RUNNING AWAY -

ERWIN ROUSSELLE. A CHINESE TALE:

“ The Chinese - and in this he has remained true to his heritage of age-old wisdom - has never forgotten the fearful aspect of everything that is truly great, and in tales and legends the magnificent primordial monster rises again and again to his consciousness. There is, for example, the story of the dragon-like spirit of Stallion Mountain: 13

   A peasant has dallied at the market and is a little tipsy as he starts on his ride homeward. As he approaches the ridge of Stallion Mountain, he suddenly sees a monster sitting by the brook, lapping up water. Its enormous face is blue; its eyes bulge out of its head like those of a crab. Its mouth gapes from ear to ear and has the aspect of a vat full of blood. Its fangs, growing in irregular clumps, are two or three inches long. The peasant is terrified, but the monster does not look up. Profiting by this, the peasant starts on a wide detour around the terrible ridge.

   As he rounds a bend, he meets the son of a neighbor, who calls to him. The peasant tells him briefly that he has just seen the monster nearby, and the neighbor’s son asks leave to ride with him. The peasant, eager to carry him as fast as possible from this awful place, lets him mount behind him. As they are riding along, the neighbor’s son asks him in a crafty voice: "What exactly did the monster look like?" The peasant feels ill at ease and replies beseechingly: "I'll tell you everything when we get home." But the other persists and says: "Turn around; perhaps I look like the monster." A cold shiver runs through the peasant and he cries out: "Don't make evil jokes. A man is not a spirit." But the other jeers and repeats: "Turn around." The peasant refuses and the other pulls him around by the arm. And the peasant looks into the face of the monster and falls unconscious from his saddle.”

   Thus suddenly, beneath the mask of everyday, the mask of the neighbor’s son, the horror which lies at the primal source of being - the monster by the stream - suddenly confronts man. He tries to escape but cannot. He carries the monster with him; it attacks him from behind, and in the dread of recognition man loses his senses, falls headlong into the depths.” 

FROM: Erwin Rousselle, Dragon and Mare - Figures of Primordial Chinese Mythology, [1934] Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks.: Eranos 6. The Mystic Vision, Edited by Joseph Campbell, p. 107.

TWO QUOTES FROM  PEMA CHODRON:

“Trying to run away is never the answer to being a fully human being. Running away from the immediacy of your experience is like preferring death to life.”

"If we run a hundred miles an hour to the other end of the continent in order to get away from the obstacle, we find the very same problem waiting for us when we arrive."

 

SAINT JULIAN THE HOSPITALLER

Gustav Flaubert, Saint Julian the Hospitaller

When they reached the hut, Julian closed the door and saw the man sit down on the stool. The species of shroud that was wrapped around him had fallen below his loins, and his shoulders and chest and lean arms were hidden under blotches of scaly pustules. Enormous wrinkles crossed his forehead. Like a skeleton, he had a hole instead of a nose, and from his bluish lips came breath which was fetid and as thick as mist.

"I am hungry," he said.

Julian set before him what he had, a piece of pork and some crusts of coarse bread.

After he had devoured them, the table, the bowl, and the handle of the knife bore the same scales that covered his body.

Then he said: "I thirst!"

Julian fetched his jug of water and when he lifted it, he smelled an aroma that dilated his nostrils and filled his heart with gladness. It was wine; what a boon! but the leper stretched out his arm and emptied the jug at one draught.

Then he said: "I am cold!"

Julian ignited a bundle of ferns that lay in the middle of the hut. The leper approached the fire and, resting on his heels, began to warm himself; his whole frame shook and he was failing visibly; his eyes grew dull, his sores began to break, and in a faint voice he whispered:

"Thy bed!"

Julian helped him gently to it, and even laid the sail of his boat over him to keep him warm.

The leper tossed and moaned. The corners of his mouth were drawn up over his teeth; an accelerated death-rattle shook his chest and with each one of his aspirations, his stomach touched his spine. At last, he closed his eyes.

"I feel as if ice were in my bones! Lay thyself beside me!" he commanded. Julian took off his garments; and then, as naked as on the day he was born, he got into the bed; against his thigh he could feel the skin of the leper, and it was colder than a serpent and as rough as a file.

He tried to encourage the leper, but he only whispered:

"Oh! I am about to die! Come closer to me and warm me! Not with thy hands! No! with thy whole body."

So Julian stretched himself out upon the leper, lay on him, lips to lips, chest to chest.

Then the leper clasped him close and presently his eyes shone like stars; his hair lengthened into sunbeams; the breath of his nostrils had the scent of roses; a cloud of incense rose from the hearth, and the waters began to murmur harmoniously; an abundance of bliss, a superhuman joy, filled the soul of the swooning Julian, while he who clasped him to his breast grew and grew until his head and his feet touched the opposite walls of the cabin. The roof flew up in the air, disclosing the heavens, and Julian ascended into infinity face to face with our Lord Jesus Christ, who bore him straight to heaven.

And this is the story of Saint Julian the Hospitaller, as it is given on the stained-glass window of a church in my birthplace.

SOME NAGA RESOURCES

25^th February 2020

Here are a few selected Resources on the Nagas. The material available is extensive, this short curated bibliography can lead to further amplifications.

Yours in the Dharma,

Samten de Wet

Amy Leigh Allocco, "Fear, Reverence and Ambivalence: Divine Snakes in Contemporary South India." Religions of South Asia 7, 2013, pp. 230-248.  [ONLINE @ ACADEMIA]

Asutosh Bhattacharyya, "The Serpent in the Folklore of Bengal," Indian Folk-Lore 1 (1956): 22. [FIND]

Robert Beer, The Handbook of Tibetan and Buddhist Symbols,  Serinda, Chicago and London,  2003,  pp.72 – 74.

Adam Bégin, Nagas and Ophiolatry in Hindu Culture , 12 June 2014

Lowell W. Bloss,  "Nagas and Yakshas." The Encyclopedia of Religion.  [ONLINE HERE]

Lowell W. Bloss, The Buddha and the Nāga: A Study in Buddhist Folk Religiosity, History of Religions, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Aug., 1973), p. 37.

Meenu Chib, Naga Worship in Jammu & Kashmir, IJRAR- International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, [Volume 41, Issue 41, Oct. – Dec 2017

Richard S. Cohen, Nāga, Yakṣiṇī, Buddha: Local Deities and Local Buddhism at Ajanta, History of Religions, Vol. 37, No. 4 (May, 1998), pp. 360-400

Robert Decaroli, "The Abode of The Nāga King": Questions of Art, Audience, and Local Deities at the Ajaṇṭā Caves, Ars Orientalis, Vol. 40 (2011), pp. 142-161

Jane Duran, The Nagaraja: Symbol and Symbolism in Hindu Art and Iconography, Journal of Aesthetic Education. 24, No. 2 (Summer, 1990), pp. 37-47

Alice Getty, Uga-jin: The Coiled-Serpent God with a Human Head, Artibus Asiae, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1940), pp. 36-48

Herbert Härtel, Aspects of Early Nāga Cult in India, Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 124, No. 5243 (October 1976), pp. 663-683

Lotan   Dorje   (Luodanduojie), Klu in Tibet: Beliefs and Practices, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo.

Abstract

The topic of my thesis is the klu as perceived in Tibetan worldview and as the object of cult. The klu is one of the most emblematic classes of supernatural forces in the world of deities and spirits in Tibet, and their influence on the social-religious life of the Tibetans is significant. They are believed to embody such natural resources and territories as forests, springs, fountains, lakes, oceans, hills, mountains, and even solitary old trees. Particular focus is put on the historical background of the klu as portrayed in textual sources, actual concepts and practices connected with the klu as they appear in the area of study. Specific attention is given to the problems of classifying the klu in Tibetan cosmology and the ambivalence connected with this class of beings. Further, this study also discusses how beliefs and practices of the klu are evident not only in texts, religious rituals and but also in everyday activities. As the main themes of this research, I intend to delineate the role of the klu in the Tibetan cultural area primarily based on religious texts as well as local perceptions, supplemented by individual accounts and practices in Kyagya (sKya rgya) , a Tibetan village in Jantsa (gCan tsha) Tibetan autonomous County in Amdo (A mdo), and in the Tibetan communities nearby. This study, is divided into five sections on the basis of the following themes: an introduction to the study being chapter one, a general background to the study being chapter two, the virtuous klu and the non-virtuous aspects of the klu being chapter three, ritual practices being chapter four, and a concluding chapter. The first chapter presents a general introduction to the study by presenting a general overview of the cult of the klu in Tibet, the importance of this current research, research history, materials and methodology used in this study, experiences and outcomes from fieldwork research, bias and reliability of the material and ends with an outline of this study. The second chapter centers on the general background to the klu cult providing some insights into its characteristics as described in the Tibetan literary tradition. This chapter first provides a general sketch of the Indian background of the klu followed by sections reflecting on its Tibetan background, typological considerations, cosmological classification, and caste division presenting different viewpoints on how it originated, and how it survived and adapted to the ever-changing socio-religious life of the Tibetan people. The third chapter discusses the klu in two categories: one is the klu on the side of virtue, supported by their divine characteristics and positive aspects in the Tibetan cultural context. The other type is the klu on the side of non-virtuous and demonic, supported by presenting the negative aspects of the klu, such as their destructive aspects connected with disease, as well as environmental and weather-related disasters. The fourth chapter focuses on topics surrounding ritual practices concerning the klu and provides descriptions of relevant texts."

Jakub Kocurek, Tree Beings in Tibet: Contemporary Popular Concepts of klu and gnyan as a Result of Ecological Change, Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics,  Vol 7, No 1 (2013) (Estonian Literary Museum, Estonian National Museum, University of Tartu.) [ONLINE HERE]

Abstract

"The article deals with the perception of trees in Tibet. It focuses on ideas on supernatural beings believed to dwell in trees, particularly klu and gnyan, which form a part of the popular or so called nameless religion. The study is based on fieldwork undertaken in the Tibetan areas of India and Nepal (the Spiti valley and Dolpo) among people of Dolpo origin living elsewhere and Tibetans in exile from different regions of Tibet. Gathered narratives and reappearing myth patterns are presented and discussed. The findings from the fieldwork are compared with the idea of tree beings found in ritual texts studied by Western scholars. The difference between these two sources are striking: popular traditions associate trees mainly with klu, whereas the ritual texts with gnyan. To explain the possible cause of this discrepancy, contemporary theories about the ecological history of the Tibetan Plateau are employed."

Sasanka Sekhar Panda, Nagas in the Sculptural Decorations of Early West Orissan Temples, OHRJ, Vol. XLVII, No. 1. [Online] 

Phan Anh Tu, The Signification of Naga in Thai Architectural and Sculptural Ornaments

A. Rawlinson, Nâgas and the Magical Cosmology of Buddhism, Religion 16 (1986), p. 141.

Juhyung Rhi, The Garuḍa and the Nāgī/Nāga in the Headdresses of Gandhāran Bodhisattvas: Locating Textual Parallels. Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 23 (2009), pp. 147-158.

Julia Shaw, Nāga Sculptures in Sanchi's Archaeological Landscape: Buddhism, Vaiṣṇavism, and Local Agricultural Cults in Central India, First Century BCE to Fifth Century CE,  Artibus Asiae, Vol. 64, No. 1 (2004), pp. 5-59. [ONLINE @ ACADEMIA]

Agarwal  Shivani, The archaeology of Mathura regional complexities and diversities (300 B.C.- A.D.300), 2014. Thesis, Chapter 5, The Yakshas, Nagas and Other Regional Cults of Mathura, Jawahalal Nehru University. [ONLINE HERE]

Giuseppe Tucchi, The Religions of Tibet, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1980

Gautama V. Vajracharya, The Creatures of the Rain Rivers, Cloud Lakes. Newars Saw Them, So Did Ancient India, asianart.com|articles,  January 07, 2009

J. Ph. Vogel, Indian Serpent-Lore, or the Nagas in Hindu Legend and Art, Delhi, 1972.

J. Ph. Vogel, "Naga Worship in Ancient Mathura," Archaeological Survey of India: Annual Report, 1908-09, pp. 159-63.  

Alex Wayman, Researches on Poison, Garuda-birds and Naga-serpents based on the Sgrub thabs kun btus

Robert Wessing, Symbolic Animals in the Land between the Waters: Markers of Place and Transition, Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 65, No. 2 (2006), pp. 205-239

"This paper analyses the use of symbolic animals in Indonesia and Southeast Asia generally as markers of place or state of being, and aids in transition between states of being. It shows that especially naga and Garuda, both subsets of a larger category of naga, respectively define the categories upperworld and underworld as the male and female extremes of a water continuum. These are linked by the rainbow, which is also a member of the naga category. Together these symbolic animals make up the axis mundi, as can be seen in both the symbolic mountain of the Javanese shadow theatre and the Balinese cremation tower. Within the arc of water created by these three elements lies the earth, which has emerged from, and can be seen to be part of the under-world. The emergence of the earth as well as states and crops from the underworld is made possible by the movement of buffalo or its equivalents, which also aid in the transition of human beings from the prenatal state, through life and into death."

KABBALAH AND COLOUR

“As Moshe Idel states after making a study of manuscript fragments which contained techniques of Kabbalistic prayer, this type of prayer also involved the visualisation of the colours of the Sefirotic ladder. By the ability to visualise these colours, or the divine Names within a coloured circle described by R. Joseph Ashkenazi, the practitioner was able to open a door into his own mind to enable him to perceive the workings of the realm of the Sefirvt. Further meaning was given, therefore, to the word Kauamah. I have said previously that the rabbis understood the word to mean contemplative or meditative prayer, but now this Kabbalistic contemplation spoke of a particular technique of visualising the colours of the Sefirot. Indeed, according to R. David ben Jehudah he-Hasid, a late 13th century Spanish Kabbalist, it was wrong to visualise the Sefirat themselves only their colours. Meditation and prayer performed in this way elevated human thought to the Sefirotic realm, which was achieved without an intermediary.”

“Each Sefirah had its own colour, which has been detailed in a work attributed to R. Azriel. The colours ranged from concealed light for the first Sefirah to the light which contains all colours, then green, white, red, then varieties of white and scarlet, and finally a colour which was composed of all colours. However, the colours did vary as can be seen in the later Pardes Rimonim from Safed.Indeed it seems that the colours were always changing, appearing and disappearing, which is suggested by the scarlet/white colours described above, where more scarlet or more white might appear and so forth.” 

Bates, Sandra Annette, The spiritual guide in late antiquity and the middle ages: a comparative study, M.Litt. Thesis, University of Durham, 1999, pp. 41 -42

Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4797/