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Divine madness

Divine madness, also known as theia mania and crazy wisdom, refers to unconventional, outrageous, unexpected, or unpredictable behavior linked to religious or spiritual pursuits. Examples of divine madness can be found in Buddhism, Christianity, Hellenism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Shamanism.

It is usually explained as a manifestation of enlightened behavior by persons who have transcended societal norms, or as a means of spiritual practice or teaching among mendicants and teachers. These behaviors may seem to be symptoms of mental illness to mainstream society, but are a form of religious ecstasy, or deliberate "strategic, purposeful activity,"[1] "by highly self-aware individuals making strategic use of the theme of madness in the construction of their public personas".[2]

Cross-cultural parallels edit

 
Yan Hui depicts the crazy-wise Hanshan 寒山. Color on silk. Tokyo National Museum

According to June McDaniel and other scholars, divine madness is found in the history and practices of many cultures and may reflect religious ecstasy or expression of divine love.[3] Plato in his Phaedrus and his ideas on theia mania, the Hasidic Jews, Eastern Orthodoxy, Western Christianity, Sufism along with Indian religions all bear witness to the phenomenon of divine madness.[4] It is not the ordinary form of madness, but a behavior that is consistent with the premises of a spiritual path or a form of complete absorption in God.[3][5]

DiValerio notes that comparable "mad saint" traditions exist in Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic and Christian cultures, but warns against "flights of fancy" that too easily draw comparisons between these various phenomena.[6]

Georg Feuerstein lists Zen poet Hanshan (fl. 9th century) as having divine madness, explaining that when people would ask him about Zen, he would only laugh hysterically. The Zen master Ikkyu (15th century) used to run around his town with a human skeleton spreading the message of the impermanence of life and the grim certainty of death.[7] According to Feuerstein, similar forms of abnormal social behavior and holy madness is found in the history of the Christian saint Isadora and the Sufi Islam storyteller Mulla Nasruddin.[7] Divine madness has parallels in other religions, such as Judaism and Hinduism.[8][9]

Ancient Greece and Rome: theia mania edit

Theia mania (Ancient Greek: θεία μανία) is a term used by Plato in his dialogue Phaedrus to describe a condition of divine madness (unusual behavior attributed to the intervention of a God).[10] In this work, dating from around 370 BC, Socrates argues that madness is not necessarily an evil, claiming that "the greatest of blessings come to us through madness, when it is sent as a gift of the gods".[10][11]

Socrates describes four types of divine madness:[10][12]

  • the prophetic frenzy of the Oracle of Delphi and the priestesses of Dodona (the gift of Apollo)
  • mystical revelations and initiations, which provide "a way of release for those in need" (the gift of Dionysus)
  • poetic inspiration (the gift of the Muses)
  • the madness of lovers (the gift of Aphrodite and Eros)

Plato expands on these ideas in another dialogue, Ion.

One well-known manifestation of divine madness in ancient Greece was in the cult of the Maenads, the female followers of Dionysus. However, little is known about their rituals; the famous depiction of the cult in Euripides' play The Bacchae cannot be considered historically accurate.[13]

The Roman poet Virgil, in Book VI of his Aeneid, describes the Cumaean Sibyl as prophesying in a frenzied state:[14]

While at the door they paused, the virgin cried:
"Ask now thy doom!—the god! the god is nigh!"
So saying, from her face its color flew,
Her twisted locks flowed free, the heaving breast
Swelled with her heart's wild blood; her stature seemed
Vaster, her accent more than mortal man,
As all th' oncoming god around her breathed...

Abrahamic religions edit

Christianity edit

The 6th-century Saint Simeon, states Feuerstein, simulated insanity with skill. Simeon found a dead dog, tied a cord to the corpse's leg and dragged it through the town, outraging the people. To Simeon the dead dog represented a form of baggage people carry in their spiritual life. He would enter the local church and throw nuts at the congregation during the liturgy, which he later explained to his friend that he was denouncing the hypocrisy in worldly acts and prayers.[7]

Michael Andrew Screech states that the interpretation of madness in Christianity is adopted from the Platonic belief that madness comes in two forms: bad and good, depending on the assumptions about "the normal" by the majority.[12] Early Christians cherished madness, and being called "mad" by non-Christians.[15] To them it was glossolalia or the "tongue of angels".[15] Christ's behavior and teachings were blasphemous madness in his times, and according to Simon Podmore, "Christ's madness served to sanctify blasphemous madness".[16]

Religious ecstasy-type madness was interpreted as good by early Christians, in the Platonic sense. Yet, as Greek philosophy went out of favor in Christian theology, so did these ideas. In the age of Renaissance, charismatic madness regained interest and popular imagination, as did the Platonic proposal of four types of "good madness".[12] In a Christian theological context, these were interpreted in part as divine rapture, an escape from the restraint of society, a frenzy for freedom of the soul.[12]

In the 20th-century, Pentecostalism – the charismatic movements within Protestant Christianity particularly in the United States, Latin America and Africa – has encouraged the practice of divine madness among its followers.[17][18] The wisdom and healing power in the possessed, in these movements, is believed to be from the Holy Spirit, a phenomenon called charism ("spiritual gifts"). According to Tanya Luhrmann, the associated "hearing of spiritual voices" may seem to be "mental illness" to many people, but to the followers who shout and dance together as a crowd it isn't.[19] The followers believe that there is a long tradition in Christian spirituality, where saints such as Augustine are stated to have had similar experiences of deliberate hallucinations and madness.[20]

Islam edit

Divine madness is a theme in some forms of Islamic mysticism. People that have attained "mad" mental states, according to Feuerstein, include the masts and the intoxicated Sufis associated with shath.[21] In parts of Gilgit (Pakistan), the behavior of eccentric faqirs dedicated to mystical devotionalism is considered as "crazy holiness".[22] In Somalia, according to Sheik Abdi, Moḥammed ʻAbdulle Hassan eccentric behavior and methods led some colonial era writers to call him "mad mullah", "crazy priest of Allah" and others.[23][24]

According to Sadeq Rahimi, the Sufi description of divine madness in mystical union mirrors those associated with mental illness.[25] He writes,

The similarities between the Sufi formulation of divine madness and the folk experience of psychosis are too clear and too frequent among the Turkish patients to be treated as coincidences.[25]

In West African version of Sufism, according to Lynda Chouiten, examples of insane saints are a part of Maraboutisme where the mad and idiotic behavior of a marabout was compared to a mental illness and considered a form of divine folly, of holiness. However, adds Chouiten, Sufism has been accommodating of such divine madness behavior unlike orthodox Islam.[26]

Indian religions edit

Hinduism edit

The theme of divine madness appears in all major traditions of Hinduism (Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism), both in its mythologies as well as its saints, accomplished mendicants and teachers.[9] They are portrayed as if they are acting mad or crazy, challenging social assumptions and norms as a part of their spiritual pursuits or resulting thereof.[9]

Avadhuta edit

According to Feuerstein, the designation avadhūta (Sanskrit: अवधूत) came to be associated with the mad or eccentric holiness or "crazy wisdom" of some paramahamsa, liberated religious teachers, who reverted the social norms, as symbolized by their being "skyclad" or "naked" (Sanskrit: digambara).[27][note 1] Avadhuta are described in the Sannyasa Upanishads of Hinduism, early mediaeval Sanskrit texts that discuss the monastic (sannyasa, literally "house-leaver") life of Hindu sadhus (monks) and sadhvis (nuns). The Avadhuta is one category of mendicants, and is described as antinomian. The term means "shaken off, one who has removed worldly feeling/attachments, someone who has cast off all mortal concerns". He is described as someone who is actually wise and normal, but appears to others who don't understand him as "mad, crazy". His behavior may include being strangely dressed (or naked), sleeping in cremation grounds, acting like an animal, a "lunatic" storing his food in a skull, among others.[28][29][9] According to Feuerstein, "the avadhuta is one who, in their God-intoxication, has "cast off" all concerns and conventional standards."[27] Feuerstein further states that in traditional Tibet and India, "the "holy fool" or "saintly madman" [and madwoman] has long been recognized as a legitimate figure in the compass of spiritual aspiration and realization."[27]

Bhakti edit

The bhakti tradition emerged in Hinduism in the medieval era. It is related to religious ecstasy, and its accompanying states of trance and intense emotions.[30] According to McDaniel, devotional ecstasy is "a radical alteration of perception, emotion or personality which brings the person closer to what he regards as sacred."[31] It may be compared to drsti, direct perception or spontaneous thought, as opposed to learned ideas.[31] The bhakta establishes a reciprocal relationship with the divine.[32] Though the participation in the divine is generally favoured in Vaishnava bhakti discourse throughout the sampradayas rather than imitation of the divine 'play' (Sanskrit: lila), there is the important anomaly of the Vaishnava-Sahajiya sect.[33]

McDaniel notes that the actual behavior and experiences of ecstatics may violate the expected behavior as based on texts. While texts describe "stages of religious development and gradual growth of insight and emotion," real-life experiences may be "a chaos of states that must be forced into a religious mold," in which they often don't fit.[34] This discrepancy may lead to a mistaken identification of those experiences as "mad" or "possessed," and the application of exorcism and Ayurvedic treatments to fit those ecstatics into the mold.[34]

McDaniel refers to William James, who made a distinction between gradual and abrupt change,[34] while Karl Potter makes a distinction between progress and leap philosophies.[35] Progress philosophy is jativada, gradual development; leap philosophy is ajativada, "sudden knowledge or intuition."[35] Both approaches can also be found in Bengal bhakti. In ritual ecstasy, yogic and tantric practices have been incorporated, together with the idea of a gradual development through spiritual practices. For spontaneous ecstatics, the reverse is true: union with the divine leads to bodily control and detachment.[35] The same distinction is central in the classical Zen-rhetorics on sudden insight, which developed in 7th-century China.[36][note 2]

The path of gradual progression is called sastriya dharma, "the path of scriptural injunctions."[37] It is associated with order and control, and "loyalty to lineage and tradition, acceptance of hierarchy and authority, and ritual worship and practice."[37] In contrast, the path of sudden breakthrough is asastriya, "not according to the scriptures."[37] It is associated with "chaos and passion, and the divine is reached by unpredictable visions and revelations."[37] The divine can be found in such impure surroundings and items as burning grounds, blood and sexuality.[37] Divine experience is not determined by loyalty to lineage and gurus, and various gurus may be followed.[37] According to McDaniel, divine madness is a major aspect of this breakthrough approach.[37]

Tibetan Buddhism: nyönpa, drubnyon, and "Crazy Wisdom" edit

Holy Madmen edit

In Tibetan Buddhism, nyönpa (Wylie: smyon pa), tantric "crazy yogis," are part of the Nyingma-tradition[38][39][40] and the Kagyu-tradition.[41] Their behavior may seem to be scandalous, according to conventional standards,[40] but the archetypal siddha is a defining characteristic of the nyingma-tradition, which differs significantly from the more scholarly orientated Gelugpa-tradition.[40] Its founder, Padmasambhava (India, 8th century), is an archetypal siddha, who is still commemorated by yearly dances.[40] Milarepa (c.1052–c.1135 CE), the founder of the Kagyu-school, is also closely connected to the notion of divine madness in Tibetan Buddhism.[41] His biography was composed by Tsangnyön Heruka (1452–1507), "the Madman of Tsang," a famous nyönpa.[42] Other famous madmen are Drukpa Kunley (1455–1529) and the Madman of Ü. Together they are also known as "the Three Madmen" (smyon pa gsum).[43] Indian siddhas, and their Tibetan counterparts, also played an essential role in the Tibetan Renaissance (c.950-1250 CE), when Buddhism was re-established in Tibet.[44]

According to DiValerio, the Tibetan term nyönpa refers to siddhas, yogins and lamas whose "mad" behavior is "symptomatic of high achievement in religious practice."[45] This behavior is most widely understood in Tibet as "a symptom of the individuals being enlightened and having transcended ordinary worldly delusions."[46] Their unconventional behavior is seen by Tibetans as a sign of their transcendence of namtok (Sanskrit: vipalka), "conceptual formations or false ideations."[46] While their behavior may be seen as repulsive from a dualistic point of view, the enlightened view transcends the dualistic view of repulsive and nonrepulsive.[46]

It is regarded as manifesting naturally, not intentionally, though it is sometimes also interpreted as intentional behavior "to help unenlightened beings realize the emptiness of phenomena, or as part of the yogin's own training toward that realization."[46] It may also be seen as a way of training, to transcend the boundaries of convention and thereby the boundaries of one's ordinary self-perception, giving way to "a more immediate way of experiencing the world - a way that is based on the truth of emptiness, rather than our imperfect habits of mind."[47] While the well-known nyönpa are considered to be fully enlightened, the status of lesser-known yogins remains unknown, and the nature of their unconventional behavior may not be exactly determinable, also not by lamas.[48]

According to DiValerio, the term drupton nyönpa is regarded by Tibetans as an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, and so

An insane person cannot be a siddha, and a siddha, by definition, cannot be insane - at least, not in the medical understanding of madness.[43]

DiValerio also argues that their unconventional behavior is "strategic, purposeful activity, rather than being the byproduct of a state of enlightenment,"[1] and concludes that "the "holy madman" tradition is constituted by highly self-aware individuals making strategic use of the theme of madness in the construction of their public personas,"[2] arguing that

...the distinctive eccentric behavior of the Madmen of Ü and Tsang is best understood as a form of "tantric fundamentalism" in that it was based on following a literal reading of the Highest Yoga tantras, enacted as a strategic response to changes taking place in late 15th-century Tibetan religious culture. The "madness" of Drukpa Künlé resulted from his taking a critical stance towards Tibetan religious culture in general.[49]

Crazy Wisdom edit

In some Buddhist literature, the phrase "crazy wisdom" is associated with the teaching methods of Chögyam Trungpa,[50] himself a Nyingma and Kagyu master, who popularized the notion with his adepts Keith Dowman and Georg Feuerstein.[51][note 3] The term "crazy wisdom" translates the Tibetan term drubnyon, a philosophy which "traditionally combines exceptional insight and impressive magical power with a flamboyant disregard for conventional behavior."[52] In his book Crazy Wisdom, which consists of transcripts of seminars on the eight aspects of Padmasambhava given in 1972,[53] the Tibetan tülku Chögyam Trungpa describes the phenomenon as a process of enquiry and letting go of any hope for an answer:

We go on deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper, until we reach the point where there is no answer. [...] At that point we tend to give up hope of an answer, or of anything whatsoever, for that matter. [...] This hopelessness is the essence of crazy wisdom. It is hopeless, utterly hopeless.[54][note 4]

Since Chögyam Trungpa described crazy wisdom in various ways, DiValerio has suggested that Trungpa did not have a fixed idea of crazy wisdom.[55]

According to DiValerio, Keith Dowman's The Divine Madman: The Sublime Life and Songs of Drukpa Kunley is "the single most influential document in shaping how Euro-Americans have come to think about Tibetan holy madman phenomenon."[56] Dowman's understanding of the holymadmen is akin to the Tibetan interpretations, seeing the Tibetan holy madmen as "crazy" by conventional standards, yet noting that compared to the Buddhist spiritual ideal "it is the vast majority of us who are insane."[57] Dowman also suggests other explanations for Drukpa Künlé’s unconventional behavior, including criticising institutionalized religion, and acting as a catalysator for direct insight.[58] According to DiValerio, Dowman's view of Künlé as criticising Tibetan religious institutions is not shared by contemporary Tibetan religious specialist, but part of Dowman's own criticism of religious institutions.[59] DiValerio further notes that "Dowman’s presentation of Drukpa Künlé as roundly anti-institutional [had] great influence [...] in shaping (and distorting) the Euro-American world’s thinking on the subject."[60][note 5]

According to Feuerstein, who was influenced by Chogyam Trungpa,[51] divine madness is unconventional, outrageous, unexpected, or unpredictable behavior that is considered to be a manifestation of spiritual accomplishment.[61] This includes archetypes like the holy fool and the trickster.[61][note 3]

Immediatism edit

Arthur Versluis notes that several or most of the teachers who are treated by Feuerstein as exemplary for divine madness, or crazy wisdom, are exemplary for immediatism.[62] These include Adi Da, the teacher of Feuerstein, and Rajneesh.[62] "Immediatism" refers to "a religious assertion of spontaneous, direct, unmediated spiritual insight into reality (typically with little or no prior training), which some term 'enlightenment'."[63] According to Versluis, immediatism is typical for Americans, who want "the fruit of religion, but not its obligations."[64] Although immediatism has its roots in European culture and history[63] as far back as Platonism,[65] and also includes Perennialism,[66] Versluis points to Ralph Waldo Emerson as its key ancestor,[63] who "emphasized the possibility of immediate, direct spiritual knowledge and power."[65]

Versluis notes that traditional Tibetan Buddhism is not immediatist, since Mahamudra and Dzogchen "are part of a fairly stricted controlled ritual and meditative practice and tradition."[67] yet, he also refers to R.C. Zaehner, "who came to regard Asian-religion-derived nondualism as more or less inexorably to antinomianism, immorality, and social dissolution."[68] Versluis further notes that in traditional Mahamudra and Dzogchen, access to teachings is restricted and needs preparation.[69] Versluis further notes that immediatist teachers may be attractive due to their sense of certainty, which contrasts with the post-modernist questioning of truth-claims.[70] He further notes the lack of compassion which is often noted in regard to those immediatist teachers.[71]

Shamanism edit

According to Mircea Eliade, divine madness is a part of Shamanism, a state that a pathologist or psychologist is likely to diagnose as a mental disease or aberrant psychological condition. However, state Eliade and Harry Eiss, this would be a misdiagnosis because the Shaman is "in control of the mystic state, rather than the psychotic state being in control of him".[72] A Shaman predictably enters into the trance state, with rituals such as music and dance, then comes out of it when he wants to. A mental illness lacks these characteristics. Further, at least to the participants, the Shaman's actions and trance has meaning and power, either as a healer or in another spiritual sense.[72][73]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Feuerstein: "The appellation "avadhuta," more than any other, came to be associated with the apparently crazy modes of behaviour of some paramahamsas, who dramatize the reversal of social norms, a behaviour characteristic of their spontaneous lifestyle. Their frequent nakedness is perhaps the most symbolic expression of this reversal."[27]
  2. ^ See also Kenshō#Sudden insight, and:
    * Gregory, Peter N., ed. (1991), Sudden and Gradual. Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
    * McRae, John (2003), Seeing Through Zen. Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism, The University Press Group Ltd, ISBN 978-0-520-23798-8
    Bernard Faure, The Rhetorics of Immediacy
  3. ^ a b DiValerio questions the reliability of Feuerstein's account: "Feuerstein is by his own admission an advocate of spirituality rather than a scholar of religion. But what he lacks in scholarly rigor, he makes up for in popular appeal and book sales. Unrestrained by indebtedness to traditional Tibetan ways of thinking or to scholarly standards, writers like Feuerstein and Dowman are free to tailor their accounts for western readers.[51]
  4. ^ Trungpa: "Instead we explore further and further and further without looking for an answer. [...] We don't make a big point or an answer out of any one thing. For example, we might think that because we have discovered one particular thing that is wrong with us, that must be it, that must be the problem, that must be the answer. No. We don't fixate on that, we go further. "Why is that the case?" We look further and further. We ask: "Why is this so?" Why is there spirituality? Why is there awakening? Why is there this moment of relief? Why is there such a thing as discovering the pleasure of spirituality? Why, why, why?" We go on deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper, until we reach the point where there is no answer. [...] At that point we tend to give up hope of an answer, or of anything whatsoever, for that matter. [...] This hopelessness is the essence of crazy wisdom. It is hopeless, utterly hopeless."[54]
  5. ^ Compare Spiritual but not religious.

References edit

  1. ^ a b DiValerio 2011, p. ii.
  2. ^ a b DiValerio 2011, p. iii.
  3. ^ a b Aymard, Orianne (2014). When a Goddess Dies: Worshipping Ma Anandamayi After Her Death. Oxford University Press. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-0-19-936862-4.
  4. ^ McDaniel 1989, p. 3-6.
  5. ^ McLeod 2009, p. 158-165.
  6. ^ DiValerio 2015, p. 3-4.
  7. ^ a b c Feuerstein 1991, p. 69.
  8. ^ Horgan 2004, p. 53.
  9. ^ a b c d Kinsley, David (1974). "Through the Looking Glass: Divine Madness in the Hindu Religious Tradition". History of Religions. 13 (4). University of Chicago Press: 270–305. doi:10.1086/462707. S2CID 161324332.
  10. ^ a b c Plato, Phaedrus 244-245; 265a–b.
  11. ^ Brendan Cook (2013). Pursuing Eudaimonia: Re-appropriating the Greek Philosophical Foundations of the Christian Apophatic Tradition. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 106–107. ISBN 978-1-4438-4675-2.
  12. ^ a b c d M.A. Screech (2004). William F. Bynum; et al. (eds.). The Anatomy of Madness: Essays in the History of Psychiatry. Routledge. pp. 27–30. ISBN 978-0-415-32383-3.
  13. ^ Friesen, Courtney J. P. (2015). Reading Dionysus. Mohr Siebeck. pp. 8–9, 50–51. ISBN 978-3-16-153813-1.
  14. ^ Virgil, Aeneid 6.45–51.
  15. ^ a b Dennis Macdonald (2012). Stanley E. Porter and Andrew W. Pitts (ed.). Christian Origins and Greco-Roman Culture: Social and Literary Contexts for the New Testament. BRILL Academic. pp. 467–468, 473–475. ISBN 978-90-04-23416-1.
  16. ^ Simon Podmore (2013). Christopher Cook (ed.). Spirituality, Theology and Mental Health: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. London: SCM Press. pp. 193–196. ISBN 978-0-334-04626-4.
  17. ^ Gary Westfahl (2015). A Day in a Working Life. ABC-CLIO. p. 465. ISBN 978-1-61069-403-2.
  18. ^ John Gordon Melton, Pentecostalism, Encyclopaedia Britannica
  19. ^ Tanya M. Luhrmann (2012). "Chapter 8: But are they crazy?". When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God. Random House. pp. 227–232, 237–245. ISBN 978-0-307-27727-5.
  20. ^ Tanya M. Luhrmann (2012). "Chapter 8: But are they crazy?". When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God. Random House. pp. 244–246, 316, 373–383. ISBN 978-0-307-27727-5.
  21. ^ Feuerstein 2006, p. 15f; 28-32.
  22. ^ Frembgen, JĂźrgen Wasim (2006). "Divine Madness and Cultural Otherness: Diwānas and Faqīrs in Northern Pakistan". South Asia Research. 26 (3). SAGE Publications: 235–248. doi:10.1177/0262728006071517. S2CID 145576026.
  23. ^ ʻAbdi ʻAbdulqadir Sheik-ʻAbdi (1993). Divine madness: Moḥammed ʻAbdulle Ḥassan (1856-1920). Zed Books. pp. 53–55, 84–85, 212. ISBN 9780862324438.
  24. ^ Jalloh, Alusine (1995). "Divine Madness: Mohammed Abdulle Hassan (1856–1920)". African Affairs. 94 (375). Oxford University Press: 301–302. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098824.
  25. ^ a b Sadeq Rahimi (2015). Meaning, Madness and Political Subjectivity: A Study of Schizophrenia and Culture in Turkey. Routledge. pp. 191–192. ISBN 978-1-317-55551-3.
  26. ^ Lynda Chouiten (2014). Isabelle Eberhardt and North Africa: Nomadism as a Carnivalesque Mirage. Lexington Books. pp. 82–84. ISBN 978-0-7391-8593-3.
  27. ^ a b c d Feuerstein 1991, p. 105.
  28. ^ Feuerstein 1991, pp. 104–105.
  29. ^ Patrick Olivelle (1992). The Samnyasa Upanisads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation. Oxford University Press. pp. 107–112. ISBN 978-0-19-536137-7.
  30. ^ McDaniel 1989, p. 1-2.
  31. ^ a b McDaniel 1989, p. 2.
  32. ^ McDaniel 1989, p. 3.
  33. ^ Dimock 1966.
  34. ^ a b c McDaniel 1989, p. 4.
  35. ^ a b c McDaniel 1989, p. 5.
  36. ^ McDaniel 1989, p. 17.
  37. ^ a b c d e f g McDaniel 1989, p. 6.
  38. ^ Curren 2008, p. 43.
  39. ^ White 2001, p. 16.
  40. ^ a b c d Pettit 2013.
  41. ^ a b DiValerio 2015, p. 4.
  42. ^ DiValerio 2015, p. 5.
  43. ^ a b DiValerio 2015, p. 6.
  44. ^ Larson 2007.
  45. ^ DiValerio 2015, p. 2.
  46. ^ a b c d DiValerio 2015, p. 7.
  47. ^ DiValerio 2015, p. 8.
  48. ^ DiValerio 2015, p. 9.
  49. ^ DiValerio 2011, p. ii-iii.
  50. ^ DiValerio 2015, p. 242.
  51. ^ a b c DiValerio 2015, p. 241.
  52. ^ Bell 2002, p. 233.
  53. ^ Trungpa 2001.
  54. ^ a b Trungpa 2001, p. 9-10.
  55. ^ DiValerio 2015, p. 239.
  56. ^ DiValerio 2011, p. 27.
  57. ^ DiValerio 2011, p. 28-29.
  58. ^ DiValerio 2011, p. 29.
  59. ^ DiValerio 2011, p. 31-32.
  60. ^ DiValerio 2011, p. 32.
  61. ^ a b Royster 1992.
  62. ^ a b Versluis 2014, p. 237.
  63. ^ a b c Versluis 2014, p. 2.
  64. ^ American Gurus: Seven Questions for Arthur Versluis April 17, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  65. ^ a b Versluis 2014, p. 3.
  66. ^ Versluis 2014, p. 4.
  67. ^ Versluis 2014, p. 238.
  68. ^ Versluis 2014, p. 239.
  69. ^ Versluis 2014, p. 239-240.
  70. ^ Versluis 2014, p. 240-244.
  71. ^ Versluis 2014, p. 244.
  72. ^ a b Harry Eiss (2011). Divine Madness. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 372–374. ISBN 978-1-4438-3329-5.
  73. ^ Mircea Eliade (1975). Myths, dreams and mysteries: the encounter between contemporary faiths and archaic realities. Harper & Row. pp. 79–81. ISBN 9780061319433.

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  • Larson, Stefan (2007), Crazy Yogins During the Early Renaissance Period
  • McDaniel, June (1989), The madness of the saints: ecstatic religion in Bengal, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-55723-5
  • McLeod, Melvin (2009), The Best Buddhist Writing 2009, Boston: Shambhala Publications, ISBN 978-1590307342
  • Phan, Peter C. (2004). (PDF). Maryknoll: Orbis Books. ISBN 1-57075-565-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
  • Pettit, John W. (2013), Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, Simon and Schuster
  • Ray, Reginald (2005). "Chögyam Trungpa as a Siddha". Recalling Chögyam Trungpa. Fabrice Midal (ed.). Boston: Shambhala Publications. ISBN 1590302079.
  • Royster, James E. (1992), "Divine Sabotahe. Review of: "Holy Madness: Spirituality, Crazy-Wise Teachers, And Enlightenment"", Yoga Journal
  • Trungpa, Chögyam (2001), Crazy Wisdom, Judith L. Lief, Sherab Chödzin (eds.), Boston: Shambhala Publications, ISBN 0-87773-910-2
  • Simmer-Brown, Judith (2001). Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Shambhala Publications. ISBN 1-57062-720-7.
  • Versluis, Arthur (2014), American Gurus: From Transcendentalism to New Age Religion, Oxford University Press
  • White, David Gordon (2001), Tantra in Practice, Motilal Banarsidass

Further reading edit

  • DiValerio, David (2015), The Holy Madmen of Tibet, Oxford University Press
  • DiValerio, David (2016), The Life of the Madman of Ü, Oxford University Press
  • Green, Nile (2007). "The Faqir And The Subalterns: Mapping The Holy Man In Colonial South Asia". Journal of Asian History. 41 (1): 57–84. JSTOR 41925391.
  • Kobets, Svitlana (2008). "Folly, Foolishness, Foolery". Canadian Slavonic Papers. 50 (3–4). Informa UK: 491–497. doi:10.1080/00085006.2008.11092594. ISSN 0008-5006. S2CID 162375034.
  • Madigan, A. J. (2010). Henry Chinaski, Zen Master: Factotum, the Holy Fool, and the Critique of Work. American Studies in Scandinavia, 42(2), 75-94. http://rauli.cbs.dk/index.php/assc/article/download/4413/4842
  • Phan, Peter C. (2001). "The Wisdom of Holy Fools in Postmodernity". Theological Studies. 62 (4). SAGE: 730–752. doi:10.1177/004056390106200403. ISSN 0040-5639. S2CID 73527317.
  • Stewart, E.A. (1999). Jesus the Holy Fool. Sheed & Ward. ISBN 978-1-58051-061-5.
  • Syrkin, Alexander Y. (1982). "On the Behavior of the "Fool for Christ's Sake"". History of Religions. 22 (2). University of Chicago Press: 150–171. doi:10.1086/462917. ISSN 0018-2710. S2CID 162216822.
  • Zebiri, K. (2012). ""Holy Foolishness" and "Crazy Wisdom" As Teaching Styles In Contemporary Western Sufism". Religion & Literature. 44 (2): 93–122. JSTOR 24397671.

External links edit

  • Stefan Larsson, Crazy Yogins During the Early Renaissance Period

divine, madness, other, uses, disambiguation, also, known, theia, mania, crazy, wisdom, refers, unconventional, outrageous, unexpected, unpredictable, behavior, linked, religious, spiritual, pursuits, examples, divine, madness, found, buddhism, christianity, h. For other uses see Divine madness disambiguation Divine madness also known as theia mania and crazy wisdom refers to unconventional outrageous unexpected or unpredictable behavior linked to religious or spiritual pursuits Examples of divine madness can be found in Buddhism Christianity Hellenism Hinduism Islam Judaism and Shamanism It is usually explained as a manifestation of enlightened behavior by persons who have transcended societal norms or as a means of spiritual practice or teaching among mendicants and teachers These behaviors may seem to be symptoms of mental illness to mainstream society but are a form of religious ecstasy or deliberate strategic purposeful activity 1 by highly self aware individuals making strategic use of the theme of madness in the construction of their public personas 2 Contents 1 Cross cultural parallels 2 Ancient Greece and Rome theia mania 3 Abrahamic religions 3 1 Christianity 3 2 Islam 4 Indian religions 4 1 Hinduism 4 1 1 Avadhuta 4 1 2 Bhakti 4 2 Tibetan Buddhism nyonpa drubnyon and Crazy Wisdom 4 2 1 Holy Madmen 4 2 2 Crazy Wisdom 4 2 3 Immediatism 5 Shamanism 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 Sources 10 Further reading 11 External linksCross cultural parallels edit nbsp Yan Hui depicts the crazy wise Hanshan 寒山 Color on silk Tokyo National Museum According to June McDaniel and other scholars divine madness is found in the history and practices of many cultures and may reflect religious ecstasy or expression of divine love 3 Plato in his Phaedrus and his ideas on theia mania the Hasidic Jews Eastern Orthodoxy Western Christianity Sufism along with Indian religions all bear witness to the phenomenon of divine madness 4 It is not the ordinary form of madness but a behavior that is consistent with the premises of a spiritual path or a form of complete absorption in God 3 5 DiValerio notes that comparable mad saint traditions exist in Buddhist Hindu Islamic and Christian cultures but warns against flights of fancy that too easily draw comparisons between these various phenomena 6 Georg Feuerstein lists Zen poet Hanshan fl 9th century as having divine madness explaining that when people would ask him about Zen he would only laugh hysterically The Zen master Ikkyu 15th century used to run around his town with a human skeleton spreading the message of the impermanence of life and the grim certainty of death 7 According to Feuerstein similar forms of abnormal social behavior and holy madness is found in the history of the Christian saint Isadora and the Sufi Islam storyteller Mulla Nasruddin 7 Divine madness has parallels in other religions such as Judaism and Hinduism 8 9 Ancient Greece and Rome theia mania editTheia mania Ancient Greek 8eia mania is a term used by Plato in his dialogue Phaedrus to describe a condition of divine madness unusual behavior attributed to the intervention of a God 10 In this work dating from around 370 BC Socrates argues that madness is not necessarily an evil claiming that the greatest of blessings come to us through madness when it is sent as a gift of the gods 10 11 Socrates describes four types of divine madness 10 12 the prophetic frenzy of the Oracle of Delphi and the priestesses of Dodona the gift of Apollo mystical revelations and initiations which provide a way of release for those in need the gift of Dionysus poetic inspiration the gift of the Muses the madness of lovers the gift of Aphrodite and Eros Plato expands on these ideas in another dialogue Ion One well known manifestation of divine madness in ancient Greece was in the cult of the Maenads the female followers of Dionysus However little is known about their rituals the famous depiction of the cult in Euripides play The Bacchae cannot be considered historically accurate 13 The Roman poet Virgil in Book VI of his Aeneid describes the Cumaean Sibyl as prophesying in a frenzied state 14 While at the door they paused the virgin cried Ask now thy doom the god the god is nigh So saying from her face its color flew Her twisted locks flowed free the heaving breast Swelled with her heart s wild blood her stature seemed Vaster her accent more than mortal man As all th oncoming god around her breathed Abrahamic religions editChristianity edit The 6th century Saint Simeon states Feuerstein simulated insanity with skill Simeon found a dead dog tied a cord to the corpse s leg and dragged it through the town outraging the people To Simeon the dead dog represented a form of baggage people carry in their spiritual life He would enter the local church and throw nuts at the congregation during the liturgy which he later explained to his friend that he was denouncing the hypocrisy in worldly acts and prayers 7 Michael Andrew Screech states that the interpretation of madness in Christianity is adopted from the Platonic belief that madness comes in two forms bad and good depending on the assumptions about the normal by the majority 12 Early Christians cherished madness and being called mad by non Christians 15 To them it was glossolalia or the tongue of angels 15 Christ s behavior and teachings were blasphemous madness in his times and according to Simon Podmore Christ s madness served to sanctify blasphemous madness 16 Religious ecstasy type madness was interpreted as good by early Christians in the Platonic sense Yet as Greek philosophy went out of favor in Christian theology so did these ideas In the age of Renaissance charismatic madness regained interest and popular imagination as did the Platonic proposal of four types of good madness 12 In a Christian theological context these were interpreted in part as divine rapture an escape from the restraint of society a frenzy for freedom of the soul 12 In the 20th century Pentecostalism the charismatic movements within Protestant Christianity particularly in the United States Latin America and Africa has encouraged the practice of divine madness among its followers 17 18 The wisdom and healing power in the possessed in these movements is believed to be from the Holy Spirit a phenomenon called charism spiritual gifts According to Tanya Luhrmann the associated hearing of spiritual voices may seem to be mental illness to many people but to the followers who shout and dance together as a crowd it isn t 19 The followers believe that there is a long tradition in Christian spirituality where saints such as Augustine are stated to have had similar experiences of deliberate hallucinations and madness 20 Islam edit Divine madness is a theme in some forms of Islamic mysticism People that have attained mad mental states according to Feuerstein include the masts and the intoxicated Sufis associated with shath 21 In parts of Gilgit Pakistan the behavior of eccentric faqirs dedicated to mystical devotionalism is considered as crazy holiness 22 In Somalia according to Sheik Abdi Moḥammed ʻAbdulle Hassan eccentric behavior and methods led some colonial era writers to call him mad mullah crazy priest of Allah and others 23 24 According to Sadeq Rahimi the Sufi description of divine madness in mystical union mirrors those associated with mental illness 25 He writes The similarities between the Sufi formulation of divine madness and the folk experience of psychosis are too clear and too frequent among the Turkish patients to be treated as coincidences 25 In West African version of Sufism according to Lynda Chouiten examples of insane saints are a part of Maraboutisme where the mad and idiotic behavior of a marabout was compared to a mental illness and considered a form of divine folly of holiness However adds Chouiten Sufism has been accommodating of such divine madness behavior unlike orthodox Islam 26 Indian religions editHinduism edit The theme of divine madness appears in all major traditions of Hinduism Shaivism Vaishnavism and Shaktism both in its mythologies as well as its saints accomplished mendicants and teachers 9 They are portrayed as if they are acting mad or crazy challenging social assumptions and norms as a part of their spiritual pursuits or resulting thereof 9 Avadhuta edit According to Feuerstein the designation avadhuta Sanskrit अवध त came to be associated with the mad or eccentric holiness or crazy wisdom of some paramahamsa liberated religious teachers who reverted the social norms as symbolized by their being skyclad or naked Sanskrit digambara 27 note 1 Avadhuta are described in the Sannyasa Upanishads of Hinduism early mediaeval Sanskrit texts that discuss the monastic sannyasa literally house leaver life of Hindu sadhus monks and sadhvis nuns The Avadhuta is one category of mendicants and is described as antinomian The term means shaken off one who has removed worldly feeling attachments someone who has cast off all mortal concerns He is described as someone who is actually wise and normal but appears to others who don t understand him as mad crazy His behavior may include being strangely dressed or naked sleeping in cremation grounds acting like an animal a lunatic storing his food in a skull among others 28 29 9 According to Feuerstein the avadhuta is one who in their God intoxication has cast off all concerns and conventional standards 27 Feuerstein further states that in traditional Tibet and India the holy fool or saintly madman and madwoman has long been recognized as a legitimate figure in the compass of spiritual aspiration and realization 27 Bhakti edit The bhakti tradition emerged in Hinduism in the medieval era It is related to religious ecstasy and its accompanying states of trance and intense emotions 30 According to McDaniel devotional ecstasy is a radical alteration of perception emotion or personality which brings the person closer to what he regards as sacred 31 It may be compared to drsti direct perception or spontaneous thought as opposed to learned ideas 31 The bhakta establishes a reciprocal relationship with the divine 32 Though the participation in the divine is generally favoured in Vaishnava bhakti discourse throughout the sampradayas rather than imitation of the divine play Sanskrit lila there is the important anomaly of the Vaishnava Sahajiya sect 33 McDaniel notes that the actual behavior and experiences of ecstatics may violate the expected behavior as based on texts While texts describe stages of religious development and gradual growth of insight and emotion real life experiences may be a chaos of states that must be forced into a religious mold in which they often don t fit 34 This discrepancy may lead to a mistaken identification of those experiences as mad or possessed and the application of exorcism and Ayurvedic treatments to fit those ecstatics into the mold 34 McDaniel refers to William James who made a distinction between gradual and abrupt change 34 while Karl Potter makes a distinction between progress and leap philosophies 35 Progress philosophy is jativada gradual development leap philosophy is ajativada sudden knowledge or intuition 35 Both approaches can also be found in Bengal bhakti In ritual ecstasy yogic and tantric practices have been incorporated together with the idea of a gradual development through spiritual practices For spontaneous ecstatics the reverse is true union with the divine leads to bodily control and detachment 35 The same distinction is central in the classical Zen rhetorics on sudden insight which developed in 7th century China 36 note 2 The path of gradual progression is called sastriya dharma the path of scriptural injunctions 37 It is associated with order and control and loyalty to lineage and tradition acceptance of hierarchy and authority and ritual worship and practice 37 In contrast the path of sudden breakthrough is asastriya not according to the scriptures 37 It is associated with chaos and passion and the divine is reached by unpredictable visions and revelations 37 The divine can be found in such impure surroundings and items as burning grounds blood and sexuality 37 Divine experience is not determined by loyalty to lineage and gurus and various gurus may be followed 37 According to McDaniel divine madness is a major aspect of this breakthrough approach 37 Tibetan Buddhism nyonpa drubnyon and Crazy Wisdom edit Holy Madmen edit See also Mahasiddha In Tibetan Buddhism nyonpa Wylie smyon pa tantric crazy yogis are part of the Nyingma tradition 38 39 40 and the Kagyu tradition 41 Their behavior may seem to be scandalous according to conventional standards 40 but the archetypal siddha is a defining characteristic of the nyingma tradition which differs significantly from the more scholarly orientated Gelugpa tradition 40 Its founder Padmasambhava India 8th century is an archetypal siddha who is still commemorated by yearly dances 40 Milarepa c 1052 c 1135 CE the founder of the Kagyu school is also closely connected to the notion of divine madness in Tibetan Buddhism 41 His biography was composed by Tsangnyon Heruka 1452 1507 the Madman of Tsang a famous nyonpa 42 Other famous madmen are Drukpa Kunley 1455 1529 and the Madman of U Together they are also known as the Three Madmen smyon pa gsum 43 Indian siddhas and their Tibetan counterparts also played an essential role in the Tibetan Renaissance c 950 1250 CE when Buddhism was re established in Tibet 44 According to DiValerio the Tibetan term nyonpa refers to siddhas yogins and lamas whose mad behavior is symptomatic of high achievement in religious practice 45 This behavior is most widely understood in Tibet as a symptom of the individuals being enlightened and having transcended ordinary worldly delusions 46 Their unconventional behavior is seen by Tibetans as a sign of their transcendence of namtok Sanskrit vipalka conceptual formations or false ideations 46 While their behavior may be seen as repulsive from a dualistic point of view the enlightened view transcends the dualistic view of repulsive and nonrepulsive 46 It is regarded as manifesting naturally not intentionally though it is sometimes also interpreted as intentional behavior to help unenlightened beings realize the emptiness of phenomena or as part of the yogin s own training toward that realization 46 It may also be seen as a way of training to transcend the boundaries of convention and thereby the boundaries of one s ordinary self perception giving way to a more immediate way of experiencing the world a way that is based on the truth of emptiness rather than our imperfect habits of mind 47 While the well known nyonpa are considered to be fully enlightened the status of lesser known yogins remains unknown and the nature of their unconventional behavior may not be exactly determinable also not by lamas 48 According to DiValerio the term drupton nyonpa is regarded by Tibetans as an oxymoron a contradiction in terms and so An insane person cannot be a siddha and a siddha by definition cannot be insane at least not in the medical understanding of madness 43 DiValerio also argues that their unconventional behavior is strategic purposeful activity rather than being the byproduct of a state of enlightenment 1 and concludes that the holy madman tradition is constituted by highly self aware individuals making strategic use of the theme of madness in the construction of their public personas 2 arguing that the distinctive eccentric behavior of the Madmen of U and Tsang is best understood as a form of tantric fundamentalism in that it was based on following a literal reading of the Highest Yoga tantras enacted as a strategic response to changes taking place in late 15th century Tibetan religious culture The madness of Drukpa Kunle resulted from his taking a critical stance towards Tibetan religious culture in general 49 Crazy Wisdom edit In some Buddhist literature the phrase crazy wisdom is associated with the teaching methods of Chogyam Trungpa 50 himself a Nyingma and Kagyu master who popularized the notion with his adepts Keith Dowman and Georg Feuerstein 51 note 3 The term crazy wisdom translates the Tibetan term drubnyon a philosophy which traditionally combines exceptional insight and impressive magical power with a flamboyant disregard for conventional behavior 52 In his book Crazy Wisdom which consists of transcripts of seminars on the eight aspects of Padmasambhava given in 1972 53 the Tibetan tulku Chogyam Trungpa describes the phenomenon as a process of enquiry and letting go of any hope for an answer We go on deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper until we reach the point where there is no answer At that point we tend to give up hope of an answer or of anything whatsoever for that matter This hopelessness is the essence of crazy wisdom It is hopeless utterly hopeless 54 note 4 Since Chogyam Trungpa described crazy wisdom in various ways DiValerio has suggested that Trungpa did not have a fixed idea of crazy wisdom 55 According to DiValerio Keith Dowman s The Divine Madman The Sublime Life and Songs of Drukpa Kunley is the single most influential document in shaping how Euro Americans have come to think about Tibetan holy madman phenomenon 56 Dowman s understanding of the holymadmen is akin to the Tibetan interpretations seeing the Tibetan holy madmen as crazy by conventional standards yet noting that compared to the Buddhist spiritual ideal it is the vast majority of us who are insane 57 Dowman also suggests other explanations for Drukpa Kunle s unconventional behavior including criticising institutionalized religion and acting as a catalysator for direct insight 58 According to DiValerio Dowman s view of Kunle as criticising Tibetan religious institutions is not shared by contemporary Tibetan religious specialist but part of Dowman s own criticism of religious institutions 59 DiValerio further notes that Dowman s presentation of Drukpa Kunle as roundly anti institutional had great influence in shaping and distorting the Euro American world s thinking on the subject 60 note 5 According to Feuerstein who was influenced by Chogyam Trungpa 51 divine madness is unconventional outrageous unexpected or unpredictable behavior that is considered to be a manifestation of spiritual accomplishment 61 This includes archetypes like the holy fool and the trickster 61 note 3 Immediatism edit See also Subitism and Mystical experience Arthur Versluis notes that several or most of the teachers who are treated by Feuerstein as exemplary for divine madness or crazy wisdom are exemplary for immediatism 62 These include Adi Da the teacher of Feuerstein and Rajneesh 62 Immediatism refers to a religious assertion of spontaneous direct unmediated spiritual insight into reality typically with little or no prior training which some term enlightenment 63 According to Versluis immediatism is typical for Americans who want the fruit of religion but not its obligations 64 Although immediatism has its roots in European culture and history 63 as far back as Platonism 65 and also includes Perennialism 66 Versluis points to Ralph Waldo Emerson as its key ancestor 63 who emphasized the possibility of immediate direct spiritual knowledge and power 65 Versluis notes that traditional Tibetan Buddhism is not immediatist since Mahamudra and Dzogchen are part of a fairly stricted controlled ritual and meditative practice and tradition 67 yet he also refers to R C Zaehner who came to regard Asian religion derived nondualism as more or less inexorably to antinomianism immorality and social dissolution 68 Versluis further notes that in traditional Mahamudra and Dzogchen access to teachings is restricted and needs preparation 69 Versluis further notes that immediatist teachers may be attractive due to their sense of certainty which contrasts with the post modernist questioning of truth claims 70 He further notes the lack of compassion which is often noted in regard to those immediatist teachers 71 Shamanism editThis section needs expansion You can help by adding to it May 2017 According to Mircea Eliade divine madness is a part of Shamanism a state that a pathologist or psychologist is likely to diagnose as a mental disease or aberrant psychological condition However state Eliade and Harry Eiss this would be a misdiagnosis because the Shaman is in control of the mystic state rather than the psychotic state being in control of him 72 A Shaman predictably enters into the trance state with rituals such as music and dance then comes out of it when he wants to A mental illness lacks these characteristics Further at least to the participants the Shaman s actions and trance has meaning and power either as a healer or in another spiritual sense 72 73 See also editAntinomianism Bipolar disorder Demonic possession Divine ecstasy Foolishness for Christ Heyoka Ikkyu Ji Gong Mental health of Jesus Village idiotNotes edit Feuerstein The appellation avadhuta more than any other came to be associated with the apparently crazy modes of behaviour of some paramahamsas who dramatize the reversal of social norms a behaviour characteristic of their spontaneous lifestyle Their frequent nakedness is perhaps the most symbolic expression of this reversal 27 See also Kenshō Sudden insight and Gregory Peter N ed 1991 Sudden and Gradual Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought Delhi Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited McRae John 2003 Seeing Through Zen Encounter Transformation and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism The University Press Group Ltd ISBN 978 0 520 23798 8 Bernard Faure The Rhetorics of Immediacy a b DiValerio questions the reliability of Feuerstein s account Feuerstein is by his own admission an advocate of spirituality rather than a scholar of religion But what he lacks in scholarly rigor he makes up for in popular appeal and book sales Unrestrained by indebtedness to traditional Tibetan ways of thinking or to scholarly standards writers like Feuerstein and Dowman are free to tailor their accounts for western readers 51 Trungpa Instead we explore further and further and further without looking for an answer We don t make a big point or an answer out of any one thing For example we might think that because we have discovered one particular thing that is wrong with us that must be it that must be the problem that must be the answer No We don t fixate on that we go further Why is that the case We look further and further We ask Why is this so Why is there spirituality Why is there awakening Why is there this moment of relief Why is there such a thing as discovering the pleasure of spirituality Why why why We go on deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper until we reach the point where there is no answer At that point we tend to give up hope of an answer or of anything whatsoever for that matter This hopelessness is the essence of crazy wisdom It is hopeless utterly hopeless 54 Compare Spiritual but not religious References edit a b DiValerio 2011 p ii a b DiValerio 2011 p iii a b Aymard Orianne 2014 When a Goddess Dies Worshipping Ma Anandamayi After Her Death Oxford University Press pp 21 22 ISBN 978 0 19 936862 4 McDaniel 1989 p 3 6 McLeod 2009 p 158 165 DiValerio 2015 p 3 4 a b c Feuerstein 1991 p 69 Horgan 2004 p 53 a b c d Kinsley David 1974 Through the Looking Glass Divine Madness in the Hindu Religious Tradition History of Religions 13 4 University of Chicago Press 270 305 doi 10 1086 462707 S2CID 161324332 a b c Plato Phaedrus 244 245 265a b Brendan Cook 2013 Pursuing Eudaimonia Re appropriating the Greek Philosophical Foundations of the Christian Apophatic Tradition Cambridge Scholars Publishing pp 106 107 ISBN 978 1 4438 4675 2 a b c d M A Screech 2004 William F Bynum et al eds The Anatomy of Madness Essays in the History of Psychiatry Routledge pp 27 30 ISBN 978 0 415 32383 3 Friesen Courtney J P 2015 Reading Dionysus Mohr Siebeck pp 8 9 50 51 ISBN 978 3 16 153813 1 Virgil Aeneid 6 45 51 a b Dennis Macdonald 2012 Stanley E Porter and Andrew W Pitts ed Christian Origins and Greco Roman Culture Social and Literary Contexts for the New Testament BRILL Academic pp 467 468 473 475 ISBN 978 90 04 23416 1 Simon Podmore 2013 Christopher Cook ed Spirituality Theology and Mental Health Multidisciplinary Perspectives London SCM Press pp 193 196 ISBN 978 0 334 04626 4 Gary Westfahl 2015 A Day in a Working Life ABC CLIO p 465 ISBN 978 1 61069 403 2 John Gordon Melton Pentecostalism Encyclopaedia Britannica Tanya M Luhrmann 2012 Chapter 8 But are they crazy When God Talks Back Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God Random House pp 227 232 237 245 ISBN 978 0 307 27727 5 Tanya M Luhrmann 2012 Chapter 8 But are they crazy When God Talks Back Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God Random House pp 244 246 316 373 383 ISBN 978 0 307 27727 5 Feuerstein 2006 p 15f 28 32 Frembgen JĂzrgen Wasim 2006 Divine Madness and Cultural Otherness Diwanas and Faqirs in Northern Pakistan South Asia Research 26 3 SAGE Publications 235 248 doi 10 1177 0262728006071517 S2CID 145576026 ʻAbdi ʻAbdulqadir Sheik ʻAbdi 1993 Divine madness Moḥammed ʻAbdulle Ḥassan 1856 1920 Zed Books pp 53 55 84 85 212 ISBN 9780862324438 Jalloh Alusine 1995 Divine Madness Mohammed Abdulle Hassan 1856 1920 African Affairs 94 375 Oxford University Press 301 302 doi 10 1093 oxfordjournals afraf a098824 a b Sadeq Rahimi 2015 Meaning Madness and Political Subjectivity A Study of Schizophrenia and Culture in Turkey Routledge pp 191 192 ISBN 978 1 317 55551 3 Lynda Chouiten 2014 Isabelle Eberhardt and North Africa Nomadism as a Carnivalesque Mirage Lexington Books pp 82 84 ISBN 978 0 7391 8593 3 a b c d Feuerstein 1991 p 105 Feuerstein 1991 pp 104 105 Patrick Olivelle 1992 The Samnyasa Upanisads Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation Oxford University Press pp 107 112 ISBN 978 0 19 536137 7 McDaniel 1989 p 1 2 a b McDaniel 1989 p 2 McDaniel 1989 p 3 Dimock 1966 a b c McDaniel 1989 p 4 a b c McDaniel 1989 p 5 McDaniel 1989 p 17 a b c d e f g McDaniel 1989 p 6 Curren 2008 p 43 White 2001 p 16 a b c d Pettit 2013 a b DiValerio 2015 p 4 DiValerio 2015 p 5 a b DiValerio 2015 p 6 Larson 2007 DiValerio 2015 p 2 a b c d DiValerio 2015 p 7 DiValerio 2015 p 8 DiValerio 2015 p 9 DiValerio 2011 p ii iii DiValerio 2015 p 242 a b c DiValerio 2015 p 241 Bell 2002 p 233 Trungpa 2001 a b Trungpa 2001 p 9 10 DiValerio 2015 p 239 DiValerio 2011 p 27 DiValerio 2011 p 28 29 DiValerio 2011 p 29 DiValerio 2011 p 31 32 DiValerio 2011 p 32 a b Royster 1992 a b Versluis 2014 p 237 a b c Versluis 2014 p 2 American Gurus Seven Questions for Arthur Versluis Archived April 17 2016 at the Wayback Machine a b Versluis 2014 p 3 Versluis 2014 p 4 Versluis 2014 p 238 Versluis 2014 p 239 Versluis 2014 p 239 240 Versluis 2014 p 240 244 Versluis 2014 p 244 a b Harry Eiss 2011 Divine Madness Cambridge Scholars Publishing pp 372 374 ISBN 978 1 4438 3329 5 Mircea Eliade 1975 Myths dreams and mysteries the encounter between contemporary faiths and archaic realities Harper amp Row pp 79 81 ISBN 9780061319433 Sources editArdussi J Epstein L 1978 The Saintly Madman in Tibet Himalayan Anthropology The Indo Tibetan Interface James F Fisher ed Paris Mouton amp Co 327 338 doi 10 1515 9783110806496 327 ISBN 9027977003 Archived from the original on 2016 01 14 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link Bell S 2002 Scandals in Emerging Western Buddhism PDF Westward Dharma Buddhism beyond Asia Berkeley University of California Press Curren Erik D 2008 Buddha s Not Smiling Uncovering Corruption at the Heart of Tibetan Buddhism Today Motilall Banarsidass Dimock Edward C Jr 1966 The Place of the Hidden Moon Erotic Mysticism in the Vaisnava Sahajiya cult of Bengal Chicago University of Chicago Press ISBN 8120809963 DiValerio David Michael 2011 Subversive Sainthood and Tantric Fundamentalism An Historical Study of Tibet s Holy Madmen University of Virginia PhD thesis DiValerio David 2015 The Holy Madmen of Tibet Oxford University Press Feuerstein Georg 1991 Holy Madness The shock tactics and radical teachings of crazy wise adepts holy fools and rascal gurus Yoga Journal New York Paragon House ISBN 1 55778 250 4 Feuerstein Georg 2006 Holy Madness Spirituality Crazy Wise Teachers And Enlightenment Rev amp Expanded ed Hohm Press ISBN 1 890772 54 2 Feuerstein Georg 2013 The Yoga Tradition Its History Literature Philosophy and Practice Horgan John 2004 Rational Mysticism Dispatches from the Border Between Science and Spirituality New York Houghton Mifflin ISBN 061844663X Kakar Sudir 2009 Mad and Divine Spirit and Psyche in the Modern World Chicago University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0226422879 Larson Stefan 2007 Crazy Yogins During the Early Renaissance Period McDaniel June 1989 The madness of the saints ecstatic religion in Bengal Chicago University of Chicago Press ISBN 0 226 55723 5 McLeod Melvin 2009 The Best Buddhist Writing 2009 Boston Shambhala Publications ISBN 978 1590307342 Phan Peter C 2004 Being Religious Interreligiously Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue PDF Maryknoll Orbis Books ISBN 1 57075 565 5 Archived from the original PDF on 2011 07 24 Retrieved 2010 02 15 Pettit John W 2013 Mipham s Beacon of Certainty Illuminating the View of Dzogchen the Great Perfection Simon and Schuster Ray Reginald 2005 Chogyam Trungpa as a Siddha Recalling Chogyam Trungpa Fabrice Midal ed Boston Shambhala Publications ISBN 1590302079 Royster James E 1992 Divine Sabotahe Review of Holy Madness Spirituality Crazy Wise Teachers And Enlightenment Yoga Journal Trungpa Chogyam 2001 Crazy Wisdom Judith L Lief Sherab Chodzin eds Boston Shambhala Publications ISBN 0 87773 910 2 Simmer Brown Judith 2001 Dakini s Warm Breath The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism Boston Shambhala Publications ISBN 1 57062 720 7 Versluis Arthur 2014 American Gurus From Transcendentalism to New Age Religion Oxford University Press White David Gordon 2001 Tantra in Practice Motilal BanarsidassFurther reading editDiValerio David 2015 The Holy Madmen of Tibet Oxford University Press DiValerio David 2016 The Life of the Madman of U Oxford University Press Green Nile 2007 The Faqir And The Subalterns Mapping The Holy Man In Colonial South Asia Journal of Asian History 41 1 57 84 JSTOR 41925391 Kobets Svitlana 2008 Folly Foolishness Foolery Canadian Slavonic Papers 50 3 4 Informa UK 491 497 doi 10 1080 00085006 2008 11092594 ISSN 0008 5006 S2CID 162375034 Madigan A J 2010 Henry Chinaski Zen Master Factotum the Holy Fool and the Critique of Work American Studies in Scandinavia 42 2 75 94 http rauli cbs dk index php assc article download 4413 4842 Phan Peter C 2001 The Wisdom of Holy Fools in Postmodernity Theological Studies 62 4 SAGE 730 752 doi 10 1177 004056390106200403 ISSN 0040 5639 S2CID 73527317 Stewart E A 1999 Jesus the Holy Fool Sheed amp Ward ISBN 978 1 58051 061 5 Syrkin Alexander Y 1982 On the Behavior of the Fool for Christ s Sake History of Religions 22 2 University of Chicago Press 150 171 doi 10 1086 462917 ISSN 0018 2710 S2CID 162216822 Zebiri K 2012 Holy Foolishness and Crazy Wisdom As Teaching Styles In Contemporary Western Sufism Religion amp Literature 44 2 93 122 JSTOR 24397671 External links editStefan Larsson Crazy Yogins During the Early Renaissance Period Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Divine madness amp oldid 1221504251, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

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