gyi shepa via vipashyana meditations. It is my understanding that this initial glimpse may not be as "deep" a recognition as one may receive from a full-blown pointing-out, and that this is okay. With the tiniest glimpse of ordinary mind, one may refine one's view by repeatedly allowing oneself to recognize it, as well as by deepening it with further vipashyana meditations (e.g., coming to experience more deeply that perceptions are mind, that thoughts are mind, etc.)."

Source:..http://dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?t=10283

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"Discovering drala is indeed to establish ties to your world, so that each perception becomes unique. It is to see with the heart, so that what is invisible to the eye becomes visible as the living magic of reality." (Trungpa: Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior ....1984..pg 105)

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"The Nature of Mind is not only ... primordial purity (ka-dag), but it is equally characterized by a luminous clarity (gsal-ba) and intrinsic awareness (rig-pa)……the light of awareness that illuminates our world. ... This inner light (nang >od), the light of awareness, resides in the hollow space inside ... a maroon-colored carnelian stone decorated with white crystals ... . This inner light of awareness proceeds from the hollow space ..., moving upward through the kati channel, to the two ... lenses to focus this light. The two ... are the gateways for the emergence into outer space of this inner light of awareness…..Thus, this light and the images that appear in this light, are actually something internal ..., but here they manifest in the empty space in front of oneself. The light ... is projected ... out through the lenses of the two eyes into the space in front, much like one is watching a cinema show. This process may be compared to a magic latern or a projector. ...The objects that appear are not really outside oneself. ……http://texts.00.gs/Practice_of_Dzogchen_in_the_Zhang-Zhung_Tradition,_2.htm…..Practice of Dzogchen in the Zhang-Zhung Tradition of Tibet: Translations from the The Gyalwa Chaktri of Druchen Gyalwa Yungdrung, and The Seven-fold Cycle of the Clear Light By:John Myrdhin Reynolds (translator)

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Email....wijijiarts@gmail.com

Northern New Mexico

September 2016

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