What Is Via Negativa in World Mysticism & Religions

Ivan Frimmel presents
1
What is Via Negativa
in Mysticism?
2
What is Via Negativa?
 The way to God, Absolute, through negation: no predicates
attach to God, no words may be legitimately used to
describe “Him”, “Her” or “It”; “He”, “She”, “It” is ‘not
this, not that’; commonplace of all mysticism, Eastern and
Western:
 In Plotinus: the negative characterization of One
 In Christianity: Via Negativa (the katapathic way)
 In Vedanta: Neti-Neti (not this, not this)
 In Buddhism: Nirvana or Sunyata (voidness)
 In Taoism: Wu-Wei (non-doing way)
 In Science: Zero-Point Energy
 Converse of Via Affirmativa (the apopathic way)
3
Plotinus on One
(205BC – 70AD)
 God – the One beyond all attributes:

 Immeasurably beyond the world, beyond reality
 Ultimate Being: Non-being, beyond all existing things
 Beyond personality
 Self-sufficient: needing nothing
The goal of the Mystical Path is the flight of alone to

the Alone (All-One).
4
Christian Mystic Meister Eckhart
(1260 - 1328)
 God is
 God is Being, pure being, absolute reality (I am that I am)
 God is neither good nor bad, nor better, nor best
 Meister Eckhart speaks of the God as:

 the Wordless God
 the Naked God
 the Nameless Nothing
5
Quotes from Meister Eckhart
 The eye by which I see God is the same as
the eye by which God sees me. My eye and
God’s eye are the same – one in seeing, one
in knowing and one in loving.
 Identity with God is still not enough; to
abandon all things without abandoning God
is still not abandoning anything. Man must
live “without why.” He must seek nothing,
not even God. - Talks of
Instruction
6
Neti-Neti in Vedanta
 Neti - neti - Not this, not this – or Not this, not that – a famous
passage from the Brhadaranyaka Upanishads 2.3.6, giving answer to
questions as to the nature of Brahman, thus hinting at its ineffability.
 Neti-neti as a statement means that we are not anything separate as in

the disparate dualistic framework of a separate "I - it" context (versus
the sacred non-dual and transpersonal "I-Thou" context). It says: "not
ego - not ego“ and "not self - not self“…
 Neti - neti also means to convey that we are not egos, and that we can
never be defined as being separate from the Universe, Absolute Being,
One, One Mind… without introducing a delusion.
 Neti-neti (as all similar statements on the Via Negativa) can be

understood correctly only within a spiritual context of Mystical Union
with the Universal Spirit, One, One Mind, the Absolute…
7
What is Nirvana?
 Nirvana is the “haven” of all Buddhism, beyond all “havens”, total extinction
of all desire & suffering…
 A state of ineffable peace and liberation from

 the world of space & time
 all craving and repulsion
 birth, death and rebirth
 all passion
 all that is transient…
 Uncompounded state, made of nothing at all; one cannot say of Nirvana that it
 arises or it does not arise
 is to be produced
 is in the past, present or future
 is cognizable by mind, or perceivable by any sense…
8
What is Sunyavada? (1)
 Sunyavada is a Mahayana Buddhist theory (vada) holding that the
world, reality to be empty, void (sunya), or unreal.
 Sunyavada is also known as Madhyamika (“The Middle Way” School

of Buddhism).
 Sunyavada was founded by an Indian Buddhist philosopher

Nagarjuna (150 – 250 CE) and based on the Prajnaparamita Sutras,
expounding the philosophy of emptiness, voidness (sunyata), which
later also influenced Ch’an in China and Zen in Japan.
 Sunyavada (Nagarjuna) recognizes two forms of Truth, the relative

that can be spoken about and discusssed (Samvriti), and the Absolute
(Paramartha) – Sunyata, or the Voidness of all things, particulars,
phenomena – of which nothing can be said: Sunyata is neither relative
nor absolute, neither existent nor non-existent…
9
What is Sunyavada? (2)
According to Sunyavada:
 the phenomenal world is said to have no reality; yet the
world “underlying” it (Noumenon?) defies all description,
because of our inability to see, grasp, comprehend “the-
thing-itself ” (svabhava);
 all we can see and know is “dependent origination” and

impermanence;
 so, if nothing is permanent and real, reality (including the

seeming reality of I, me) is empty (sunya) of any substance.
10
A Scriptural Prophecy Regarding Nagarjuna
 As is written in the Manjusrimulakalpa, the Acarya
Nagarjuna lived for a total of 600 years:
After I, the Tathagata, have passed away

And 400 years have elapsed,
A bhiksu, "The Naga", shall appear, of
Great faith and benefit to the teaching.
He shall achieve the stage of Great Joy
And for 600 years remain living.
11
Some Criticism of Sunyavada
 Classical Hindu and some Buddhist thinkers dismissed Nagarjuna's
extreme use of the Via Negativa as self-condemned:
 the negation of everything is inconceivable without implying an
affirmation, a positive ground to negate;
 nothing can be proved false if nothing is taken as true;
 therefore:
 the ultimate truth cannot be negative;
 absolute negation is impossible.
 One could also say that the act of negation itself requires the existence
of the negator.
 Total skepticism is a figment, since such skepticism implies the

acceptance of the validity of the skeptic's judgment.
12
Sunyavada as Prajnaparamita
 The Sunyavada School considers all philosophy as prajna-
paramita = the supreme non-conceptual intellectual intuitive
awareness and wisdom.
 According to Sunyavada
 Prajna is the supreme, immediate, sudden, non-
progressive attainment of non-dualistic Knowledge
(known as Jnana in Sanskrit), through Enlightenment;
 Ultimate or Absolute Reality can be known only by

the removal of all views about It.
13
Sunyavada as Absolutism & Nondualism
 Sunyavada teaches that
 The only absolute being is self-evident and real, here & now;
 The Absolute is transcendent AND immanent, being the reality of

(and not behind) the appearances;
 There is no difference between infinite and finite, between samsara

and nirvana; reality and illusion, etc;
 The duality of phenomenal and noumenal (absolute), as all

dualistic views, is ignorance (avidya);
 There are two truths: the illusory (dualistic) truth of the empirical
standpoint and the Ultimate (Nondual) Truth of the Absolute,
which cannot be expressed in any words or symbols.
14
Sunyavada is not Nihilism
 It does not teach that there is no reality, but

that there can be no doctrine or views about
reality.
 Sunya is not the negation of the Absolute,

but the affirmation of its indescribability.
15
Sunyata and Wu-wei, Wu-hsin & Wu-nien
 Sunyata or wu (kokoro or mu in Japanese)
= absolute emptiness, voidness
 Wu-wei = non-action
 Wu-hsin = no-mind
 Wu-nien = no-thought
Sitting quietly, doing nothing,

Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.
16
Zen Doctrine of No-mind (Wu-hsin)
 A Zen doctrine which goes back to at least Hui
Neng (637-713) the 6th Patriarch of Chan, and his
assertion From the first not a thing is.
 Hui Neng insisted that the object of Zen is ‘seeing
into ones own nature’ which thus becomes ‘seeing
into nothingness’.
 To see into one’s own nature requires no mind
17
Two “kinds” of Sunyata, Voidness Buddha Taught
 Voidness (insubstantiality) of all things

 material, physical
 immaterial, non-physical, mental, spiritual
 Voidness (insubstantiality) of self - annata

 absence of “I” & “mine”
 total quenching of ego and egoism.
18
Levels of Sunyata, Voidness
Supreme, unsurpassable voidness, nirvana

Experience that is neither experience nor non-experience
Experience of infinite nothingness

Experience of infinite consciousness & bliss
Experience of infinite space & timelessness
Experience of “just earth”
19
Zero-point Energy in Science
20
Thank You
Ivan Frimmel
Cell: 082-454-0311
E-mail: ivan.frimmel@nanhua.co.za
21

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Ivan Frimmel presents

 Converse of Via Affirmativa (the apopathic way)

 God – the One beyond all attributes:

The goal of the Mystical Path is the flight of alone to

 God is Being, pure being, absolute reality (I am that I am)

 God is neither good nor bad, nor better, nor best

 Meister Eckhart speaks of the God as:

 the Naked God

 the Nameless Nothing

 Neti-neti as a statement means that we are not anything separate as in

 Neti-neti (as all similar statements on the Via Negativa) can be

 A state of ineffable peace and liberation from

 all craving and repulsion

 birth, death and rebirth

 all that is transient…

 is in the past, present or future

 is cognizable by mind, or perceivable by any sense…

 Sunyavada is also known as Madhyamika (“The Middle Way” School

 Sunyavada was founded by an Indian Buddhist philosopher

 Sunyavada (Nagarjuna) recognizes two forms of Truth, the relative

 all we can see and know is “dependent origination” and

 so, if nothing is permanent and real, reality (including the

After I, the Tathagata, have passed away

 the ultimate truth cannot be negative;

 absolute negation is impossible.

 Total skepticism is a figment, since such skepticism implies the

 Ultimate or Absolute Reality can be known only by

 The Absolute is transcendent AND immanent, being the reality of

 There is no difference between infinite and finite, between samsara

 The duality of phenomenal and noumenal (absolute), as all

 It does not teach that there is no reality, but

 Sunya is not the negation of the Absolute,

Sitting quietly, doing nothing,

 Voidness (insubstantiality) of all things

 Voidness (insubstantiality) of self - annata

Supreme, unsurpassable voidness, nirvana

Experience of infinite nothingness

Experience of infinite space & timelessness

Experience of “just earth”

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