YANTRA
AND SYNCRONICITY - MAIN TEXT
There is biological evidence that the human species is highly developed on the visual side of the senses.
In the "Human Biocomputer',
Dr John Lilly writes:
"The
numbers of neurons in the human brain are variously estimated at 13 billions
(1./3 times to the tenth) with approximately two million visual inputs and one
hundred thousand acoustic inputs."
The
percentage of the visual inputs indicates that Nature has designed the human
being to 'see' or perceive visually, in a higher proportion to the other senses.
Thus if the visual inputs predominate, can this be seen as a revelation of
evolutionary direction?
"Could
there be an archetypal aspect to darkness that might account for our disdain,
as well as the fear, the psychological shudder it can release? Does the human
eye prefer light to darkness? Is the human being heliotropic, fundamentally
adapted to light? Is visual perception its preferred sense as we witness in the
embryo, where from its earliest weeks the rudimentary optical system begins to
form before many others?"
Hillman,
James, The Seduction of Black, Spring 61, Woodstock, Connecticut, 1977,
p.4
This field of Information, the subject
of this study, is what Ajit Mookerjee terms "VISUAL METAPHYSICS". In
the most profound sense, the phenomena that we collectively call 'Reality' is
subjectively and objectively 'seen'. Giordano Bruno said that:
"To
think is to speculate with images."
In
F.Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition.
This exploration concerns the 'reading' of metaphysical data in visual form.’Seeing’ and ‘reading’ are of course, used here, in a very specific sense. From the other extreme, this visual data has to be 'codified' in the first place.How did this 'codification' come about? This question, and its many answers, have a particular bearing on the Sacred Tarot, which is after all, a visual resource, and a pictographic Science.
We could refer to this science as 'video-data' or 'video-code.' All the roots of thse words, originate in the Sanscrit vidya - ‘seeing’.
In this exploration, two great areas of esoteric information that are transmitted through visual codification will be dealt with:
a) The Hermetic/Alchemical material, which is codified into the Tarot. And:
b) The YANTRAS of Buddhism, and Hinduism in Tantric Art.
Because
most of the psychological information of The Work of Alchemy is available in
visual form, we will call this a VISUAL TRANSMISSION.
Again,
there are two distinct forms of visual transmission, which we will call:
The
REPRESENTATIONAL, and:
The
ABSTRACT.
Images,
symbols, signs, ideographs and hieroglyphics abound in the collective culture
of humankind. The Alchemical, Hermetic, Astrological and Mythological material
of Middle-Eastern and Eurocentric civilizations, is on the surface, obviously
representational.Or, our perceptions of these symbols, obviously represents
something recognizable.
For
the more abstract and non-representational images we have to look further
Eastwards, to the Yantras and Mandalas of Hinduism and Buddhism,
as two specifically defined aspects of visual transmission.
This
process of perception through images or picture-forms, is our point of
departure.
In
Hermetic Wisdom, as in other Transmission Systems, there are various dynamics
involved. On the one hand, we have the actual texts, which we could call the
'Literal Transmission.' This written form, as evident in 'Atalanta Fugiens'
is always parallel to the visual transmissions, i.e. WORDS and PICTURES.
We can assume from the evidence that there is a third definite stream of transmission
- the ORAL. Oral Lineages and Fraternities, pass the information through
word of mouth, or experientially, from Master to disciple, or student. A highly
cultured example of this process is to be found in Tibetan Buddhism, and also
in the Kabala. And in an important book, 'The Myth of Invariance', Prof
Ernest G. McClain tells us that:
"...musical
symbolism and mathematics were recognized spiritual languages that often were
used to communicate fundamental spiritual ideas."
This
is beautifully expressed in 'The Glass Bead Game' by Herman Hesse.
Besides
the wealth of visual literature that has been transmitted through the
Alchemical and Hermetic Emblem books, we also have that ultimate Key of visual
meta-programming - THE SACRED TAROT. By creating analogies with the 22
Major Arcana, wide ranges of correspondences of the Hermetic Wisdom open up on
many levels. Not only are there literal texts to draw from, codes embodied in
visual structures, pictures, symbols, images and music - but there also exists
an architectural transmission in the Masonic Brethren and the Medical Lineage
of the Healers.
The
visual transmission lineages of so-called "Western" or
European culture, have deep historic roots. Our ideographic resources can be
traced back to ancient Chaldean and Egyptian hieroglyphics, in some
cases, as far back as 5,000 years ago. In
dealing with the Tradition of the Image, and excellent example is found in
Iamblicus describing an Egyptian initiation:
"At one
point in his journey the candidate is stopped before 22 frescoes, paintings
which picture the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot, and it becomes his duty to
commit to memory these pictures as well as their symbolism, which is then
explained to him."
C.C. Zain.
Thousands
of years later, this tradition which evolved into the Egyptian Tarot, still
transmits the same images. In the early 17th century, in the Rosicrucian vision
of an utopian city, CHRISTIANOPOLIS, by J. V. Andrea, we read:
"Teaching
and study are everywhere helped by pictures."
Of
vital significance is the clue gleaned from the Iamblicus quote, that the
images are memorized. The images and symbols are externally stored in a system
such as the Tarot or the I CHING in China.
But
a new dynamic emerges when these images are stored internally, i.e. committed
to memory. The visual data reacts with the archetypal psychic structures and
processes of the initiate, and is thus integrated experientially into a
symbolic and esoteric internal visual vocabulary.
In
an initiatory context, the use of visual transmissions can be generally
classified as an educational system. Because, in the inner life, this field of
images is the language of the psyche, the symbolic matrix. As Lama Govinda
explains:
"We
need visual symbols in which the highest qualities of the enlightened mind are
expressed."
This
"need" is strong confirmation that dynamic psychological information
emerges in visual form, e.g. dreams and visions. These are our spontaneous,
autonomous visual productions. Outside of our subjective visual experience, is
the objective visual transmission in picture form, which is presented in two
contexts:
The REPRESENTATIONAL
and the ABSTRACT.
The
Hermetic Emblems, those of Alchemy and The Sacred Tarot obviously belong to the
representational. It was through work with these images that C.J. Jung came to
many of his great scientific conclusions. Images are also "worked"
upon internally in the Buddhism of the Tantras, in the visualization practices
and meditation on the YANTRA and MANDALA. The perceptions with we process these
visual images have to be analysed in some detail.
The Mandala of Tibetan Buddhism
(dKyil.Chor.lo) is only revealed at the climax of an initiatory context.
It contains profound aesthetic visual codification. Though it is not a general
rule, the transmission of arcane visual literature in the Eastern systems,
tends to have a higher body of abstract visual literature, while there is a
dominance of representational transmission in the Alchemical and Hermetic
Emblem books. . [A detailed definition
of the Mandala principle will be dealt with elsewhere.]
-------------------------
----------
NB: See: Black Elk Speaks, for
another Mandala vision and offering from the Gods.
-----------------------------
A deep penetration of the
Emblems of 'Atalanta Fugiens' by Michael Maier, reveals a structural 'sub-text'
which is archetypal and therefore abstract. [This is illustrated in the section
titled: ‘Why Zeus.’]
Often, identical geometrical forms
emerge, with the same dynamics as the Yantra and Mandala principles of the
East. The European abstract transmission rests on the Divine Mathematics of
Euclid and Pythogoras.
By
'representational' we mean that which partakes of our subjectively
recognizable universe. Representational forms are within the frame of reference
of the material world, the concrete, named and labeled manifestations; images
that are familiar grammar for our collective being. Relative to our existence
in this world, our work and our play, our 'self-images', the artefacts of our
material life, our cities with their buildings, the architecture and modes of
transport, motor cars and planes, TV sets, home furnishings, paintings and
sculpture, decorative objects, clothes and so on.
A
rational inventory of the materialistic, utilitarian significance of the
representational objects of our lives is not the logical motivation for
research into visual transmissions. Our point of view is motivated by the fact
that the "...highest qualities" of '...enlightened mind" are
expressed within the visual material under consideration. From this
perspective, the visual symbols and the processes by which they were and are
formed, and the manner in which they were and are still being transmitted,
demands deeper exploration.
There
are various techniques by which these pictures are stored and these are
essentially mnemonic in nature; they concern the Art of Memory in its deepest,
most occult sense. de Rola in his 'The Secret of Alchemy' gives us an
insight on how the Alchemical material relates to this visual science.
"If the approach to alchemy
through its texts is indeed forbidding, the despondent seeker can find in
alchemical art a way fraught with wonder, into the very heart of the subject.
For in their images alchemists have spoken in ingenious and often very
beautiful ways of things about which they have never written. This pictorial
language, in which not a single detail is ever meaningless, exerts a deep
fascination on the sensitive beholder. This fascination does not necessarily
depend
upon
understanding. If the reader will contemplate these images, that is to say, go
beyond their surface, he will often perceive that they correspond to another
timeless dimension, which we all may find deep within ourselves."
And:
"These
profoundly haunting pictures have a polyvalent symbolism and lend themselves
therefore to various interpretations."
We continue with this long quote from
Jung:
"In
consequence of the collective nature of the image it is often impossible to
establish its full range of meaning from the associative material of a single
individual. But it is important to do this for practical therapeutic purposes,
the necessity of comparative research into symbols for medical psychology
becomes evident on these grounds also. For this purpose the investigator must
turn back to those periods of human history when symbol formation still went on
unimpeded, that is, when there was still no epistomological criticism of the
formation of images, and when, in consequence, facts that were in themselves
unknown could be expressed in definite visual form. The period of this kind
closest to us is that of medieval natural philosophy, which reached its zenith
in the seventeenth century, and in the eighteenth century gradually left the
field to science. It attained its most significant development in alchemy and
Hermetic philosophy. Here, as in a reservoir, were collected the most enduring
and the most important mythologems of the ancient world."
In
the last sentence, Jung gives a perfect definition of the inner nature of the
Tarot. It is a reservoir! The therapeutic
and medical significance of the visual material is a vast area of study not
within the context of the present paper. What is evident in the above quote, is
that while obstructions developed in the European symbol formation process,
from the 18th century onwards, these blocks did not develop in the East.
From a Buddhist point of view, an image is actually a FORM. The Sanscrit word for 'form' is RUPA. Each image is labeled with a 'sound-form' (nama-rupa) which is the name of the image. The link between sound, form and image is the essence of Tantra Art. And it appears in the link between Alchemy and Music.
With
our sense of sight, through the organs of the eyes, we perceive and define into
categories, external forms such as chairs, pens, houses, or the organic forms
of the stars, waves and clouds. The amazing mystery of this perception of external
'things' is the immense storage-system or reservoir for holding these
images in the internal eye, and invoking them at will. This is obviously the
point and the economics for committing to memory the 22 Tarot cards. A system
of memory and storage was also used by Cicero:
"He
inferred that persons wishing to train this faculty (of memory) must select
places and form mental images of the things that they wish to remember and
store these images of the things in the places, so that the order of the places
will preserve the order of the things, and the images of the thing will denote
the things themselves..."
In F.Yates, Giordano
Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition.
Though
rather complex, what we are leading into here, is that in the storage of these
images there is a certain STRUCTURE, SEQUENCE, ORDER and DESIGN,
by which effective retrieval can be achieved. This has very important
psychological implications, as the mind can do "...millions of
computations in parallel simultaneously." (Lilly). Debt is here due to
John Lilly's term "...internal display mechanism". Having seen the
external image, we now have a print, chemically activated within the neurons of
the brain, stored in the 'reservoir' and projected onto the internal
screen whenever necessary.
This area of research must be amplified in connexion with other transmissions of Memory techniques, such as ‘The Memory Theatre of Guilio Camillo.
These
images are very subtle, the forms of dreams, fantasies and visions. These
mental-visual forms are what has been termed 'Psychological furniture".
These furnishings are brought into the empty room of the mind, and/or projected
onto the blank screen.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE
MICRO-MACROCOSMOS.
The
Key would seem to lie with the idea of the macro-microcosmic doctrine, already
met with as the 'co-incidence' between the psyche of the meditator and
"...the physics and metaphysics of the world." Jack Burnham, writing
about the Hermetic influences in the work of Marcel Duchamp:
"These
branches of mysticism concur with a single hidden idea, namely that all the
languages, arts, sciences, rites and communicated traditions of man have a
common historical and ahistorical pattern derived from the unique composition
of the human brain, and the brain in turn reflects the plan of universal
organization. Once given the keys, an initiate into the hermetic arts,
comprehends the range of psychological archetypes and the limits of human
creativity with mathematical precision."
And in J.V.Andrae's 'Christianopolis':
"... a
closer examination of the earth will bring about a proper appreciation of the
heavens, and when the value of the heavens has been found there will be a
contempt of the earth."
And:
"...he
who does not know the value of astrology in human affaris, or foolishly denies
it,..."&c.
In: A.
Debus, 'Chemical Dream.'
The Eighth Key of Valentius continues
with this theme:
"Let me sum up in a few words what I have to say. The substance is of heavenly birth, its life is preserved by the stars, and nourished by the four elements; then it must be perished and putrified; again, by the influence of the stars, which works through the elements, it is restored to life, and becomes once more a heavenly thing that has its habitation in the highest region of the firmament. Then you will find that the heavenly has assumed an earthly body, and that the earthly body has been reduced to a heavenly substance."
In his ‘Earth Ascending’, Jose Arguelles gives some insight into the Buddhist view of The Hermetic Law:
"... in outlining the "Ten Aspects of Knowledge", the traditional Buddhist scheme for the organization of human intellectual endevour, Tai Situ Rinpoche, in a 1982 seminar, clearly indicated the feasibility as well as the logic, for considering the earth in just such a manner. I refer specifically to the second aspect of knowledge of which he spoke, "Astrology". Defined as the science of clarifying and determining the relation of the individual (human) body to the body of the planet, and the body of the planet to that of the solar system, and to that of the universe entire, this view of astrology clearly indicates in it what we have been defining by the term geomancy."
The
suggestive teaching that the microcosmos and the macrocosmos are One was also
developed by Paracelsus from hints in the Kabalistic books.
"They
are one constellation, one influence, one breath, one harmony, one time, one
metal, one fruit."
Each part of the great organism acts
upon:
"...the
corresponding part of the small organism in the same sense as the various
organs of the human body are intimately connected with and influence each
other."
"Every change that takes place
in the macrocosmos may be sensed by the spiritual body that surrounds the
minutum mundum. The force composing the one is identical with the force of the
other."
From
the French occultist, de Givry:
"The universe, or cosmos, is an
immense organic being, all the parts of which are interlinked. It is the
Macrocosm, or Great World, in contrast to man, who is the Microcosm, or Little
World. All the parts of the Great World are subject to the same laws; they
function in similar ways, and it is thus easy to arrive at comprehension of
them by means of analogy. "Divine Analogy" the universal law which
governs all beings. That which is above is like unto that which is below. The
lower is like the higher. In consequence, whoever knows one part of the
Macrocosm knows, by analogy, all the parts. He also knows the Microcosm, which
is like the Macrocosm, and has a corresponding part for every part of it. The
adept can thus arrive at a perception of hidden things not known to the vulgar
by the synthetic method put at his disposal by the universe itself, and this
method raises him to such a height of knowledge as makes him almost a
god."
And
in continuation, or conclusion:
"One can guess how seductive
such a doctrine of analogy, symmetry and parallelism was for minds inclined to
synthesis."
*****************************
Jack
Burnham places the seductive doctrine of analogy into the field of visual
science and contemporary art/data trends:
"It would seem that the
principle of double articulation, which is integral to spoken language is just
as vital to the organization of a picture with a recognizable content. This
also corresponds to the single most important law of occultism: 'What is below
is similar (NOT EQUAL) to what is above, and what is above is similar to that
which is below in order to ensure the perpetuation of the Unique Thing.' The
Unique Thing being all forms of organic growth and morphogenesis, ranging from
human life and human speech to the evolution of planetary systems. In other
words the code of nature maintains consistency and flexibility by repeating
itself from one level to the next."
The
code of nature has a perfect proportion, which can be seen from the above
digression into the doctrine of the Macro-Microcosmos, is deeply connected to
the process of perception - seeing the visual data which is again codified and
stored in various occult and visual systems. The cryptic transmission of
perfect proportions, symmetry, parallelism, through the law of analogy and
association are well documented in the metaphysical art of the East:
Ajit
Mookerjee in 'Yoga Art':
"The yogi-artists work
culminates in a simultaneous diagram of himself and the world within which he
is a world. The mind of the yogi thus becomes a bridge between the physics of
the atom and the orbit of the planetary bodies. It is in this sense that his
art literally yokes together (the Sanscrit root of the word yoga, YUJ, means
'yoke') in fine fusion the polarities of the subjective and objective, the
microcosmic and the macrocosmic, the analytical and the synthetic, the abstract
and the physical; as it were, the male and the female principles in this great
dance of creation."
It
can thus be said, that our visual images, representational or abstract,
transmitted through a tradition - or invoked from the collective reservoir of
images - partake of the universal nature and comment on the stage or state of
being in which we find our 'selves' yoked to the multi-dimensional display of
phenomena. These visual forms of our psychic cosmos exist also in the realm of
the imagination:
"They usually consist of webs
of fantasy which yield no clear knowledge of their origin or goal." Jung.
As we are relating the fantasy forms to
the macrocosmos, in which we as the microcosmos create our visual structures,
we wish to discover the direction of the creative visualization process. Jung:
"The spontaneous fantasy
products we mentioned above become more profound and concentrate themselves
around abstract structures which apparently represent 'principles' true Gnostic
archai."
Phillip Rawlson writes in 'Yoga Art':
"All
meditative art reflects the realm of creative Imagination.High-grade visual
ideas set into vibration within us archetypal images. Each one is radiant with
its infinity of possible forms and mysterious instances."
And:
"All
have in common their aim to project onto their canvasses inner visions of true
structures, Ideas at the roots of form."
The
Gnostic archai, Ficino's Renaissance imagery, the storage of Tarot
images, and the "high-grade" visual ideas of the meditative Tantric
artist are systems which relate Man to the Universe, and connect the perfectly
proportioned visual statements to the subconscious storage, and to the
projected, consciously activated archetypal images. Two other views need
exploring here.
The
Zohar states:
"In
heaven above, that surrounds the universe, are signs in which the deepest
mysteries are concealed. These signs are the constellations and stars, which
are studied and deciphered by the wise."
Robert
Aiken writes:
"A Dr Salmanoff, French
philosopher of medicine, comparing one day the atlas of space and an atlas of
our brain, was struck by the identical arrangement of the cells of the cortex
and the stars of galaxies."
[Robert Aiken, in his
article 'Considerations' (The Co-Operator', Los Angeles).]
THE GRAMMAR OF ORNAMENT.
Note: My
swirls of Jupiter, marbled paper and the backs of spiders at Stonehenge.
Arthur
Koestler deals with similar material in his 'The Act of Creation' and 'The
Roots of Coincidence'. In this view, the dynamics of structure or form, are
REVEALED; Divine Analogies, synchronicity, coincidences, are now 'harvested' as
information from the external phenomological 'play' of the world. This
information is 'read' by the conscious mind. The chemist Kekule had a dream of
dancing pairs, and from this deduces the structure of the carbon and hydrogen
atoms of the benzol ring"
"I turned my chair to the fire
and dozed, he relates. Again the atoms were gambling before my eyes. This time
the smaller groups kept modestly in the background. My mental eye, rendered
more accurate by visions of this kind, could now distinguish larger structures
of manifold conformation, long rows, sometimes more closely fitted together;
all twining and twisting in snakelike motion. But look! What was that? One of
the snakes had seized hold of its own tail, and the form whirled mockingly
before my eyes. As if by a flash of lightning I awoke... Let us learn to dream
gentlemen."
The
snake holding its own tail, is known as the Uroboros in occult symbolism, and
is both transmitted by traditional symbolism and as in this example, is a
spontaneously perceived structure. Another idea is in a novel by Kurt Vonnegut
-'ICE NINE' - the dreaded molecular structure of which the scientists
discovered in the structure of a pile of old cannon balls. Borjes, also writes
of this mystic synchronicity in his amazing short story 'The Gods Script'.
It could be said that one deciphers this information from life itself. As the
great Paracelsus puts it:
"There are other invisible
writings, secretly impressed on the leaves of Nature's book, which are not to
be read or comprehended save with the eyes of understanding, being traced by
the spirit of the living God on the hidden fleshy tablets of our own hearts...
These internal and spiritual characters, constituting the interior writing, may
also to the bodily eyes be the cause and origin of the things which do
appear."
Camille
Mauclair, in 'Esthique de Mallarme':
"The
Universe is, as it were, a huge manuscript in which each object is a letter and
the totality of which recounts the Divine...Human beings endowed with thought
can become aware of this symbolic script through Art, Science and Religion;
they can decipher divinity itself and gradually create it."
Through
the visual material, in ciphered form, we decipher the visual forms perceived
in science, codified in ritual and religion, and creatively expressed in the
contemplative, mystic arts. The great 13th century mystic Raymond Lull is a
suitable example in continuing the next phase:
"About
the year 1272, he had an illuminative experience on Mount Randa, an island in
Majorca, in which he saw the attributes of God, his greatness, his goodness,
eternity and so on, infusing the whole of creation, and realized that an Art
founded on those attributes might be constructed which would be universally
valid because based on reality. Shortly afterwards he produced the earliest
version of his Art, of which he made various versions, the last being the Ars
Magna of 1305..."
Yates, Frances.
We
must consider the nature of this "illuminative experience" and in
particular, the structure of the Art of Raymond Lull.
"The
figures of his Art, on which its concepts are set out in the letter notation,
are not static but revolving. One of the figures consists of concentric
circles, marked with the letter notations standing for the concepts, and when
these wheels revolve, combinations of the concepts are obtained. In another
revolving figure, triangles within a circle pick up related concepts. These are
simple devices, but revolutionary in their attempt to represent movement in the
psyche."
This
profound revelation on Mount Randa generated in turn, the emergence of Gnostic
archetypes which were consciously connected to a tradition. The tradition here
was that of the time - where Arabic, Jewish and Christian mystics were free to
share Gnostic data in Moorish Spain. This Kabalistic and Alchemical knowledge
was opening interfacing with Christian mysticism:
"For
the Art was based on religious concepts common to all three great religions,
and on the elemental structure of the world of nature, universally accepted in
the science of the time."
The "...concepts common to all
three" is again The Law of Correspondences, the Divine Analogies and this
Raymond Lull worked out using the NAMES common to all three systems ( mantra as
a science of sound?) and the concept of the Trinity.The essence of Raymond Lull
surfaces again in the work of Hermann Hesse and his last novel 'The Glass
Bead Game'.
"The
Bead Game is a mode of playing with the contents and variables of our culture,
a universe of possibilities and combinations available to the player..."
Both
Lullism and The Glass Bead Game have their roots in the Science of Divine
Analogies, the Revelation of Structures (Macrocosmic and Microcosmic) and the
Law of Correspondence between these structures.
Raymond Lull was revealed a
'concentric" system, the circular nature of many visions is archetypal.
Example: Edward Maitland:
"Once
well started on my quest, I found myself traversing a succession of spheres or
belts...the impression produced being that of mounting a vast ladder stretching
from the circumference towards the centre of a system, which was at once my own
system, the solar system, the universal system, the three systems being at once
diverse and identical."
[The Edward Maitland
material can be found in 'The Mystical Life', by Michael Whiteman, along
with other similar material; and also in C.G.Jung's 'Psychology and Alchemy'.]
This vision is esssential in all its
experiencial details with the Hermetic Macro-Microcosmic theology.It is also
interesting to note that the structure of Ladder, Circumference, Centre and
Spheres, in also contained in the so-called Tarochhi of Mantegna.
After
the original experience, it seems we continue to create, or to generate, graphs
of the original experience.Images of revelation of cosmic structure. The
essential use of ritual, iconography, codes, ciphers, secrets, mnemonics - in religious
usage - is to unravel these knots. The fabric of matter and the transitory
tapestry of mortality is unwoven - to REVEAL, REVELATION, the Prima Mater, the
Elixir, the Philosopher's Stone, the Immortality of the Gods, and so on. In
meditation or ritual, we reconstruct, or REGENERATE, the cosmic archetypes
within our individual psychic landscapes, and relate these experiences to the
WHOLE.
YANTRA
It is now necessary [Why is it
necessary? What is necessity?] to begin exploring the Visual Science known as
YANTRA. From the foregoing material we can agree with C.G.Jung that:
"Creeds are codified and
dogmatized forms of original religious experiences." What constitutes an
'original' religious experience? What is Religion? What is the difference
between codification and dogmatization? Dogma and Code? Network these two words
in a Thesaurus!
In
our Christian Churches, we have long since lost the keys to the original
revelations, or we have been conditioned into believing that such revelations
are NOT our birthright. In this sense we are not directly and subjectively
overcome by the cosmic structural aspects of the ritual. How may of us see
"Transformation Symbolism" in the Mass? How many of us see the ritual
as a dynamic revelation of the psychic process that we ourselves have to
undergo? The microcosmic reflection of cosmic structures, operating within us,
reflected in the Mass? How many of us see Christs as the Ultimate Centre of
Integration, the Cross defining the Centre?
The
varieties of religious experience and the problem of defining the word
'religion' are many.Let us start off with a definition of Jung:
"Religion
appears to be to me a peculiar attitude of mind which could be formulated in
accordance with the original use of the word religio, which means a careful
consideration and observation of certain dynamic factors, or whatever name man
has given to such factors in this world as he has found powerful, dangerous, or
helpful enough to be taken into careful consideration, or grand, beautiful, and
meaningful enough to be devoutly loved and worshiped."
The
words 'religion' and 'yantra' are very closely linked. We have to
turn to a definition of the term 'yantra' from Ajit Mookerjee in 'Tantra
Art':
"YANTRA
is essentially a geometric composition, but to understand its true nature one
has to go beyond the notions of geometry into those of dynamics. A YANTRA then
represents particular force whose power or energy increases in proportion to
the abstraction or precision of the diagram. Through such YANTRAS or power
diagrams, creation and control of ideas and physical forces are supposed to be
possible. The dynamic graph of the diagram of forces by which anything can be
represented - the picture of its functional constitution - is called the YANTRA
of that thing. It is not an arbitrary invention but a revealed image of an
aspect of cosmic structure."
Ajit
Mookerjee.
Here
we must remember we are dealing with 'visual data' - pictures and images of the
cosmos. YANTRA is a Tantric term, and there are multiple definitions of all
tantric terms, as there is for the word YANTRA:
"Apart
from being terms for experiences they also serve by means of their specific
affectability to lead people to, and finally evoke within them, these very
experiences which those who had them consider to be the most worthwhile."
This definition of 'Tantric terms' by
Prof. H.V.Guenther is very close to a way of seeing Yantra. We should not let
the word 'affectability' upset us - 'responsibility' is the ability to
respond, therefore 'affectability' is the ability to be affected.
Returning to the earlier material, we can now see from another viewpoint that
we are affected by an image with perfect proportions, i.e. a yantra can
activate an internal projection process - "...in proportion to the
abstraction of the diagram."
In
an experiential sense, we use the term Yantra, when the experience has been a
revelation of cosmic structure. Each yantra has its own area of "specific
affectability," just as a mantra operates on a certain frequency of our
vibrational spectrum.
YANTRA
is FORM - but in this sense - the form that a certain energy or power takes, a
"...dynamic graph" and NOT a condensation into a corporeal state.
The
experiences which we undergo in a revelation, for example the circular
revelations of Raymond Lull, mystic or otherwise, is a psychic process in which
form in revealed. NOT static form, but the graph of energies. This image of
cosmic structure is now documented and may become a form in the geometric
sense, it has a dynamic quality, a ratio - even an architecture. It is,
architectonic.
Great
value can be obtained from researching this point in 'Psychology and Alchemy'
by C.G.Jung, where evidence of the yantric nature of the structure of the
psyche is abundant, as well as the general global documentation of the Jungian
School of analytical psychology.
Here
it should be noted that in chaotic states of the psyche, yantras do not
crystalize, but only appear once the 'centre' is being defined and eventually
'reached.'Here we are again dealing with a polarity: the Centre and the
Circumference, the stored image and the projected image, the microcosmic and
the macrocosmic.
The
defining of the centre is a process of integration, in which the dynamic factor
is yantra, the revelation of structure. This I would term a religious
experience in the light of the above definitions.
Some
of this experience can be externalized in representational images, but the
nature of yantra is usually abstract - or geometric. These are the 'revealed
images of cosmic structure' - and when meditated upon produce certain psychic
effects. In other words, they are 'milked' and by means of their specific
affectability, lead people to, and finally evoke within them, the experiences
of which they are a dynamic graph.They are abstract ciphers, YANTRA programmed
to release revelations in a psychic structural sense. The representational
aspect of yantra is the appearance of the deity - meditated upon which has a
similar effect in re-activating the original effect/cause, now personified by a
deity, and amplified by the codified data in the iconographic details and the
structure of the ritual/sadhana itself. This is known as the YIDAM in Tibetan
Buddhism.
In
defining Religion & Yantra, we come to the conclusion that revelations of
dynamic cosmic structure are codified in the High Mass of Christianity, Tibetan
& Hindu sadhanas & pujas, Tarot pictures, The I Ching ideographs and so
on.
In
the astrological system of C.C.Zain, Jupiter is the Ruler of both Law and
Religion. It would follow that Religion is also in this sense, DESIGN; the
pattern of the Universe, the Macrocosmos, in relation to the relativity of the
perceptions of Humanity - the Microcosmos. As Jupiter has dominion over good
inspiration, it would seem that Religion, Inspiration & Revelation are
closely connected to the Divine Mysteries of Cosmic Structure - the diagrams of
which Eastern mystics have externalized as Yantra and Mandala.
In
a political sense, Jupiter also rules the Church and the State, Popes,
Hierophants and religious potentiates - institutes which have betrayed their
original yantric function of being the Centres, the Castillia of the Glass Bead
Game - where we store our images of Universal Beauty and structure - whether in
visual form - and apply these Laws to the perpetual patterned revolutions of
the Wheel of Life.Hierophants and Masters should help us to re-activate our
inner psychic awareness of Cosmic Structure, and attain Bliss, Delight and Wisdom
through this Revelation. The word 'psychedelic' means in essence - 'delight of
the psyche.'
The
dynamic factors of both 'religion' and 'yantra' lead us into the revealed
images of our structural relationship to all other forms of sentient life.Here
we approach ecology as another form of yantric pattern - the ecocycle has a
structural reality that when imbalanced is actually an attack on religion as
well. Thus we adopt a philosophy of HOLISM.
So
powerful is the structured energy of a yantra, that when drawn out, they are
worn as amulets by the Tibetans because they are so consecrated in a particular
aspect of operation as to deactivate certain force fields and attract
others.They are thus placed in vehicles, on animals, or in houses. Trungpa
Rinpoche in 'Visual Dharma'.
The
visual nature of data transmission also includes a great wealth of
representational images, such as the YIDAM deities. This aspect of the Tibetan
Tantra can be connected to the personified, anthropomorphic images of the
kaballistical doctrines. To review this idea: in the Jewish work - The Zohar,
this relationship between the body of Man and that of the natural Universe is
expressed as:
"QUOD
SUPERIUS, QUOD INFERIUS."
which
means that what is Above is as that which is Below - the Divine Analogy again.
The Macrocosmos, the universal man is to be studied through the Microcosmos,
the finite man. Thus Deity is often referred to as:
The
Vast Countenance, the Ancient One, The Aged Man, with even detailed
descriptions of the hair of the beard of the Ancient One. That the finite Man
is a miniature of the Whole, was a fact the Buddha also endorsed:
"Verily I declare unto you,
that within this body, mortal though it may be, and only a fathom high, but
conscious and endowed with mind, is the world, and the waxing thereof and the
waning thereof, and the way that leads to the passing thereof."
Tibetan medicine also makes the
Macro-Microcosmic connections. Thus of great importance in this context are the
'maps' of the psychic centres of the body, called 'Chakras' which themselves
are YANTRIC, i.e. revealed images of cosmic structure.
This
leads us into fields which I call 'meta-cartographic'. To explain: From 'Mount
Analogue' by Rene Daumal:
"Along the path, glued to the
window panes or hung from the bushes or dangling from the ceiling, so that all
space was put to maximum use, hundreds of little cards were displayed.Each card
carried a drawing, a photograph or an inscription... A diagram of a plant cell,
Mendelieffs' periodic chart of the elements, keys to Chinese writing, a cross
section of the human heart, Lorentz' Transformation formulae, each planet and
its characteristics, fossil remains of the horse family in series, Mayan
hieroglyphics, economic and demographic statistics, musical phrases, samples of
the principal plant and animal families, crystal specimens, plan and elevation
of the Great Pyramid, brain diagrams, logistic equations, phonetic charts
of..."
If
one contemplates the quality of the above quote from Daumal, the following stream
of words can be evoked:
Map,chart,plan,cartography,diagram,graph,outline,
document,inscription,record,sign,symbol,cipher,code,label,
index,compenium,alphabet,patter,key - and also, yantra and mandala and so on.
These are
all means of communicating the dynamics of cosmic structure - VISUALLY -
whether in a relative map of any country, an anatomical chart, or psychogram.We
can create meta-cartographic systems by the Law of Correspondences and
Parallelism, and define the yantra of each system. The essence of communication
is Mercury (Arcanum 1) which when fused to Jupiter(Arcanum 5), Pattern, Design
or Law, gives us VENUS (Arcanum 6) - the number 6 - Art, Beauty and Creation,
in the sense of Creativity.
Thus
the term 'map' is inferior, for in visual terms, Art is the Supreme
transmitter, diagram or meta-cartographic system. An emblem from Atalanta
Fugiens, shows a picture entitled:
"Following in the footsteps of
Nature."
Thus
our aesthetic inspiration is drawn from Nature. G.de Givry writes:
"That is why all the alchemists
stubbornly repeat so often that their sole master is Nature, that books are not
necessary for perfecting the Great Work, and that it suffices for success to
look with open eyes and imitate Nature."
Structural
patterns, or yantra, surfaced in the field of CYMATICS and in particular in the
work of Dr Hans Jenny of Zurich (or Basel:
This
relationship between sound and image is beautifully expressed by Ajit
Mookerjee:
"...every
thought or every idea originates in Sound (NADA).The moment we think, an
unheard sound is formed. As an idea appears in one's own mind, the sound that
concurrently occurs is the ground of all forms."
And:
"Every
divine form posses a bija mantra or nuclear syllable. Even in its form
as the smallest sound unit, the bija remains a microcosm and thus may
represent the essential nature of a divinity."
We
now have a new element. Our subjective representation as DEITY -YIDAM, can be
related, according to the Laws of Nature, to the Great Whole. This can be
reduced to an abstract diagram or pattern, containing the same information,
visually - and finally, be condensed into a sound, or sacred syllable.
This
point of origination is always in the Centre of the yantra - and the point is
thus the most condensed form of visual data we can represent. This seed-dot, in
visual terms, has /stored within it, the possibilities of radiation and
projection.
The
sound seed syllable is called BINDU and both always exist in the centre of the
yantra, or within the chakras of the Yidam, the deity. Each Lotus that unfolds
from this seed-sound, or visual dot, manifests a certain number of petals to
indicate the frequency on which the outer form, or Rupa, will manifest.
What
we are dealing with here, is the identical process when yantric structures
emerge as Storage Systems ( The Seed Store) transforms into the visual display
of fantasy process on the internal projection screen. As mentioned before,
there is a proportional relationship (and therefore yantric) between the
'origin' and the 'goal' - not recognizable by the so-called conscious mind.It
must be remembered, as Lilly suggests, that most storage systems are locked,
especially those doors leading to taboo areas or the memory of a trauma - and
that each has a key that unlocks, or unravels the operational potential of that
storage space.
In
different terms, this is the lock system between the conscious mind and the
unconscious.We are suggesting from this material that it is the visual input
and output that de-programmes these locks, more than other senses.
And
naturally, programmes, as well, as is to be seen in the power of television in
mass control.
The
germ-seed, storage systems, thus equate to the unconscious, while the projected
visual Form-Rupa, is the conscious Mind. YANTRA is the science of visual
dynamics, whereby, intuitively we can compute, the structural relationships
between 'above' (the conscious) and 'below' (the unconscious'.)
As
Phillip Rawlson writes:
"The function of such
diagrammatic imagery is to CO-ORDINATE, at various levels, images which suggest
aspects of the One. That is their ultimate raison d'etre."
At
this point in our argument, the material that has been gathered is very pertinent
to the subject of VISUALIZATION, a Science that is more fully developed in
Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana) than anywhere else I know of. But there are
obstacles along the Way, especially in defining TANTRA which is the other word
qualifying Tibetan Teachings, Virginia Whiles in a 'Studio International'
article:
"Tantric
imagery is a system of signs within a very specific semantic code, the function
of which is essentially religious and spiritual. It follows a strict
iconographical canon which involves the fusion of the collective and the individual
consciousness."
We
know that the iconographical details are connected to the science of revelation
of Cosmic structure - YANTRA - that the codes, signs and details are all part
of the Whole, documented visually. We also know that by compressing an image to
its most nuclear manifestation, the seed, we can send this image into the
storage areas of the unconscious, be it collective or individual.
In
the technical visualizations, when the visual forms are invoke 'internally' - a
text exists to prompt this process. These 'words' which are 'sounds' can be
memorized and recited internally and thus invoke the corresponding visual
images. This process usually moves from the representational deity to the
abstract image, and finally to the nuclear seed form and then the FORMLESS
state of meditation. On another level, the process may sequentially invoke
archetypal forms, such as the circle, square and triangle - which in turn,
construct the 'formal' yantra. Ajit Mookerjee, In 'Tantra Art';
"Tantric
texts emphasize the necessity of inner visualization and the inner meaning of
things.The vision which enables the artist to visualize reality is a supreme
form of concentration. Sukracarya insists:
"There
exists no form of concentration more absolute than that by which images are
created. Direct seeing of a tangible object never allows of such an
intensity."
On
the Nature of Visualization:
"What
is the purpose of these exercises" asks Lama Govinda: "The text says
that these exercises can be compared to the drawing of a watercourse, by
digging a channel or a ditch; in other words, they are meant to create the
conditions, due to which the psychic energies are made to flow and can be
controlled consciously."
It
is necessary that we approach these Tibetan visualization exercises with the
deepest reverence. There is much to think about in the above quotes of
Sukracarya and Lama Govinda. In his book 'The Human Biocomputer' and
also 'The Centre of the Cyclone', Dr John Lilly puts forward the theory
that we are being nurtures and programmed by beings of a vaster computer set
than our own. He suggests that they control the probability of our discovering
and exploiting new science i.e. such discoveries as nuclear energy, Lsd-25,
RNA, DNA and so on, that they test some human beings and care for others - and
some of their programmes include our survival and progress.
This
is an interesting thought and much evidence along those lines prevents us from
dismissing these ideas completely. What I wish to indicate, is that the
programme by which information of a deeply esoteric nature is embedded within a
visual form, is also part of the 'Work' of these Higher Beings, or "Gods'.
And
certainly this can be related to the Tibetan visualization exercises, though
not only concrete deities are invoked but, from another level, forces within
the psychic microcosmos are called up. These cosmic entities are part of the
living, experiential vocabulary of Tibetan esoteric practice. Built into these
visualization practices are sacred keys to the nature of existence, mnemonic
devices to help us to invoke our divine foundation, symbols and ciphers of a
deep ocean of programmed D.N.A. wisdom. The keys and the doors of the universal
Mind - common to all and exploited by none - except those forces of ignorance
which keep the keys from our grasp.
YANTRAS
- SOME FINAL NOTES.
The
view of reality, that we as "Westerners' share, say as represented by the
average contents of the daily newspapers - is an extremely conditioned and
subjective view. Collective beliefs, in the 'herd' sense - are kept without any
scientific proof - e.g. racialism. fascism. In a larger sense, it is very
unfortunate as prof H.V.Guenther has pointed out, that we equate
"Western" or "European" consciousness with human
consciousness. This form of imperialism is still continuing, with perhaps
America replacing Europe as the centre of fascination. But, what is of note her
- it that this position has been reversed by the influence of the East, and
what may be more correctly termed the 'Third World" as a reaction to the
process of colonialism of the past centuries.
Our
logical, linear/serial and patriarchal way of thinking has produced rather
savage effects on mankind as a whole. The reaction to this has been obviously
necessary and it is this process of reaction that places our work in a
difficult situation - that is, the refusal to change, deeper entrenchment of
outdated methodology - and the dangers of destructive programmes. From the view
of a vast process of transformation; de-"structuring' may be necessary in
respect of our "ideas" and "concepts" of the world
"we" (the conditioned collective) think is real.
We
are also transforming our language to qualify and communicate this change. I am
also convinced that this process is not even fractionally manifest, as yet,
especially in the printed word - but I do suggest that due to new technologies
such as Radio, Television, the Cinema and photography, home computing and
holography, and other such electronic media - our collective visual vocabulary
is being seriously extended, mainly in the area of storage/retrieval - receptor
and transmitter systems.
Thus
in approaching the East we are also attempting to explore an area of our own
consciousness, ignored for centuries. We are re-discovering an aspect of our
intrinsic potential which the flow of European history has staunched - and yet
there may be an organic timing ( in the cosmic sense) in the meeting of the
highly sophisticated logical/techno-logical aspect of the Western mind, with
the well gestated, intuitive, holistic aspects of the East.
It
is for this reason that some have considered that of prime significance in this
meeting of cultures and layers of consciousness - is the visual, and not the
literal tradition of the East - for example, the visual metaphysics of Tantra
art, the Mandala of Tibetan systems, and the general YANTRA theories of
kinetics and dynamics.
The
Eastern visual sciences, which carry a deep documentation on the nature and
structure of reality, in union with the pragmatic, logical sciences of the West
- could be one layer of the germination of the 'New Age'.
The
opposites must be balanced in harmony with the fulcrum, the centre, as the
common point. We can not have day without night. As in Sri Yantra, we have two
forces, the downward and the upwards, symbolized as masculine and feminine,
bound in union around a common centre.
It
is thus a major difficulty to introduce a subject so foreign to our serial
manner of thinking, as that of yantra. There are still areas which one can only
intuitively reach, in the experiential context of ones particular being. This
process is not complete in myself - what is shared here is a facet of a
structure. Each of us may report different facets. Collectively woven, these
descriptions make a great tapestry of the Nature of our being.
I
cannot claim any originality for the collection and quotations and notes
gathered above.My educational qualifications are incomplete.But rather than be
subdued into silence by the flaws and errors of my thoughts - I still write.It
would be a terrible age if the first efforts of a struggling new form were
crushed before reaching fuitition.Thus I ask forgiveness for whatever wrong
ideas I have launched on the sea of collective thought; compassion for growth
to take place, and a sense of the sharing with all sentient beings, whatever
merit may arise from this process.
[This was dated: March - October 1977, and then the 15th
June, 1978, at Cape Town, South Africa.Address of P.O.Box 15438, Vlaeberg, Cape
Town 8018.]