Indian Epistemology and Metaphysics by Tuske Joerg

Author:Tuske, Joerg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Published: 2017-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

What reflections (and phenomena) are not according to the Śaivas: neither illusions, nor the reflected object itself

As for the Śaiva nondualists, paradoxically for authors who came to be known as the proponents of a “doctrine [that phenomena are similar to] reflections” (pratibimbavāda), they often seem to mistrust this analogy of reflections. The reason for this is that they defend an absolute idealism according to which reality is a unitary, omnipotent, and infinite consciousness playfully manifesting itself in the form of a diverse and external universe (whereas in fact nothing exists outside of this consciousness). This means that they cannot accept any representation of consciousness as a mirror faithfully reproducing images of the external world: consciousness is not like a mirror because a mirror passively reflects a given, while according to the Śaivas, the essence of consciousness is its dynamism. When imagining an object, for instance, we become aware of, for example, a pot because our consciousness pictures up the pot by taking its form at will. And not only is consciousness capable of thus taking the form of infinitely varied objects: according to whether it focuses on the imagined object or on its own creative activity it can grasp itself in an objective form, as being “the pot,” or in a subjective form, as being the consciousness taking the form of the pot (“I am imagining this pot”). The Śaiva nondualists call “realization” (vimarśa or parāmarśa)58 this extraordinary ability of consciousness to freely apprehend itself as being this or that; and they consider that Śiva manifests the universe by virtue of this very power, that is, by merely imagining himself in the form of an external world: the innumerable objects and even the various individuals living and dying in that world are nothing but Śiva imagining himself in the form of such limited entities.59

The Śaivas therefore emphasize that consciousness is not like a mirror in that it does not passively reflect a preexisting and independent universe.60 Yet they do have recourse to the analogy of phenomena as reflections. This analogy appears in several of Abhinavagupta’s works,61 but Abhinavagupta himself specifies that its source is Utpaladeva’s Pratyabhijñā treatise62; and indeed, it occurs in this work as Utpaladeva emphasizes that consciousness is capable of manifesting diversity while remaining unitary,63 just as a mirror can show multiple reflections without being shattered.64 While commenting on this passage, Abhinavagupta explains:

And [the reflected objects] such as the mountain do not occur in the mirror in the way [illusory appearances] such as silver or a double moon [occur, i.e.] by concealing the nature of the [real] mother-of-pearl or single moon; for when such a manifestation of the mirror [bearing reflections occurs], the very fact that [the object in front of us] is a mirror is all the more obvious, since [we then] think: “this is a stainless, an excellent, a pure mirror!” For the mountain that is external [to the mirror] does not enter the mirror, since [if it were the case, then] as a consequence this

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