Emptiness and Unknowing

The debate between perennialists, who argue mystical experiences are universal, and constructivists, who see them as culturally specific, has shaped the study of mysticism for fifty years. This article, inspired by Lance Cousins' comparison of Buddhaghosa's Path of Purification and Teresa of Ávila's Interior Castle, identifies specific parallels in contemplative exercises and the progress of the spiritual life between Buddhist meditation accounts (such as the Cūḷa-Suññata-sutta) and Christian apophaticism (as in The Cloud of Unknowing). It details parallels in techniques, approaches to contemplative practice, and the phenomenology of experiences of the meditator or contemplative at different stages.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Over the last fifty years the study of mysticism has been shaped by the debate between ‘perennialists’, who claim that mystical experiences are the same across different cultures, and ‘constructivists’, who claim that mystical experiences are shaped by, and hence specific to, particular religious traditions. The constructivist view is associated with the ‘discursive turn’ that has dominated the humanities for the last half century, emphasising cultural relativism. Nonetheless, the constructivist position is not without problems. Inspired in part by Lance Cousins’ 1989 comparison of Buddhaghosa’s Path of Purification and Teresa of Ávila’s Interior Castle, the present article seeks to bring out parallels in the contemplative exercises and the progress of the ‘spiritual life’ found in Buddhist accounts of meditation (such as the C??a-Suññata-sutta) and Christian apophaticism (as presented in The Cloud of Unknowing). The article seeks to establish specific parallels in the techniques of and approaches to contemplative practice in both traditions, as well as in the phenomenology of the experiences of the meditator (yog?vacara) or contemplative at different stages in the work of meditation and contemplation.