Comparative Mystical Theology of Love and Emptiness: Nondual Union in Buddhists and Beguines
University of Chicago August 1, 2022 Hyein Park
Comparing the 13th-century Beguine mystics Marguerite Porete and Hadewijch with nondualist tantric Buddhist and Śaiva traditions reveals that desire and emotion are central to comparative mysticism. Porete's radical notion of nothingness, interpreted as a form of no-self, aligns with Buddhist Personalists and Tibetan other-emptiness (zhentong) philosophy, particularly the work of Dölpopa, and with German mystic Eckhart. Hadewijch's despair and love-madness parallel the South Asian concept of Mahā-bhāva (divine ecstasy). Porete's joy, bliss, and beatitude resonate with Tibetan tantric practices influenced by Kaśmīr Śaivism, especially through the aesthetic emotion (rasa) and sensory imagery that intensify ecstatic union. The nondualist tantric union in Buddhism and Śaivism best illuminates Porete's mysticism.