[INDOLOGY] Alchemy metaphor

[Christopher Wallis]

Thanks so much for your reply, Dominik. It is very helpful, since I have
been confused about the meaning of vedha/vedhana in these texts. I have
been translating it as piercing, since the context often is a transmission (
*sankramana*) of spiritual energy from guru to disciple, but it has not
been entirely satisfactory. Do you have a reference to its use in
rasa-śāstra?  In the passage I cited, I don't think it's quite synonymous
with abhini+viś, I think the latter is a further stage in the process,
because it goes with *turyātīta-daśā *while the *vidh *verb goes with
*turyā-daśā*. So, infused then immersed?

To explain the passage briefly as I now understand it, when the layers of
subjectivity which are actually objects (e.g. body etc.) are
permeated/infused/penetrated (*vidhyate*) by the elixir of awakened
consciousness, they are transmuted and shine like gold, i.e. appear as
expressions of that consciousness rather than separate objects. Further
immersion (*abhiniviṣṭa*) in this elixir of consciousness
digests/oxidizes/wears (*jīrṇa*) away the gold, leaving only the liquid
essence itself, with no trace of objectivity. This seems to fit within the
larger scope of his argument and avoid doing violence to the alchemical
metaphor, which of course I don't completely understand.  any further
comments welcome.

gratefully yours,

Christopher Wallis, M.A. (Cal), M.Phil. (Oxon), Ph.D. (ABD, Cal)




On 7 July 2014 06:36, Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at gmail.com> wrote:

> I don't think vidhyate means "is penetrated."  I think it means
> "transmuted."  Or even "multiplied."  Actually, I'm not really sure what it
> means.  But "vedhana" isn't simply "piercing" in rasaśāstra literature.  It
> seems to correspond to what the classical (Greek and Latin) authors mean
> when they talk about transmutation and multiplication (increase) of
> substances.  In your text, vidhyate is used synonymically (?) with
> abhini+viś.  Infused?  Permeated?  I'm really not sure what the alchemical
> simile is, so I would be urge caution with the application of a chemical
> metaphor to the philosophical case.  Maybe you could work backwards, if you
> know pretty much what Abhinavagupta is saying philosophically, we could
> deduce what he thought the chemical processes were.  I think transmutation
> or transformation might work.
>
> About jīrṇa, I think it's the same as one of the 16 rasa-saṃskāras, jāraṇa
> a form of chemical digestion (perhaps, in modern terminology, oxidation).
> I'll leave it to others to say more.
> Best,
> Dominik
>
>
>
>
>
> On 7 July 2014 02:03, Christopher Wallis <bhairava11 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear respected colleagues,
>>
>> I wonder if anyone here knows about alchemy (rasāyana) and can clarify
>> the meaning of the word *jīrṇa *in that context. In the passage below
>> (ĪPvv III p. 328), in discussing mystical experience, Abhinavagupta uses an
>> alchemical metaphor involving *siddharasa *(≈ mercury)*, drutarasa, *and
>> *kanakadhātu*. The meaning of the passage is fairly clear to me, I am
>> just wondering about the alchemical significance of of *jīrṇa *(matured?) and
>> *drutarasa*.
>>
>> the passage follows.
>>
>> *yadā tu parāmṛṣṭa-nityatva-vyāpitvādi-dharmakaiśvarya-ghanātmanā
>> ahambhāva-siddharasena śūnyādi-deha-dhātv-antaṃ vidhyate yena prameyatvāt
>> tat cyavata iva, tadā turyadaśā*;
>> *yadāpi viddho 'sau prāṇa-dehādi-dhātuḥ saṃvid-rasena abhiniviṣṭo
>> ’tyantaṃ kanaka-dhātur iva jīrṇaḥ kriyate yena sa druta-rasa iva ābhāti
>> kevalaṃ tat-saṃskāraḥ, tadāpi turyātīta-daśā sā bhavati*
>> 'But when the [layers of limited selfhood] from Void to the physical body
>> are penetrated by the “alchemical elixir” that is the (true)
>> I-sense—replete with the sovereignty of the qualities of eternality,
>> all-pervasiveness, etc. which are cognized [as aspects of that I], by which
>> their objectivity falls away as it were, then it is the Fourth State.
>> When, further, these elements of *prā**ṇa*, body, etc., penetrated by
>> the elixir of Consciousness, are completely immersed [in it], they are
>> “matured” like the element of gold . . .'(?)
>>
>>
>> best wishes,
>>
>> Christopher Wallis, M.A. (Cal), M.Phil. (Oxon), Ph.D. (ABD, Cal)
>>
>>
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>
>


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