According to some, one common element of shamanism and Buddhism is the attainment of spiritual realization, at times mediated by entheogenic (psychedelic) substances.
Shamanism is based on the premise that the visible world is pervaded by invisible forces or spirits that affect the lives of the living.
To become a shaman, a person had to "receive the call", to suffer a religious experience, and would then be initiated into the mysteries of the art. By symbolic death and resurrection, he acquired a new mode of being; his physical and mental frame underwent a thorough change. During this period of initiation, the novice would see the spirits of the universe and leave his body like a spirit, soaring through the heavens and underworld. There he would be introduced to the different spirits and taught which to address in future trances.
The episode often marks the beginning of a time-limited episode of confusion or disturbing behavior where the shamanic initiate might sing or dance in an unconventional fashion, or have an experience of being "disturbed by spirits".
Friday, August 18, 2006
Dancing
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 comments:
Dancing and disturbed is the only way to go.
this all seems to me to pretty much utterly contradict the "road of excess is the path of wisdom" comment you made a few posts down, mr. tigre. (p.s. i listen to the new godkings album every day-- seriously.)
from this post, i would get the sense that the shamanistic call is one that, like the path of the buddhist monk, requires discipline, self-denial, and the possible use of designated substances at designated times, rather than blake's "excess" idea.
(i think it was blake, anyway, same dude who said something along the lines of "when the doors of perception are cleansed, then all things will appear as they truly are which is infinite").
in our lazy, 21-st century north american culture, we've conflated self-indulgence with shamanism (i blame jim morrison for this confusion, among others). the true shaman is a warrior, who can't afford to be f**ked up all the time b/c the stakes are far too high.
or, to speak in/from my own experience, when i'm on the path of excess, it's usually b/c i'm in denial of something, or trying to bury something, or angry, or avoiding responsibility, etc.
i guess i always think of carlos castaneda's don juan as a true shaman (though i suppose he's partly fictional)-- and i feel he would have scoffed at the jim morrison/ william blake "getting super wasted makes you brilliant" school of thought. (not that that's what YOU'RE saying, mr tigre).
that's just me, though. others?
too funny! i just hit play on my computer music, and at random, out of the 600 or so songs it could have chosen, guess what...
the first words i hear are smoky tiger, saying "the road to excess..." etc
but the next thing he says is "renunciation-- leaving behind all yr worldly posessions and desires".
wouldn't excess fall under the "desires" category?
anyway, great song dude. this album is f-ing brilliant.
any peggers who want a copy, come by the label. i'm selling burned copies for 5 bucks. (HA! j/k!)
life is too short not to take the shortcuts
"Life's too short not to take short cuts" is also contradictory. If a road you enjoy seems too short, would you want to take a shortcut? No. Take the scenic route, meander leisurely along the path, take time to smell the flowers, heck, stop and plant some on the way for the next people. I want to know this place as well as possible, study every pebble and scurrying insect, breath the air and soak up the rays.
(I agree with Lorne's comments above. The path of excess is only good if it's excessive, work, empathy, modesty, love, penetance, abstinence, bravery, self sacrafice, consideration for others, self control, kindness, humour, honour, tidyness, studying, and honesty (to others and 'the self').
In regards to unconventional dancing...I miss my stilts =(
down with logic
and also:
the truth transcends words
and also:
-how can I argue with the ways of a dragon.
confucios to his disciple after talking with lao tzu
can I afford to be sobre all the time?
Excessive abstinence is good??
???
Lol, I hesitated to write abstinence.
While abstaining from 'unhealthy sex', that which arises from purely physical drives, rather than emotional ones (love) is probably good, I really meant abstaining from cigarettes and stuff.
And also
The truth CAN transcend words... but that is not to say it can't be found there too.
Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know men.
--Confucius
He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good. (Confucius, Analects)
Men's natures are alike, it is their habits that carry them far apart. (Confucius, Analects)
He who will not economize will have to agonize. (Confucius)
The more man meditates upon good thoughts,
the better will be his world and the world at large.
--Confucius
The superior man bends his attention to what is radical.
That being established, all practical courses naturally grow up.
--Confucius (551-479 B.C.)
To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order;
to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order;
to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life;
we must first set our hearts right.
--Confucius
That's right Confucios. I wonder what Lao Tzu had to say about the meeting.
The classic meeting of the rationalist and whatever is the oposite of rational. That of no words.
I of course favor the way of Lao Tzu. The dao. That truth which is formless.
And I must repeat that what we're searching for is the knowledge that is silent and transcends words. It is possible to arrive there through words (the koan). But once there, it cannot be expressed with language.
Perhaps Ill be trying to convince you dudes of that until Im dead in my grave. And yet even then my silence will prove the point.
Let teachers and priests and philosophers argue over matters of reality and illusion...
Some opposites of the rationalist/realist (besides conan the babarian?) is the absurdists, and then the dadist, and the surrealists, but all of them including you and tzu, use words.
Why do you feel it is your duty to lead us from the darkness of ignorance, and how can you be certain your leading in the right direction if there supposedly isn't any. "don't follow words" he SAYS (when the position suits him, or his ideas are challanged)
"Chuang Tzu (Chuang Chou, ca, 360 BC), along with Lao Tzu, is a defining figure in Chinese Taoism. Chuang Tzu probably authored only parts of the first 7 chapters of the present text, the so-called Inner Chapters. The others were written either by followers of thinkers of related but different theoretical orientations. They often expand on themes in the "inner" chapters. See SCHOOL OF CHUANG TZU for a more complete discussion of the "outer" chapters.
The relation between the two founding figures of Taoism is a growing puzzle. Tradition treats Chuang Tzu as following Lao Tzu. We know of Chuang Tzu's life only what we can surmise from the text, which hardly confirms that traditional story. On the contrary, along with recent archeological discoveries, the text makes it as plausible that Chuang Tzu was the original Daoist. Graham speculates that Chuang Tzu may have been responsible for Lao Tzu's being regarded as a Taoist by using him as a fictional figure in his dialogues. Chuang Tzu used Lao Tzu's voice because he could "talk down" to Confucius. The message Chuang Tzu placed in Lao Tzu's mouth shared enough with the popular but anonymous text that people subsequently came to identify it as The Lao Tzu.
This article will treat the Chuang Tzu without assuming he "followed" or inherited Taosim from Lao Tzu. This is only partly because of the textual issues complicating the traditional story. Using that story also complicates the interpretive task in requiring settling all the interpretive questions surrounding Lao Tzu's text. These are at least as stubborn as those in the Chuang Tzu. This article will simply treat Chuang Tzu as a philosophical discussant dealing with the central philosophical issues in his context. He shares both terminology and background assumptions with the other major philosophical figures. In particular, we will not presuppose that Taoists change the meaning of tao from its usual ethical sense to a, distinctively Taoist, metaphysical sense. Any metaphysical properties of a tao will, I assume, be those plausible to attribute to a guide to behavior.
Chuang Tzu's familiarity with and confident handling of the technical language of ancient Chinese semantics make it probable that he had the ancient Chinese equivalent of analytic philosophical training. It is, thus, no accident that even philosophers skeptical of the general philosophical quality of Chinese thought hold him in the highest regard. The more likely candidate as Chuang Tzu's mentor (or philosophical colleague and friend) may be the monistically inclined dialectician Hui Shih (370-319 BC). Chuang Tzu mourns Hui Shih's death as depriving him of the person on whom he sharpened his wits. Chuang Tzu's key strategy for combating the ancient Chinese version of realism seems to come from Hui Shih. This article will therefore start with Hui Shih's theses (which are not included in THE LATER MOHISTS). In any case, our only source of information about them is The Chuang Tzu. Hui Shih's theory, furthermore, is crucial to understanding Chuang Tzu's philosophical position especially in relation to the Later Mohists.
Chuang Tzu, despite his obvious affection, is ultimately critical of Hui Shih's monism and his optimism that debate and analysis would resolve philosophical issues. Traditional accounts have reckoned this as the mystic Chuang Tzu's haughty disdain for logic. However, Hui Shih's doctrines deal with philosophy of language more than with logic. So if we resist reading Chuang Tzu as following Lao Tzu, a strikingly different view of their dynamic emerges. Hui Shih (probably the more politically active) emerges as an erudite, enthusiastic, loquacious but somewhat confused, rather mystical, semantic dilettante. Chuang Tzu, in contrast, appears as a language theorist par excellence. Chuang Tzu reports enjoying debating with Hui Shih precisely because he was one of few with enough learning to be worth refuting. Still, he was ultimately a soft target for a dialectician of Chuang Tzu's caliber."
A few "words" from Lao Tzu
Born to be wild - live to outgrow it.
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.
Clay is molded to form a cup, But it is on its non-being that the utility of the cup depends. Doors and windows are cut out to make a room, But it is on its non-being that the utility of the room depends. Therefore turn being into advantage, and turn non-being into utility.
Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.
Great acts are made up of small deeds.
He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
Man's enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself.
The sage does not hoard. The more he helps others, the more he benefits himself, The more he gives to others, the more he gets himself. The Way of Heaven does one good but never does one harm. The Way of the sage is to act but not to compete.
Those who have knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict, don't have knowledge.
Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself.
To lead people walk behind them.
Post a Comment