Shingon budizam i islam
Shingon Buddhism and Islam

Summary/Abstract: Islam and Shingon Buddhism see reality as having two aspects: a universe of many cosmic worlds and a source-being. There is a dual relationship between these two aspects: one relationship posits that this source-being is transcendent to the universe, and the other relationship posits that this source-being is immanent to the universe. As transcendent, this source is the True Reality called God, nirvana, and Dainichi Nyorai, having nothing whatsoever to do with the world called the universe, ma siwa Allāh, and samsara. As immanent, this source is the world viewed as „bodies“ of Dainichi Nyorai or as the Divine Presences. It is the worlds viewed as the disclosure of God/Dainichi Nyorai to Himself and for Himself. Both Kukai and Ibn 'Arabī emphesize perspective of immanence over that of transcendence. In the teachings of Kukai and Islam, the dual relationships between this source and the universe is explained using the metaphor of light, which here means being and knowledge. For al-Ghazālī, Ibn 'Arabī, and Kukai, the source is Sheer Light, while the universe is an interrelated micro- and macrokosmic hierarchy of graded levels of luminosity, deriving from Pure Light. Kukai names these levels the „bodies“ of Dainichi Nyorai, while Islamic cosmologists, such as Ibn 'Arabī, call them Divine Presences. The human being plays a special role in both the Shingon Buddhist and Islamic conceptions of reality: a person is actually a complete universe, a microcosm consisting of worlds both seen and unseen that directly correspond to the hierarhical worlds of the macrocosm. Most humans however, do not actualize their full microcosmic potential. For al-Ghazālī, Ibn 'Arabī and Kukai, humans must encompass their microcosmic reality within their very being or „body“ as a mirror that perfectly reflects the names and attributes of God – to use Ibn 'Arabī's terminology – or the Six Great Elements of Dainichi Nyorai – to use Kukai's ideas. Perfection is an increase in light, a movement from the darkness of this world or samsara toward the light of the heavens or nirvana. When this perfection is attained travelers realize what they have always been: Perfect Humans and enlightened bodies. Naslov izvornika: David Buchman, „Shingon Buddhism and Islam: Similarities in Concepts of Existence and the Goal of the Human State“ u: Sophia (the Journal of Traditional Studies), vol. 12, no. 2, fall/winter 2006., str. 149-166. S engleskog preveo Nevad Kahteran.

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