I've been working on a text piece for 3 months. It's my most ambitious piece so far, and it's called Shoonya: Vijnana Bhairava Tantra from the Torah, The Book of Deuteronomy. Shoonya is the Sanskrit word for void; mental vacuum; the state of complete nothingness. In this text, it is described as the precursor to enlightenment. VBT is an ancient tantric text, in which Shiva and Shakti, who are intertwined in a nondual state of oneness, separate to have a conversation about entering the state of Bhairava, which is none other than the Void itself. Shiva tells his lovely wife the many ways by which one can enter the Void, and from there enter into enlightenment.
I've also been reading Nausea by Sartre, the classic existentialist novel which talks about nothingness...pointlessness...emptiness. The parallels are fascinating. The existentialists were so close to enlightenment! Except that they didn't have much need for that kind of thing. The difference between a Buddhist and an existentialist, from what I can gather, is in their predisposition toward the Void. The Buddhist enters it with hope; she knows that it - Bhairava - is a temporary state, and on the other side of it is bliss, bliss, bliss. The existentialist enters it and abandons hope. He bucks up and faces the fact that there is no bliss to be had, no God to be found, and relies on his own resources to create meaning amidst the meaninglessness.
Noble paths, both.
I'm currently wallowing in the Void, with an occasional run-in with bliss. Not much fun, and not a recommended way to spend your summer vacation. The Bhairava Tantra has been a great teacher. So has Sartre.
Hi Meg - Great art; great info! Question: why do you equate Bhairava with the void?
ReplyDeleteThere is Bhairava who is the fierce aspect of Shiva, the destroyer of egoic delusion. Then there is the state of bhairava, or universal consciousness. Bhairava (the god) leads us into bhairava (the state), which is a threshold state: the state which we enter before entering into the supreme state of Shiva consciousness. (bhairava = savikalpa samadhi; shiva = nirvikalpa samadhi). When we relinquish all pre-existing mental concepts, we enter (eventually...hopefully) the void, or else we enter a mental hospital. This void is the state of bhairava, and is experienced as emptiness. Empty of what? Any and all mental constructs. It's no wonder that it's experienced as nauseating and/or terrifying, since there is nothing on which to ground oneself; no "up" or "down". The emptiness of the void is at some point experienced by the spiritual aspirant as a fullness, when a presence emerges (Shiva, or supreme consciousness). Same void, experienced first as emptiness, then as fullness.
ReplyDeleteSloka from the VBT:
"By contemplating on bhairava as all that which is void and cannot be known, grasped or imagined, at the end realization takes place."
And from the commentary:
"Through a process of negation or realizing what the state of bhairava is not, you arrive at the realization of what it actually is, the great void, which cannot be qualified by the mind."
"The head and heart combine to arrive at an experience of the void, which is bhairava, by inferring what it is not and thereby developing an intuitive awareness of the state of bhairava."
Most excellent blog Meg, I salute you, deep bows. Big Love
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