wanting to learn about Javanese Mysticism

[Seeuzin]

I'm trying to learn more about Mystik Jawa, or Javanese Mysticism. I'm going to do a project on it for my comparative religions class. It's really important to me that I do this "right," it is a topic that is very close to my heart for personal reasons.

However, I know very little about it so far, and I've run into some snags in my research. I found what seems like a good book on Javanese mysticism by Harun Hadiwijono, bought it, and now have some further questions. I've scoured Google for more information on one mystic in particular, named Paryana, but most of the results I find are in Javanese. Does anyone know of any good books or online resources that I could search through for more information, especially webforums where this is discussed in English? So far I've found one forum for discussing "Asian culture" that had a Indonesian subsection, and one forum for discussing Subud that is extremely inactive. There's very little out there if the only language you can speak is English (and I can see why, it's just frustrating.) I'm actually considering learning Javanese. It'd be great if I found some stuff in English for now, though, because I want to do this for my class project and don't have time to learn Javanese in the space of the remainder of this semester.

Does anyone know anything about this?

[Neil Templar]

i don't know anything, but could you not use a page translator program or something?

[Tom]

Can you tell us more about what you have already learned, please? It sounds interesting. It is even possible that someone here might at least know someone to ask, given enough information to make a connection.

[Seeuzin]

Neil Templar,

I tried to get Google to translate some of the pages, but it was unable to...do you know of any other translators that might do it? I found an online translator that does single words, so that's a start, at least...

Tom,

Sure, I'll type up what I've learned so far. I've only been studying the section on Paryana, but I've already gotten quite a bit out of it. I'll start now, it'll be about an hour or so.

*edit* This is taking me longer than I thought, but I want to share it and should have it by time I go to bed.

Btw, for anyone who might have misread, I'm speaking of Javanese mysticism, not Japanese. Java is an island in the country of Indonesia.

[Seeuzin]

What I've Learned about Javanese Mysticism so far:

Introduction:

Javanese mysticism has been influenced by many different religions over the centuries. When Hinduism and Buddhism came to the island of Java possibly as early as the 3rd or 4th century AD, people joined them with the indiginous belief-systems; then, when Islam reached Indonesia in the 14th century (or thereabouts,) Islam was overlaid upon (and in some cases, used to replace) the Hindu/Buddhist/Javanese beliefs. Because of this, present day Javanese mysticism is a layered composite of indigenous Javanese belief, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, and many of the terms used to describe their mystical practices are Arabic or Sanskrit, rather than Javanese.

Paryana:

I'm studying Paryana's mysticism for the project. I don't know much about him, other than that he is either still alive or had lived fairly recently, and that he doesn't subscribe to any particular school of mysticism. I was trying to find out his last name for a while, but later found out that many Indonesians go by only one name. My teacher said that as long as I could report on his ideas, that would work fine, but I'd really like to learn more about him.

Paryana's large-scale cosmology:

According to Paryana, there are three worlds, each equivalent to one of the Lokas in the Vedanta.

The first is the alam nasut, or "human world." This is the material world and equates to the Bhu Loka.

The second is the alam djabarut, or "powerful world," which equates to the Deva Loka. I have to do more research, but I think the Deva Loka might be very similar to the god realms in Buddhism, which as far as I know is where souls incarnate when they lack the understanding to liberate themselves from the reincarnation cycle entirely, but have somehow attained massive stocks of good karma. Again, I'm uncertain about that part about the god realms.

The third is alam malakut, the "angelic world" or the "world of thoughts and imaginations" (Javanese: "pikiran dan waham.") It equates to the Sura Loka.

In the alam malakut there are two worlds, the alam arwah and the alam mithal. The alam arwah, or "world of spirits," is where the liberated spirits of the ancestors reside. (I'm not sure what a "liberated spirit of an ancestor" is; it could be someone who's attained liberation in the past, or simply someone who's liberated in some other sense.) The alam mithal, or "world of similitudes," contains ideas that descend into the world to become living beings, inanimate objects, or events. In Javanese mysticism this part of the alam malakut is symbolized by a bottle of ink (in the ink, all the letters and words are at hand.) The ideas that become living beings are said to be God's ideas and have a special name, "ruh idafi," which means "the spirit of relation." To me, this sounded a lot like Plato's theory of forms/ideas.

Finally, there is a concept in Paryana's cosmology that is similar to Brahman in Hinduism, called alam lahut ("world of God.") It is said to be one shoreless sea occupied solely by God's essence. The only word that properly describes it is "mutlak" ("absolute.")

Paryana's conception of consciousness:

When we are perceiving input from our surroundings through the sense organs, Paryana says, we are considered conscious. He then goes on to describe how we process this input:

First, the sensory impressions go to the pangkal otak, or base of the brain. This stream of input comprises "introductory consciousness." From there, it travels upwards to the center of consciousness (pusat kesadaran,) and then to the center of memory (pusat ingatan), transforming into "simple consciousness." When the stream proceeds to travel to the center of the mind (pusat akal,) where we weigh them and decide up on a course of action, and then to the center of will (pusat kemauan,) where our volition is sent to the body as a command to act, "Self consciousness" occurs.

There are many other kinds of consciousness, such as "exalted consciousness," also called "high consciousness," which is when we are in touch with our spirituality and can receive prophetic visions. Another is "cosmic consciousness," or mystical union with God.

Random facts I haven't fit into anywhere else yet:

The physical body is known as "djasmani" and the inner (astral?) body is called "rohani" (which literally translates as "spirituality," or so I am told.)

He goes on to describe something called the "Buddhi" and also the "higher manas." I haven't been able to figure out what either of these mean yet. If you know, please tell me. I *think* "Buddhi" is the feminine version of Buddha, but "higher manas" has me feeling stumped. Google yeilds stuff on theosophy for that, and I'm not sure the higher manas they're talking about are the same as the ones Paryana is.

Well, that is what I know so far. The paper is only supposed to be two pages, so I think I'm already extremely well prepared for that, but I'd love to learn as much as I can.

[CFTraveler]

Again, I'm uncertain about that part about the god realms.

From what I've read you described the deva loka correctly in hinduism, (apparently you can reach liberation in the Deva Loka and not have to reincarnate).
I read something about the Deva Loka version of buddhism, and each deva (buddhist deity) has it's own area, which has something to do with it's quality of description. If you need more info on the buddhist deva loka I can do more research, but it seems to me that for your purposes the knowledge that the place of power is a place you can go to that doesn't require reincarnation if you play your cards right, and can be used to ascend to higher planes post-earth.
:)


The alam mithal, or "world of similitudes," contains ideas that descend into the world to become living beings, inanimate objects, or events. Wow. Sounds like the mental plane, or the place where abstractions turn into objects/situations- the place of creative possibilities. This reminds me of what my dad used to say- that the world teaches you lessons symbolically if you understand this. These folks went a step further and identified a state or plane where this takes 'place'.
On a side note (and pardon the derailing) some authors say that the mental plane can manifest in any form (or astral plane) and it seems it can also manifest in the physical.

Cool.
8)

Manas:
manas: (Sanskrit) "Mind; understanding."



The lower or instinctive mind, seat of desire and governor of sensory and motor organs, called indriyas. Manas is termed the undisciplined, empirical mind. Manas is characterized by desire, determination, doubt, faith, lack of faith, steadfastness, lack of steadfastness, shame, intellection and fear. It is a faculty of manomaya kosha, the lower astral or instinctive-intellectual sheath.


http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Manas/id/60819

I would compare manas with the old world mammalian brain, while the indriyas is the reptilian brain.

[Seeuzin]

Hey CFTraveler,

Thanks, that helps me a lot. Judging from what I have read, the manas you are talking about are the same ones Harun Hadiwijono talks about in his book. And that is really cool about the mental plane.

I will post here with more on Paryana's mysticism when I learn more about it, too.

[Seeuzin]

Here is the rest of what I learned about Paryana's Javanese mysticism:

The center of the mind ("pusat akal") is comprised of two parts:

Manas - According to Paryana, Manas concerns itself with thoughts of the physical world. Often, the thoughts that occur in Manas are accompanied by passions and egoism, so Manas is associated with the "body of passions" (the "kamarupa," which, as Paryana translates it, means "the animal soul.") I believe here they are speaking of the Buddhist meaning of the word "passions" - kama, which means desiring, and dvesha, which means strong aversion.

If many people in a society allow the kind of thoughts produced in the Manas become dominant, forms of religion that worship what is physical, such as a godhead in human form, are produced; or, on the contrary, systems of thought that do not acknowledge God (atheism) are produced.

Higher Manas - This part of the center of the mind receives influences from the alam djabarut (Deva Loka/Buddhist "god realms") and the Buddhi (more on the Buddhi later.) Both the deities and the evil beings in the alam djabarut contribute their influence. The evil beings encourage us to act out evil; inspirations from the deities in the alam djabarut result in art or scientific thought that is the stuff of genius.

As mentioned earlier, the Higher Manas also receives influences from the Buddhi. What is the Buddhi?

The Buddhi is called the "kernel of spirituality" because it is the piece of spiritual equipment needed for a man's spirituality to reach its highest form. According to Paryana, it is located in the same location as the lower tan tien ("about the middle of the lower part of the stomach.") It is comprised of two parts:

One part, which is not named in Hadiwijono's book, communicates with the pusat akal / Higher Manas. Its function is to receive thought currents transmitted from the Higher Manas to it and transform them into higher energies. For example, thought currents that would ordinarily lead to passions are changed into irada and qudra, "God's will" and "God's power." (The Buddhi also receives knowledge of the physical world from these transmissions; Hadiwijono didn't say why this was important.) Once the energies are transformed, the Buddhi radiates the rays of higher energy to the Higher Manas so that the pusat akal receives knowledge of the spiritual world. If these thought energies then become deeds in the center of volition ("pusat kemauan,") the resulting deeds are "amal saleh" (pious deeds.)

When our awareness remains for a long while on the part of Buddhi which is transmitting to the Higher Manas, we enter a state of "eling." This Javanese word essentially means "one remembers God." This is also called "tafakur" (meditation.)

Atman - The second part of the Buddhi is known as Atman. Atman is responsible for receiving the higher energies with which the transmissions from the Higher Manas are transformed. Some of these come from the angelic realm; others come from the Absolute itself. These higher energies are called the Cosmic Ray or Nur Illahi, also known as "Atma" in Hinduism; they are God's rays which come from outside our universe. This is why Buddhi is called "the principle of God which is active in man:" as the receiver of these rays, it is the source of righteousness, humanity, morality, love, and holiness. Paryana actually says that it is impossible for evil spirits to influence the Buddhi; the vibrations of its energies are much too high. Awesome revelations and holy scriptures are said to come from the Atman (the Gospel, the Torah, the Quran, etc.)

Through Atman we may worship various spiritual beings. Worshipping the angels and the "True Teacher" (??) leads to a pantheistic religion (? I think the author meant polytheistic), where one worships many gods. Worshipping the liberated spirits of the ancestors leads to, duh, ancestor worship. And worshipping the one who lives in the alam lahut leads to worship of the "One God" (monotheistic religion.)

By using Buddhi skillfully we can also engage in a certain kind of mysticism: one which neither depends upon our own opinions, nor those of a teacher, but simply worships the Absolute. Through this we can gain knowledge of the true nature of things. The act involves keeping our awareness Atman for a long while and is called "tafakur dalam" (contemplation.) In this state we do not merely "remember" the Absolute: we have ma'rifa (gnosis or direct knowledge of God.) In the realm of ma'rifa the passions have no influence: the feeling achieved by contemplation replaces all pleasure that can be achieved in our fleeting physical world.

When the Buddhi is fully illumated by God's rays, something very special is said to happen. The thought energies from the Higher Manas, having been transformed by the Buddhi into God's will and God's power, are then further transformed further into the Absolute Substance, or the stuff of God itself, thus bringing about that person's union with God.

Man is, according to Paryana, the sole creature who possesses the spiritual "equipment," which subtlely encourages us to do things for God. In general, we are not even aware we have it. We focus obsessively as a species upon the development of our sciences and physical-world technology, and the longer we neglect our "spiritual equipment," the more confused the world becomes.

The renewal of mankind can only happen when man recognizes the reality that he is comprised of not only physical aspects but also spiritual, and when he also responds to the encouragement to do things for God. This encouragement can be perceived by establishing a link between his physical self and rohani (spirit,) by fully integrating himself, inner and outer. This is done by going inward to achieve knowledge of both the Universe and God. Without fully integrating himself in this way, a person cannot be considered a complete human being; he has not yet completed his duty in this world.

This reminded me of the popular analogy of cells and DNA; in each part (cell) of our body there lies the blueprint for the whole organism. Thus the whole is comprised of parts which each contain, in a way, the whole. It also reminded me of the Christian teaching that God expresses himself through many people, and that we are all "made in his image."

And that was the end of the chapter on Paryana.

[CFTraveler]

Through Atman we may worship various spiritual beings. Worshipping the angels and the "True Teacher" (??) leads to a pantheistic religion (? I think the author meant polytheistic), Politheism is a form of Pantheism- after all, seeing God in everything often leads to seeing 'gods' as everything. So I'm pretty sure he means what he says.