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
Hellenism,
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
,
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
,
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
,
Sufism
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
, and
Shamanism
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...
.
It is usually explained as a manifestation of enlightened behavior by persons who have transcended societal norms, or as a means of
spiritual practice
A spiritual practice or spiritual discipline (often including spiritual exercises) is the regular or full-time performance of actions and activities undertaken for the purpose of inducing spiritual experiences and cultivating spiritual developme ...
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
Religious ecstasy is a type of altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness, frequently accompanied by visions and emotional (and sometimes physical) eup ...
, or deliberate "strategic, purposeful activity," "by highly self-aware individuals making strategic use of the theme of madness in the construction of their public personas".
Cross-cultural parallels
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.
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
in his ''
Phaedrus'' and his ideas on ''theia mania'', the
Hasidic Jews
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...
,
Eastern Orthodoxy
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first m ...
,
Western Christianity
Western Christianity is one of two sub-divisions of Christianity ( Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic ...
, Sufism along with
Indian religions
Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions, which include Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism,Adams, C. J."Classification of ...
all bear witness to the phenomenon of divine madness. 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.
[
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.
]Georg Feuerstein
Georg Feuerstein (27 May 1947 – 25 August 2012) was a German Indologist specializing in the philosophy and practice of Yoga. Feuerstein authored over 30 books on mysticism, Yoga, Tantra, and Hinduism. He translated, among other traditional texts ...
lists Zen
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
poet Hanshan Hanshan may refer to:
*Hanshan (poet) (寒山), a figure associated with a collection of poems from the Tang Dynasty
*Hanshan Deqing (憨山德清), a Buddhist monk from the Chinese Ming Dynasty
*''Mountain Cry'' (), 2015 Chinese film
PR China
* ...
(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. According to Feuerstein, similar forms of abnormal social behavior and holy madness is found in the history of the Christian saint Isadora
Isidora or Isadora is a female given name of Greek origin, derived from Ἰσίδωρος, ''Isídōros'' (a compound of Ἶσις, ''Ísis'', and δῶρον, ''dōron'': "gift of he goddessIsis").
The male equivalent is Isidore.
The name surviv ...
and the Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
Islam storyteller Mulla Nasruddin. Divine madness has parallels in other religions, such as Judaism and Hinduism.[
]
Ancient Greece and Rome: ''theia mania''
''Theia mania'' ( grc, θεία μανία) is a term used by Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
in his dialogue '' Phaedrus'' to describe a condition of divine madness (unusual behavior attributed to the intervention of a God).[Plato, ''Phaedrus']
244-245
265a–b
In this work, dating from around 370 BC, Socrates
Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...
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".
Socrates describes four types of divine madness:
* the prophetic frenzy of the Oracle of Delphi
Pythia (; grc, Πυθία ) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythoness ...
and the priestesses of Dodona
Dodona (; Doric Greek: Δωδώνα, ''Dōdṓnā'', Ionic and Attic Greek: Δωδώνη, ''Dōdṓnē'') in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the second millennium BCE according to Herodotus. Th ...
(the gift of Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
)
* mystical revelations and initiations, which provide "a way of release for those in need" (the gift of Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...
)
* poetic inspiration (the gift of the Muses
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the p ...
)
* the madness of lovers (the gift of Aphrodite
Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols include ...
and Eros
In Greek mythology, Eros (, ; grc, Ἔρως, Érōs, Love, Desire) is the Greek god of love and sex. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire").''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. In the earli ...
)
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 Maenad
In Greek mythology, maenads (; grc, μαινάδες ) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". Maenads were known as Bassarids, ...
s, the female followers of Dionysus. However, little is known about their rituals; the famous depiction of the cult in Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...
' play ''The Bacchae
''The Bacchae'' (; grc-gre, Βάκχαι, ''Bakchai''; also known as ''The Bacchantes'' ) is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. ...
'' cannot be considered historically accurate.
The Roman poet Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...
, in Book VI of his ''Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...
'', describes the Cumaean Sibyl
The Cumaean Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, a Greek colony located near Naples, Italy. The word ''sibyl'' comes (via Latin) from the ancient Greek word ''sibylla'', meaning prophetess. There were many sibyls ...
as prophesying in a frenzied state:
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
Christianity
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.
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. Early Christians cherished madness, and being called "mad" by non-Christians. To them it was glossolalia
Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is a practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid vocalizing of sp ...
or the "tongue of angels". Christ's behavior and teachings were blasphemous madness in his times, and according to Simon Podmore, "Christ's madness served to sanctify blasphemous madness".
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
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
, charismatic madness regained interest and popular imagination, as did the Platonic proposal of four types of "good madness". 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.
In the 20th-century, Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement – the charismatic movement
The charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream Christian denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of spirit ...
s within Protestant Christianity particularly in the United States, Latin America and Africa – has encouraged the practice of divine madness among its followers. The wisdom and healing power in the possessed, in these movements, is believed to be from the Holy Spirit, a phenomenon called charism
A spiritual gift or charism (plural: charisms or charismata; in Greek singular: χάρισμα
''charisma'', plural: χαρίσματα ''charismata'') is an extraordinary power given by the Holy Spirit."Spiritual gifts". ''A Dictionary of the ...
("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. The followers believe that there is a long tradition in Christian spirituality, where saints such as Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...
are stated to have had similar experiences of deliberate hallucinations and madness.
Islam: Sufism
Other adepts that have attained "mad" mental states, according to Feuerstein, include the masts and the intoxicated Sufis associated with ''shath
A ''shath'' ( ar, شطح ''šaṭḥ'', plural: ''šaṭaḥāt'' or ''šaṭḥiyyāt''), in the Islamic mystical tradition of Sufism, is an ecstatic utterance which may be outrageous in character. The word is derived from the root š-ṭ-ḥ, ...
''. In parts of Gilgit (Pakistan), the behavior of eccentric faqirs dedicated to mystical devotionalism is considered as "crazy holiness". 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.
According to Sadeq Rahimi, the Sufi description of divine madness in mystical union mirrors those associated with mental illness.[ He writes,
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
A marabout ( ar, مُرابِط, murābiṭ, lit=one who is attached/garrisoned) is a Muslim religious leader and teacher who historically had the function of a chaplain serving as a part of an Islamic army, notably in North Africa and the Saha ...
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.
Indian religions
Hinduism
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. 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.[
]
''Avadhuta''
According to Feuerstein, the designation '' avadhūta'' (Sanskrit: अवधूत) came to be associated with the mad or eccentric holiness or "crazy wisdom" of some paramahamsa
Paramahamsa (Sanskrit: परमहंस, Bengali: পরমহংস, romanized: Pôromohôṅso; pronounced ɔromoɦɔŋʃo, also spelled paramahansa or paramhansa, is a Sanskrit religio-theological title of honour applied to Hindu spiritual ...
, liberated religious teachers, who reverted the social norms, as symbolized by their being "skyclad" or "naked" (Sanskrit: digambara
''Digambara'' (; "sky-clad") is one of the two major schools of Jainism, the other being ''Śvētāmbara'' (white-clad). The Sanskrit word ''Digambara'' means "sky-clad", referring to their traditional monastic practice of neither possessing n ...
). ''Avadhuta'' are described in the Sannyasa Upanishads
Sannyasa Upanishads are a group of minor Upanishads of Hinduism related to the renunciation, monastic practice and asceticism. There are 19 Sannyasa Upanishads in the Muktika anthology of 108 Upanishads. They, along with other minor Upanishads, a ...
of Hinduism, early mediaeval Sanskrit texts that discuss the monastic (''sannyasa
''Sannyasa'' (Sanskrit: संन्यास; IAST: ), sometimes spelled Sanyasa (सन्न्यास) or Sanyasi (for the person), is life of renunciation and the fourth stage within the Hindu system of four life stages known as '' As ...
'', literally "house-leaver") life of Hindu ''sadhus'' (monks) and ''sadhvis'' (nuns). The ''Avadhuta'' is one category of mendicants, and is described as antinomian
Antinomianism (Ancient Greek: ἀντί 'anti''"against" and νόμος 'nomos''"law") is any view which rejects laws or Legalism (theology), legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (Latin: mores), or is at least consid ...
. 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.[ According to Feuerstein, "the ''avadhuta'' is one who, in their God-intoxication, has "cast off" all concerns and conventional standards." Feuerstein further states that in traditional Tibet and India, "the "holy fool" or "saintly madman" nd madwomanhas long been recognized as a legitimate figure in the compass of spiritual aspiration and realization."
]
Bhakti
The ''bhakti
''Bhakti'' ( sa, भक्ति) literally means "attachment, participation, fondness for, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship, purity".See Monier-Williams, ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899. It was originally used in Hinduism, referring to d ...
'' tradition emerged in Hinduism in the medieval era. It is related to religious ecstasy
Religious ecstasy is a type of altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness, frequently accompanied by visions and emotional (and sometimes physical) eup ...
, and its accompanying states of trance
Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
and intense emotions. 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." It may be compared to ''drsti
View or position (Pali ', Sanskrit ') is a central idea in Buddhism. In Buddhist thought, a view is not a simple, abstract collection of propositions, but a charged interpretation of experience which intensely shapes and affects thought, sensati ...
'', direct perception or spontaneous thought, as opposed to learned ideas. The ''bhakta'' establishes a reciprocal relationship with the divine. Though the participation in the divine is generally favoured in Vaishnava
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...
bhakti discourse throughout the sampradayas rather than imitation of the divine 'play' (Sanskrit: ''lila''), there is the important anomaly of the Vaishnava-Sahajiya
Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyā was a form of Hindu tantric Vaishnavism focused on Radha Krishna worship that developed in the region of Greater Bengal (Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Assam).Hayes, Glen A"The Vaisnava Sahajiya Traditions of Medieval Bengal" in ...
sect.
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. 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.
McDaniel refers to William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States.
James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
, who made a distinction between gradual and abrupt change, while Karl Potter makes a distinction between ''progress'' and '' leap'' philosophies. Progress philosophy is ''jativada'', gradual development; leap philosophy is '' ajativada'', "sudden knowledge or intuition." 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. The same distinction is central in the classical Zen-rhetorics on sudden insight, which developed in 7th-century China.
The path of gradual progression is called ''sastriya dharma'', "the path of scriptural injunctions." It is associated with order and control, and "loyalty to lineage and tradition, acceptance of hierarchy and authority, and ritual worship and practice." In contrast, the path of sudden breakthrough is ''asastriya'', "not according to the scriptures." It is associated with "chaos and passion, and the divine is reached by unpredictable visions and revelations." The divine can be found in such impure surroundings and items as burning grounds, blood and sexuality. Divine experience is not determined by loyalty to lineage and gurus, and various gurus may be followed. According to McDaniel, divine madness is a major aspect of this breakthrough approach.
Tibetan Buddhism: ''nyönpa'', ''drubnyon'', and "Crazy Wisdom"
Holy Madmen
In Tibetan Buddhism, ''nyönpa
The term ''nyönpa'' ( "mad one(s)"; Sanskrit ''avadhūta'') may refer to a group of Tibetan Buddhist yogis or a single individual belonging to this group. They were mainly known for their unusual style of teaching, to which they owed their nam ...
'' (), tantric "crazy yogis," are part of the Nyingma
Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and transl ...
-tradition and the Kagyu
The ''Kagyu'' school, also transliterated as ''Kagyü'', or ''Kagyud'' (), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools (''chos lugs'') of Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. The Kagyu lineag ...
-tradition. Their behavior may seem to be scandalous, according to conventional standards, but the archetypal ''siddha
''Siddha'' (Sanskrit: '; "perfected one") is a term that is used widely in Indian religions and culture. It means "one who is accomplished." It refers to perfected masters who have achieved a high degree of physical as well as spiritual ...
'' is a defining characteristic of the nyingma-tradition, which differs significantly from the more scholarly orientated Gelugpa-tradition. Its founder, Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...
(India, 8th century), is an archetypal ''siddha'', who is still commemorated by yearly dances. Milarepa
Jetsun Milarepa (, 1028/40–1111/23) was a Tibetan siddha, who was famously known as a murderer when he was a young man, before turning to Buddhism and becoming a highly accomplished Buddhist disciple. He is generally considered one of Tibet's m ...
(c.1052–c.1135 CE), the founder of the Kagyu-school, is also closely connected to the notion of divine madness in Tibetan Buddhism. His biography was composed by Tsangnyön Heruka
Tsangnyön Heruka ( "The Madman Heruka from Tsang", 1452-1507), was an author and a master of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in Tsang, he is best known as a biographer and compiler of the ''Life of Milarepa'' and ''The Collections ...
(1452-1507), "the Madman of Tsang," a famous ''nyönpa''. Other famous madmen are Drukpa Kunley
Drukpa Kunley (1455–1529), also known as Kunga Legpai Zangpo, Drukpa Kunleg (), and Kunga Legpa, the Madman of the Dragon Lineage (), was a Buddhist monk and missionary in the Tibetan Mahamudra tradition, as well as a famous poet, and i ...
(1455–1529) and the Madman of Ü. Together they are also known as "the Three Madmen" (''smyon pa gsum''). 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.
According to DiValerio, the Tibetan term ''nyönpa'' refers to ''siddhas'', ''yogins'' and ''lamas'' whose "mad" behavior is "symptomatic of high achievement in religious practice." This behavior is most widely understood in Tibet as "a symptom of the individuals being enlightened and having transcended ordinary worldly delusions." Their unconventional behavior is seen by Tibetans as a sign of their transcendence of ''namtok'' (Sanskrit: '' vipalka''), "conceptual formations or false ideations." 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.
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." 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
Emptiness as a human condition is a sense of generalized boredom, social alienation and apathy. Feelings of emptiness often accompany dysthymia, depression (mood), depression, loneliness, anhedonia,
wiktionary:despair, despair, or other mental/em ...
, rather than our imperfect habits of mind." 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''.'
According to DiValerio, the term ''drupton nyönpa'' is regarded by Tibetans as an oxymoron
An oxymoron (usual plural oxymorons, more rarely oxymora) is a figure of speech that juxtaposes concepts with opposing meanings within a word or phrase that creates an ostensible self-contradiction. An oxymoron can be used as a rhetorical devi ...
, a contradiction in terms, and so
DiValerio also argues that their unconventional behavior is "strategic, purposeful activity, rather than being the byproduct of a state of enlightenment," 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," arguing that
Crazy Wisdom
In some Buddhist literature, the phrase "crazy wisdom" is associated with the teaching methods of Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa (Wylie transliteration, Wylie: ''Chos rgyam Drung pa''; March 5, 1939 – April 4, 1987) was a Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, the 11th ...
, himself a Nyingma and Kagyu
The ''Kagyu'' school, also transliterated as ''Kagyü'', or ''Kagyud'' (), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools (''chos lugs'') of Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. The Kagyu lineag ...
master, who popularized the notion with his adepts Keith Dowman and Georg Feuerstein. 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." In his book ''Crazy Wisdom'', which consists of transcripts of seminars on the eight aspects of Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...
given in 1972, the Tibetan tülku Chögyam Trungpa describes the phenomenon as a process of enquiry and letting go of any hope for an answer:
Since Chögyam Trungpa described crazy wisdom in various ways, DiValerio has suggested that Trungpa did not have a fixed idea of crazy wisdom.
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." 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." Dowman also suggests other explanations for Drukpa Künlé’s unconventional behavior, including criticising institutionalized religion, and acting as a catalysator for direct insight. 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. DiValerio further notes that "Dowman’s presentation of Drukpa Künlé as roundly anti-institutional adgreat influence ..in shaping (and distorting) the Euro-American world’s thinking on the subject."
According to Feuerstein, who was influenced by Chogyam Trungpa, divine madness is unconventional, outrageous, unexpected, or unpredictable behavior that is considered to be a manifestation of spiritual accomplishment. This includes archetypes like the holy fool
Foolishness for Christ ( el, διά Χριστόν σαλότητα, cu, оуродъ, юродъ) refers to behavior such as giving up all one's worldly possessions upon joining an ascetic order or religious life, or deliberately flouting soci ...
and the trickster
In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwi ...
.
Immediatism
Arthur Versluis
Arthur Versluis (born 1959) is a professor and Department Chair of Religious Studies in the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University.
Academic career
Versluis did his Ph.D research at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His thesis ...
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. These include Adi Da
Adi Da Samraj, born Franklin Albert Jones (November 3, 1939 – November 27, 2008) was an American-born spiritual teacher, writer and artist. He was the founder of a new religious movement known as Adidam.
Adi Da initially became known in the ...
, the teacher of Feuerstein, and Rajneesh
Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain; 11 December 193119 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and later as Osho (), was an Indian Godman (India), godman, Mysticism, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement. H ...
. "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"." According to Versluis, immediatism is typical for Americans, who want "the fruit of religion, but not its obligations."[''American Gurus: Seven Questions for Arthur Versluis''](_blank)
Although immediatism has its roots in European culture and history as far back as Platonism
Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary platonists do not necessarily accept all of the doctrines of Plato. Platonism had a profound effect on Western thought. Platonism at le ...
, and also includes Perennialism
The perennial philosophy ( la, philosophia perennis), also referred to as perennialism and perennial wisdom, is a perspective in philosophy and spirituality that views all of the world's religious traditions as sharing a single, metaphysical trut ...
, Versluis points to Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
as its key ancestor, who "emphasized the possibility of immediate, direct spiritual knowledge and power."
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." yet, he also refers to R.C. Zaehner, "who came to regard Asian-religion-derived nondualism
Nondualism, also called nonduality and nondual awareness, is a fuzzy concept originating in Indian philosophy and religion for which many definitions can be found, including: nondual awareness, the nonduality of seer and seen or nondiffer ...
as more or less inexorably to antinomianism, immorality, and social dissolution." Versluis further notes that in traditional Mahamudra and Dzogchen, access to teachings is restricted and needs preparation. 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. He further notes the lack of compassion which is often noted in regard to those immediatist teachers.
Shamanism
According to Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanians, Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who establ ...
, divine madness is a part of Shamanism
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...
, 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".[ 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.]
See also
* Antinomianism
Antinomianism (Ancient Greek: ἀντί 'anti''"against" and νόμος 'nomos''"law") is any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (Latin: mores), or is at least considered to do so. The term ha ...
* Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...
* Demonic possession
Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and reli ...
* Divine ecstasy
Religious ecstasy is a type of altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness, frequently accompanied by visions and emotional (and sometimes physical) eup ...
* Foolishness for Christ
Foolishness for Christ ( el, διά Χριστόν σαλότητα, cu, оуродъ, юродъ) refers to behavior such as giving up all one's worldly possessions upon joining an ascetic order or religious life, or deliberately flouting socie ...
* Heyoka
The heyoka (, also spelled "haokah," "heyokha") is a kind of sacred clown in the culture of the Sioux (Lakota and Dakota people) of the Great Plains of North America. The heyoka is a contrarian, jester, and satirist, who speaks, moves and reacts ...
* Ikkyū
was an eccentric, iconoclastic Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and poet. He had a great impact on the infusion of Japanese art and literature with Zen attitudes and ideals,Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, entry "Ikkyū" by James H. Sanford as well ...
* Ji Gong
Ji Gong (, 22 December 1130 – 16 May 1209), born Li Xiuyuan and also known as "Chan Master Daoji" () was a Chan Buddhist monk who lived in the Southern Song. He purportedly possessed supernatural powers, which he used to help the poor and st ...
* Mental health of Jesus
The question of whether the historical Jesus was in good mental health has been explored by multiple psychologists, philosophers, historians, and writers. The first person to openly question Jesus' sanity was French psychologist Charles Binet-San ...
* Village idiot
The village idiot in strict terms is a person locally known for ignorance or stupidity but is also a common term for a stereotypically silly or nonsensical person or stock character.
Description
The term "village idiot" is also used as a stereo ...
Notes
References
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Further reading
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* 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
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External links
* Stefan Larsson
''Crazy Yogins During the Early Renaissance Period''
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Tibetan Buddhism
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