Buddhism : Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Vol. VI

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ON THE CONCEPT OF SAHAJA

(2) When, avoiding the two notions of 'samsara' and 'nirvana', they are made
one, then it is called yuganaddha.
(4) The yogin who wanders, having combined the notion of 'form' and 'form-
less', knows yuganaddha.
(5) When there is no dual concept of 'object' and 'subject', but only nonsepa-
ration, then it is called yuganaddha.
(6) He who lives, having abandoned the two concepts of 'eternity' and 'disso-
lution', that wise one knows the Essence which is called yuganaddha
(10) The separation from the notion of 'non-self of the person' and 'non-self of
the elements' is the characteristic of yuganaddha.
(13) When, having known the relative and absolute each by itself according to
their division, there is a commingling of both, then it is called yuganad-
dha.
(16) For whom there at no time is contemplation or non-contemplation-that
yogin, remaining in yuganaddha, is free from existence and non-existence.
(19) Having rendered both cause and effect inseparable according to their own
nature-that condition of the yogin is yuganaddha, the Buddhas say.
(23) The yogin who thus remains fixed in the state of yuganaddha, he is said to
be omniscient, a seer of the Essence, sustainer of the universe.
(24) Fully seeing through the net of maya, having crossed over the sea of
salllsara, having done what is to be done, the great yogin remains in the
cessation of the two (modes of) truth.
(25) This indeed is non-dual knowledge, non-supported cessation, buddhahood,
vajrasattva-hood, and also omnipotence.
(30) As to oneself, thus to one's enemy; as wife, thus daughter; as mother, thus
servant-girl; as gombi, thus twice-born woman.
(31) As clothes, thus skin; as jewel, thus chaff; as urine, thus excrements; as
rice, thus dung.
(32) As sweet-smelling camphor, thus stench from excreta; as a voice singing
praises, thus a voice which is repulsive.
(33) As demon, thus holder-of-Vajra; as night, thus day; as dream, thus that
which is seen; as that which is destroyed thus that which remains.
(34) As bliss, thus pain; as villain, thus son; as hell, thus heaven, as evil, thus
good.


This type of description of the radical freedom of the accomplished yogin is
of course well-known in Indian religious literature; one need only, to quote but
one example, point to the 19th and 20th songs of the A!itiivakragltiii^64 •
N. Smart has submitted the various types of accounts of mystical experiences
to a critical analysis^165 , and has suggested that these accounts be divided into
four categories, viz. auto-interpretation with a low or with a high degree of rami-
fication, and hetero-interpretation, likewise with a low or with a high degree of
ramification. By "ramification" Smart means interpretation, use of symbolic lan-
guage, theological terms, etc. It seems to me that the accounts of the mystical
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