Patrick Laude

While the goal of the esoteric is often totality, its ways tend to be characterized by synthetic and transformative “shortcuts” that transcend mental intelligibility and, in a way, human efforts. They involve vertical, sometimes abrupt and sudden, access to Reality, or direct contact with a source of enlightenment and transformation. In this regard, the “sacramental” presents a clear affinity with the esoteric in so far as it involves the mystery of a transformation that defies human categories. This chapter examines some of the modes and implications of such esoteric “immediacy” like non-mediated gnosis and invocatory practices. In South and East Asia, the frequent association of the esoteric with Tantric inspirations highlights its supra-mental emphasis but also the qualifications or dispositions it requires. There is, in other words, an “elitist” aspect to the dimension of presence because of the power of the “immediate,” as testified, in Kabbalah and Sufism, by stringent initiatory preconditions and disciplines. There is also, however, a “popular” aspect to the esoteric dimension of presence, its directness by-passing the textual, pedagogical and mental prerequisites of formal and institutional religious learning and practices.

While the dimension of depth is most often associated with esoteric teachings, breadth is another significant feature of esoteric perspectives. The exoteric, theological, institutional, and communal, dimensions of religion tend to highlight the fallen and fragmentary aspects of human beings and to emphasize the need for external redemption or reformation. The esoteric, by contrast, claims an access to totality both as an ever-available internal reality and as an objective horizon of knowledge. In such views, the immanent access to transcendent knowledge is inherent to human beings, and esoteric disciplines make it their goal to achieve its recovery. On the one hand the esoteric aims at the restoration of a human wholeness, on the other hand this quest for microcosmic totality is predicated upon a recognition of metaphysical and macrocosmic integrality, or universality. By contrast with exoteric outlooks, the esoteric is bent on looking beyond cosmic and religious boundaries to provide a higher synthesis of reality and consciousness. It highlights correspondences between realms of reality and fosters receptivity to all phenomena as manifestations of Reality or Possibility.

The conclusion of the monograph evaluates the validity and usefulness of the notion of the esoteric as an intellectual tool, and the nature of the limitations and challenges that it entails. It sums up the main findings of the comparative study. It offers some reflections regarding the reputation of elitism that is often associated to esoteric purviews. Finally, it suggests ways in which a meditation of esoteric ways might bear fruits both in the academic study of religions and in contemporary religious life.

This chapter focuses on non-dualism as an affirmation of the exclusive unity of Reality, and as an apophatic approach of the Ultimate through negations. The two points of view are esoteric in that they appear to contradict the ordinary dualistic experience of phenomenal reality on the one hand, and the predicative focus of exoteric perspectives on the other hand, since the latter rest upon dogmatic affirmations. Thus, for instance, the Advaitin doctrine of ajāti, or non-creation, denies the reality of creation. As such, it is counter-intuitive from a conventional point of view and seems to undermine the very basis of religious consciousness which posits, by definition, a relationship between the Divine and the terrestrial. Thus, this chapter explores the challenges and paradoxes of esoteric knowledge as it delves into the implications of non-duality. How is such a knowledge possible without annulling the very conditions of knowledge that is the duality of the knower and the known, and is not its exclusive identification of knowledge with Unity incompatible with the relativity (esoteric/exoteric) that the esoteric entails?

This chapter introduces the objectives and methodology of the study. It presents the etymology and history of terms related to the Greek εσωτερικός (esōterikós) in European languages. It analyzes the various shades of meaning of the substantives “esotericism” and “esoterism” and the adjective “esoteric.” The latter term corresponds more accurately to the intent of this study since its focus is less on a particular body of doctrines or domain of human activities than on tendencies and characteristics that contrast with ordinary and conventional, i.e., exoteric, religious phenomena. Correlatively the chapter addresses the “elitist” connotations of the esoteric. This section also includes a review of some of the recent scholarly literature on esoterism. It proceeds with a survey of terms which have been associated with the esoteric in various religious traditions. These include the Arabic bātin, the Japanese mikkyō, the Sanskrit rahasya and paramārtha, and the Hebrew sod. This discussion raises conceptual and heuristic questions central to this inquiry. It identifies six areas of critical concentration which constitute the six following chapters of the book.

The esoteric evokes a knowledge that transcends ordinary perception and discursive thought. It reaches beyond the individual confines that characterize the exoteric scope, and delves into the universal depths of “God within.” Thus, in esoteric contexts, the inner either overlaps or coincides with the Divine, or with the transcendent reaches of consciousness. It is at this juncture that the esoteric suggests unfathomable mystery, or is even suspected of transgression, since it appears to blur the line between the individual self and the transcendent realm, between the soul and God. In this chapter, a consideration of Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, and Islamic sources highlights the ways in which Divine immanence may coincide with the esoteric. Advaita Vedānta is, in this regard, the most unambiguous affirmation of the “secret” of Selfhood, Tat tvam asi-That thou art. While Hindu Advaita approaches this mystery in terms of the all-encompassing fullness of Absolute Self, Brahman/Ātman, Mahāyāna Buddhism resists any affirmative substantialization of selfhood, even when it touches upon the universal immanence of the Buddha nature. Abrahamic religions highlight the specifically esoteric connotations of the “Divine within.” The cases of Judaism and Islam, with their emphasis on transcendence, present us with views of the human self as giving way to Divine Selfhood through extinction or effacement. By contrast, Christ’s direct teaching that “The Kingdom of God is within you” calls for an elucidation of the esoteric tenor of his teachings.

The esoteric is generally related to the hidden, to ideas and practices difficult to access, whether this be intended by its proponents or be inherent to its objects. It spans a wide array of domains such as degrees of inner perception of reality, hermeneutics, and spiritual pedagogy as well as ritual initiation. Common to all these aspects of the esoteric is the presupposition that deeper layers of reality or meaning lie below the surface of plain appearances. The esoteric is considered to conceal these deeper realities while it may also claim to reduce or dispel appearances to unveil reality. This dialectics of hiding and revealing is nowhere more evident than in Abrahamic religions. Thus, this chapter examines some of the paradoxes of esoteric hermeneutics in Judaism and Islam. In these contexts, esoteric hermeneutics can often be characterized as hiding through showing and showing through hiding. More generally, the metaphysics that lies at the foundation of such approaches involves a dialectics of remoteness and proximity, transcendence and immanence. By contrast, the case of Christianity is unique in that we find, in Christ’s teachings themselves, direct allusions to an esoteric domain of ineffable transcendence, and at the same time the unprecedented claim of revealing everything hidden since the origin of times.

The duality of the esoteric and the exoteric raises the question of the existence of radically distinct visions and experiences of reality. The esoteric is prone to call into question, or sub-rate, ordinary perceptions of reality. It calls for an awakening from an unexamined understanding of reality that it deems superficial, or even delusive. Religions, for their part, postulate a neat choice between truth and its negation, or between living by the truth and straying from it. This chapter delves into the ways the esoteric takes into account the reality, and legitimacy, of such distinct levels of consideration. One of the most distinctive aspects of esoteric perspectives lies in their entailing a subtle, nuanced, understanding that holds to different ontological dimensions in a way that is inclusive of their respective claims to reality. In this respect, the esoteric outlook might be perceived as duplicitous from an exoteric perspective, since it involves an ability to account for different levels of truth. Thus, the Buddhist doctrine of the”Two Truths” provides a paradigm for analyzing the esoteric bent informing the teachings of such central figures as Ibn ‘Arabī, Shankara, and Zhuangzi, and the ways in which their apprehension of reality postulates seemingly incompatible truths within the context of an all-encompassing metaphysical perspective.

This book offers a comparative examination of the esoteric dimension across diverse religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. It seeks to answer the question of whether the concept of the esoteric can be applied across traditions and explores intersections, convergences, and differences in its use and presence therein. The book provides new avenues for research by moving beyond the study of Western esotericism and examining how the category of the esoteric can be applied in the contexts of Abrahamic faiths and Asian traditions. The book is organized into six centers of reflection, including the esoteric dialectics of hiding and revealing, the claim of esoteric traditions to restore wholeness and provide a comprehensive understanding of reality, the character of immediacy and directness, the intrinsic esoteric distinction between two truths, and the non-dualistic leanings of esoteric schools in terms of the unity of reality and the subjective immanence of an all-embracing Divine Selfhood. Overall, the book provides a comprehensive phenomenology of the esoteric in religions. It will be of interest to researchers and students of theology and religious studies.

This essay explores the ways in which two distinct spiritual traditions, Ghazālī’s Ṣūfīsm and Śaṅkarian Advaita Vedānta, articulate an exclusive metaphysical affirmation of the Ultimate Reality with an empirical recognition of relative existence. Both perspectives are shown to be radically absolutist in their discernment of the Real and in their denying metaphysical reality to other-than-the-Absolute. This raises the question of the ontological status of relativity and empirical existence. Although Islam would seem to assign a greater reality to the world of relativity and human experience, Ghazālī’s most metaphysical treatise, Mishkāt al-anwār (The Niche of Lights), utterly denies the intrinsic reality of creatures in themselves. Similarly, Śaṅkara affirms the non-existence of māyā, the principle of ignorance and duality, as a superimposition upon ātman, the Divine Self immanent to all. Ghazālī concedes, however, that relative existence is “metaphorically” existent (majāz) while Śaṅkara acknowledges the “transactional” reality (vyāvahārika) of empirical existence. Such recognitions involve a multi-stratified view of reality that must account for both metaphysical consistency and empirical access to Reality. This essay shows that although fundamental parallels between the two worlds of meaning can be highlighted, their respective metaphysical perspectives and views of relativity are also quite distinct inasmuch as they are informed by profoundly different religious and traditional contexts.

This essay sketches some of the main characteristics of a perennial and cross-civilizational concept of wisdom. It argues that the latter is based upon a strong and deep sense of transcendence and upon the discernment that flows from it. This essay highlights the ways in which this discriminative wisdom does not amount to any form of dualism, but, on the contrary, leads its proponents and practitioners to an all-encompassing experience of anthropocosmic harmony and metaphysical unity. Taking stock of Asian wisdom traditions such as Advaita Vedānta and Zen Buddhism this paper also stresses the intimate connection between wisdom and objectivity; hence the ideal of a full attentiveness to reality in its irreducible suchness. Finally the essay broaches wisdom’s power of intellectual and spiritual displacement as a means of realizing the aforementioned objectivity. The final section discusses the circumstantial and ontological reasons for wisdom’s concealment, and the ways in which sagely expressions must be adjusted to a wide spectrum of human limitations.

This essay is an attempt at opening parallel but contrastive avenues into the respective Christian and Buddhist outlooks with respect to the metaphysical notion of relativity in contradistinction with the concept of the Absolute. The main thesis is that Christianity and Buddhism present us, in their respective normative intellectual economies, with analogous, yet profoundly different ways of envisioning metaphysics from the vantage point of their sui generis soteriology. In other terms, our argument is that Christian and Buddhist metaphysics are essentially informed by the tenets of their spiritual way, whether redemptive or emancipative. Furthermore, these forms of “soteriological metaphysics” could be encapsulated in the twin nutshells of an “absolutization of the relative” on the one hand, and a “relativization of the absolute” on the other hand. The first formula refers, more specifically, to Christian Trinitarian theology, and the second to the Buddhist ontology of emptiness. These two formulas provide a theoretical framework that suggests both the internal coherence of each tradition and the ways in which this coherence is variously understood within the tradition itself. In the soteriological emphasis of these two traditions lies a possible—but not exclusive—way to open a wider space for a hermeneutics of aspects and vantage points, as well as for warding off any overly rigid conceptual crystallizations through a deeper recognition of the interplay between principled intellectual unity and the manifold of human existence. This essay is the first section of the submission, which is focusing on the Christian tradition.

This essay is an attempt at opening parallel but contrastive avenues into the respective Christian and Buddhist outlooks with respect to the metaphysical notion of relativity in contradistinction with the concept of the Absolute. The main thesis is that Christianity and Buddhism present us, in their respective normative intellectual economies, with analogous, yet profoundly different ways of envisioning metaphysics from the vantage point of their sui generis soteriology. In other terms, our argument is that Christian and Buddhist metaphysics are essentially informed by the tenets of their spiritual way, whether redemptive or emancipative. Furthermore, these forms of “soteriological metaphysics” could be encapsulated in the twin nutshells of an “absolutization of the relative” on the one hand, and a “relativization of the absolute” on the other hand. The first formula refers, more specifically, to Christian Trinitarian theology, and the second to the Buddhist ontology of emptiness. These two formulas provide a theoretical framework that suggests both the internal coherence of each tradition and the ways in which this coherence is variously understood within the tradition itself. In the soteriological emphasis of these two traditions lies a possible—but not exclusive—way to open a wider space for a hermeneutics of aspects and vantage points, as well as for warding off any overly rigid conceptual crystallizations through a deeper recognition of the interplay between principled intellectual unity and the manifold of human existence. This essay is the second section of the article, and focuses on the Buddhist tradition.

Oren Ergas and Sharon Todd, the editors of Philosophy East/West: Exploring Intersections between Educational and Contemplative Practices, articulate the two main concerns of their project in the introduction. The first intent is to embrace a cross-philosophical approach that may integrate a wide spectrum of wisdom traditions the world over in order to maximize fruitful dialogue and cross-fertilization. The second is to take stock of the recent “contemplative turn” in education, as illustrated primarily by the growing contemporary trend to emphasize meditational and mindfulness practices. The main objective of the editors of this thoughtful and creative volume is to reflect upon the ways such a “contemplative...

It can be argued that what most clearly sets “mystical theology” apart from ordinary religious consciousness and rational1 or apologetic theology is its treatment of the relationship between the Ultimate Reality and the non-Ultimate. In fact, mysticism tends to combine the strictest concept of the Absolute, one that points to transcending any polarity, duality, and distinction, and a vision of relativity that both denies the reality of the world of manifestation, when considered independently from its Source, and affirms an essential continuity or unity between the Ultimate and that which is not in an ultimate sense.The Absolute is literally ab-solutum, which means that it is “unbound,” “detached,” and “free.” ..

There is no religion that does not start from the premise that “something is rotten in the Kingdom of Denmark,” to make use of Hamlet’s suggestive expression:mankind has lost its connection with the principle of its being and disharmony has ensued. This state of affairs, that religion claims to remedy, may be deemed toresult from a sense of radical “otherness” symbolized, in the Abrahamic traditions, by the loss of the blissful unity and proximity of terrestrial paradise. In this paper we propose to show that the Islamic concept of ridā, particularly as it has been conceptualized and practiced in Sufism, is none other than both the means and the end of this re-connection with God and human beings as acceptance of “otherness.” The Quranic idea of Divine ridwān provides both the transcendent model and the infinite counterpart of this human virtue of acceptance.

This paper highlights the contributions of three major Islamicists, Louis Massignon, Henry Corbin, and Frithjof Schuon, to the understanding of the Qur’ân. Their works point to the epistemologic primacy of the contemplative and esoteric dimensions of the Book. Its linguistic texture and modalities are here understood as expressing the very limits of language, the proportional reciprocity between the actualization of inner meaning and spiritual fruition, and its ultimate metaphysical substance. These principles and their spiritual consequences may constitute the best antidote to contemporary fundamentalist and modernist reductionism in scriptural hermeneutics.