The Past as Prologue to your Future

Following up on the interpretations and insights previously outlined on the ancient Egyptian symbol of life, the Ankh, I have been considering to what extent spiritual progress as defined in the Ankh is held in common with other religions. That is, is there a common concept of a path and progress along it? To recap the insight on the Ankh, there are two aspects of development as described below:

1)      A path through material existence - Shedding conceptual attachments and abiding in a state of equanimity and loving kindness – the horizontal axis; and

2)      The means to progress along the path – Perfecting wisdom through the elimination of ignorance with respect to the nature of material reality – the vertical axis.

Buddhism

In Buddhist terminology these concepts are relatively clear. That is, through eliminating all delusions of form and discriminative thoughts, recognising that ultimately all of conditioned reality is Śūnyatā, the Bodhisattva’s mind is freed from hindrances and he/she attains the path. Then through the perfection of wisdom, the Bodhisattva achieves enlightenment as the unconditioned is realised, ultimately transcending suffering as the unconditioned is made manifest and Nirvana is achieved. As we have previously identified, these correlations are clearly described in the Heart Sutra.

There is, of course, a large body of work in support of this simple message, with great traditions, elaborate ceremonies and rituals.  These may be very appealing for the mystical qualities they allude to, but if not understood with the context of the fundamental tenant of spiritual development, they may be quite confusing, repetitive and meaningless. Ironically, one may become attached to the very tools intended to break-free of one’s attachment to form and conceptualisations.

Christianity

What of Christianity?  Might a similar path be described? In the traditional King James Bible we certainly see talk of a path in Matthew 7:13-14 :

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

In this quote from the Book of Matthew one can almost see the disciple Matthew leaning forward in earnest attendance, listening to Jesus as he gestures to the right and left of the vertical axis of the Ankh, explaining how broad the ways of “destruction” are compared to the narrow path that leads to life, as he points along the vertical axis.

Of course, the life of Jesus is itself a lesson in unattached compassion and loving kindness, even unto his death where he foresaw his demise, yet demonstrated his transcendence of all material attachment by sacrificing even his body to edify others with this example. But what better example is there than the parable of the suckling infants from the Nag Hammadi Gnostic collection of the need to balance discriminative perceptions of existential duality as a requirement for entering the “Kingdom”.

(22) Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, "These infants being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom."

 They said to him, "Shall we then, as children, enter the kingdom?"

 Jesus said to them, "When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter the kingdom."

And again he admonishes his disciples to reconcile their discriminative conceptualisation if they are to overcome the limitations of existence within a body (house):

(48) Jesus said, "If two make peace with each other in this one house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move Away,' and it will move away."

It would appear that Christianity as preached by Jesus was pretty definite about the need to overcome attachment to discriminations of dualistic polarity as a means to enter the “Kingdom of Heaven” and this is precisely the path described in the Ankh.

Taoism

In Taoism, the idea of a Path or Way to transcend this Earthly existence also is not only clearly identified, but is the focus. The very meaning of Tao is Path or Way and we see the first two verses of the Tao Te Ching describing the Path, again consistently with the symbolism of the Ankh as described by the polarity of concepts (duality) within a spectrum of Attachment:

Verse 1:

The Tao that can be followed [or walked, in material terms] is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named [conceptualised and discriminated] is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the origin of heaven and earth
While naming [discriminative conceptualisations] is the origin of the myriad things.
Therefore, always desireless [without attachment], you see the mystery
Ever desiring, you see the manifestations.
These two are the same—
When they appear they are named differently.

Their sameness is the mystery,
Mystery within mystery;

The door to all marvels.

Verse 2:

All in the world recognize the beautiful as beautiful.
Herein lies ugliness.
All recognize the good as good.
Herein lies evil.

Therefore
Being and non-being produce each other.
Difficulty and ease bring about each other.
Long and short delimit each other.
High and low rest on each other.
Sound and voice harmonize each other.
Front and back follow each other.

Therefore the sage abides in the condition of wu-wei (unattached action).
And carries out the wordless teaching.
Here, the myriad things are made, yet not separated.

Therefore the sage produces without possessing,
Acts without expectations
And accomplishes without abiding in her accomplishments.

It is precisely because she does not abide in them
That they never leave her.

Tao Te Ching, Translated by Charles Muller [with my clarifications]

Above we see, repeated and expounded, the potential for entrapment by identifying with and becoming attached to the conceptualisations and discriminations of the material world. That is, it is only through recognising the equivalence of opposing polarities that one finds the Path (Tao) and the work of the Sage is begun.

My guess is that there would be similar correspondences to the Ankh symbolism at the root of most, if not all, major religions. How the message gets confused through course of time would be like a game of Chinese whispers, where interpretations of a story differ with each explanation or where points of importance are omitted as their significance is not recognised. Then of course there is the theoretical analysis and intellectualisations that have occurred to attempt to explain in different words the message that is otherwise so consistent.

However, grasping the meaning of the Ankh, the Tao, Jesus or the Buddha is not easy or straightforward and so undoubtedly tools and developmental supports would have been constructed over the millennia to introduce neophyte seekers to the concepts and to educate them on the path. For those reliant on such tools, like the Ankh, it is important to remember that they are nothing but tools to support and they are not to be relied on beyond that. In fact, such supports must be abandoned and removed, otherwise they will act an anchor holding one back from self-realisation. It is important to recognise, therefore, that if the Ankh as described in these pages is at all useful, it is only as a small tool, a signpost along the road and is not to be confused with the road itself.

Hopefully, we are a little closer to understanding the sayings of Jesus, the Tao Te Ching and the words of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in the Heart Sutra:

Here, O Sariputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form, the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness.

Namaste.