724
Obscurity in and of itself offers no precise divining rod. Rather, the critical evolutionary wiggle room for a change of attitudes, dispositions, moral compass. In the
history of Buddhism, for example, it is clear that that which is obscure represents a
salient temptation, and typically foreshadows some potent pathway, whether in the
foundational “four truths,” namely, “Suffering, the Cause of suffering, the Cessation
of suffering, the Path which leads to the cessation of the suffering” and all those
contemplations of right intention and action necessary to embark on that journey.
7
In religious texts, verbal recitation, and artistic expression, Asian pan- consciousness
has endeavored to lend every conceivable iteration and nuance to the “Four Truths,”
much of it gloriously beautiful. For example, the Heart Sutra (in Sanskrit
Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya, The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom), a lyrical cornerstone of Mahayana Buddhism whose origins confound literary forensics, as it was
written and embellished sometime from “150 C.E. [in India] to seventh-century
C.E. China”,
8
asserts most famously that “Form is empty, emptiness is form.” That
statement is the essence of the obscure. It is akin to saying read between the lines
and places the burden of discovery on the imagination, liberated from the rules of
science into the laws of Nature. It can be characterized as something mathematical
or teleological. Obscurity, of this magnitude, breaks down barriers that have otherwise marginalized access to those visions and conditions of life that all sentience
craves, on condition of happiness.
Obscurity is not a clouded lens, an optical cataract, and absence of light, as its
etymology has always conferred—darkness. Think, rather, of immanence of light
7 See Buddhism, by T. W. Rhys Davids, Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge, London,
1899, p. 48.
8 Painting Enlightenment – Healing Visions Of The Heart Sutra, by Paula Arai, Shambhala,
Boulder, Colorado, 2019, p. 5.
Fig. 80.2 A Thai Buddha, Detail. (Photo © M.C. Tobias)
80 Temptational Obscurity That Brings Hope to Life
Obscurity in and of itself offers no precise divining rod. Rather, the critical evolutionary wiggle room for a change of attitudes, dispositions, moral compass. In the
history of Buddhism, for example, it is clear that that which is obscure represents a
salient temptation, and typically foreshadows some potent pathway, whether in the
foundational “four truths,” namely, “Suffering, the Cause of suffering, the Cessation
of suffering, the Path which leads to the cessation of the suffering” and all those
contemplations of right intention and action necessary to embark on that journey.
7
In religious texts, verbal recitation, and artistic expression, Asian pan- consciousness
has endeavored to lend every conceivable iteration and nuance to the “Four Truths,”
much of it gloriously beautiful. For example, the Heart Sutra (in Sanskrit
Prajñāpāramitāhṛdaya, The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom), a lyrical cornerstone of Mahayana Buddhism whose origins confound literary forensics, as it was
written and embellished sometime from “150 C.E. [in India] to seventh-century
C.E. China”,
8
asserts most famously that “Form is empty, emptiness is form.” That
statement is the essence of the obscure. It is akin to saying read between the lines
and places the burden of discovery on the imagination, liberated from the rules of
science into the laws of Nature. It can be characterized as something mathematical
or teleological. Obscurity, of this magnitude, breaks down barriers that have otherwise marginalized access to those visions and conditions of life that all sentience
craves, on condition of happiness.
Obscurity is not a clouded lens, an optical cataract, and absence of light, as its
etymology has always conferred—darkness. Think, rather, of immanence of light
7 See Buddhism, by T. W. Rhys Davids, Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge, London,
1899, p. 48.
8 Painting Enlightenment – Healing Visions Of The Heart Sutra, by Paula Arai, Shambhala,
Boulder, Colorado, 2019, p. 5.
Fig. 80.2 A Thai Buddha, Detail. (Photo © M.C. Tobias)
80 Temptational Obscurity That Brings Hope to Life