Kriyas & the Cloud of Unknowing

One of the fascinating things about meditation for me is its universality.

If you think of the enormous diversity of cultures.

And doctrines and philosophy's around the world.

It's rather extraordinary that when it comes down to the kinds of experiences that People have when they meditate.

It's

More or less the same all around the world certain basic things happen that seem to be quite independent of cultures and even of the underlying doctrines and theology's and world view of the practitioners.

An interesting.

Case of this is with regards to the phenomenon of Kriyas.

Now Korea is something that is well known in the meditative systems that come from India, or are influenced by India. It's spontaneous movements that can be at one end very mild and subtle an at the other end bizarre and intense and anything in between is spontaneous movements that are looked upon.

As a releasing process.

There is a

Fascinating book that was written maybe in the 15th century, something like that.

It was written in English, but that would mean it was written in Middle English Cha, Syrian English pre Shakespeare English.

The book is called the cloud of Unknowing and you can read it in a modern English translation there been many.

Made I like the one that was done by my friend father William Johnston, who's a Catholic Jesuit priest, and very long term practitioner of.

Zen meditation, he's got a nice translation because he has experience is qualified. I think to translate these tags. So there's this fascinating book. It's anonymous. It's small that was probably written back in the 14 or 1500s called the cloud of unknowing? What's interesting is it's used by the Catholic Church. But it's also used by some Protestants at least the?

Anglican community what we would call Episcopalian in the United States certainly makes you so that in fact, it's a kind of English spiritual classic when I was first doing meditation in Japan. When I was being trained in the early 70s at Mount Koya and I was undergoing hundred day isolation.

Practice I kept that book by me actually as a kind of inspiration for even though I was doing Buddhist practice because it seemed very germane to what I was experiencing you might want wonder what the somewhat strange word unknowing means well. Unknowing is the process of having equanimity with the need to know letting go of the need to know so that you can.

No in a new way an intuitive spiritual way.

So very suggestive interesting title Saint Thomas Aquinas, who is the standard authority on philosophy in the Catholic Church said. I hope I'm not chopping the Latin. Too bad DM Tom compare ignore Antium Cognis Chemos.

We know God directly through a very special kind of not knowing.

Anyway, the cloud of Unknowing is a sort of step by step manual for how to do this.

In there.

There is a clear description of Korea's.

Now mind you were talking something like 15th century.

We're talking Western culture. We're talking a completely Christian environment. We're talking about People that.

Would have known little, if anything about India? Certainly would not be at all familiar with any indic concepts regarding spiritual practice. But that book. The cloud of Unknowing has a clear description of the phenomenon of Korea's.

And I just thought that's fascinating clearly the person that wrote the book was is called a spiritual director. That means he was in charge of guiding people in their meditation practice and he saw this phenomenon happening what's interesting is?

That, he points out that.

People have a tendency to think that.

These strange movements and idiosyncratic sort of gestures and whimsical forms of behavior and whatever are a sign of spiritual progress. It's like apparently in that day. People thought that this like proves that the spirit is within you or something like that. The author of the cloud of annoying was totally contemptuous of that point of view and.

Pointed out essentially what I mentioned in my first segment about the Koreas which is that the name of the game is to neither desire them nor suppress them. You just have to let them do their thing so it's just fascinating to me how.

There's a kind of universality across time and space with regards to the types of phenomena that come up when we practice and also with regards to how mature or immature. People are about these types of phenomenon. They tend to be either mature or image or in similar ways. They tend to have effective ways of dealing with things or non effective ways of dealing.

With things more or less similar ways. And so forth so anyway, I think you if you're on the spiritual path. You might enjoy reading that book the cloud of Unknowing.