- Indra's net
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For the geometry book, see Indra's Pearls (book).
"Imagine a multidimensional spider's web in the early morning covered with dew drops. And every dew drop contains the reflection of all the other dew drops. And, in each reflected dew drop, the reflections of all the other dew drops in that reflection. And so ad infinitum. That is the Buddhist conception of the universe in an image." --Alan Watts[1]
Indra's net (also called Indra's jewels or Indra's pearls) is a metaphor used to illustrate the concepts of emptiness,[2] dependent origination,[3] and interpenetration[4] in Buddhist philosophy. The metaphor of Indra's net was developed by the Mahayana Buddhist school in the 3rd century scriptures of the Avatamsaka Sutra, and later by the Chinese Huayan school between the 6th and 8th century.[2]
Buddhist concepts of interpenetration hold that all phenomena are intimately connected; for the Huayan school, Indra's net symbolizes a universe where infinitely repeated mutual relations exist between all members of the universe.[5] This idea is communicated in the image of the interconnectedness of the universe as seen in the net of the Vedic god Indra, whose net hangs over his palace on Mount Meru, the axis mundi of Vedic cosmology and Vedic mythology. Indra's net has a multifaceted jewel at each vertex, and each jewel is reflected in all of the other jewels.[6]
Contents
Huayan school
Francis Harold Cook describes the metaphor of Indra's net from the perspective of the Huayan school in the book Hua-Yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra:
“ Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel in each "eye" of the net, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering like stars in the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that there is an infinite reflecting process occurring.[7] ” Gödel, Escher, Bach
Main article: Gödel, Escher, BachDouglas Hofstadter uses Indra's net as a metaphor for the complex interconnected networks formed by relationships between objects in a system—including social networks, the interactions of particles, and the "symbols" that stand for ideas in a brain or intelligent computer.[8]
Vermeer's Hat reference
In Vermeer's Hat, a history book written by Timothy Brook, the author uses the metaphor.
“ Buddhism uses a similar image to describe the interconnectedness of all phenomena. It is called Indra's Net. When Indra fashioned the world, he made it as a web, and at every knot in the web is tied a pearl. Everything that exists, or has ever existed, every idea that can be thought about, every datum that is true—every dharma, in the language of Indian philosophy—is a pearl in Indra's net. Not only is every pearl tied to every other pearl by virtue of the web on which they hang, but on the surface of every pearl is reflected every other jewel on the net. Everything that exists in Indra's web implies all else that exists. ” Writing in The Spectator, Sarah Burton explains that Brook uses the metaphor, and its interconnectedness, "to help understand the multiplicity of causes and effects producing the way we are and the way we were." She adds: "In the same way, the journeys through Brook's picture-portals intersect with each other, at the same time shedding light on each other.[9]
See also
- Brahmajala Sutra
- Coincidentia oppositorum
- Fazang
- Hosshin seppo
- Indra's thunderbolt
- Macrocosm and microcosm
- Rhizome (philosophy)
- Śakra
- The Net (substance)
- Three Spheres II
Notes
- ^ Alan Watts Podcast - Following the Middle Way #3 alanwattspodcast.com.
- ^ a b Jones 2003, p. 16.
- ^ Lee 2005, p. 473.
- ^ Odin 1982, p. 17
- ^ Cook 1977, p. 2.
- ^ Kabat-Zinn 2000, p. 225.
- ^ For 'Some cunning artificer' refer: Vishvakarman.
- ^ Hofstadter, Douglas R. (1999), Gödel, Escher, Bach, Basic Books, ISBN 0465026567
- ^ Burton, Sarah (2 August 2008). "The Net Result". The Spectator. http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/866241/part_2/the-net-result.thtml. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
References
- Cook, Francis H. (1977), Hua-Yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra, Penn State Press, ISBN 027102190X.
- Jones, Ken H. (2003), The New Social Face of Buddhism: A Call to Action, Wisdom Publications, ISBN 0861713656.
- Kabat-Zinn, Jon; Watson, Gay; Batchelor, Stephen; Claxton, Guy (2000), Indra's Net at Work: The Mainstreaming of Dharma Practice in Society (The Psychology of Awakening: Buddhism, Science, and Our Day-to-Day Lives ed.), Weiser, ISBN 1578631726.
- Lee, Kwang-Sae (2005), East and West: Fusion of Horizons, Homa & Sekey Books, ISBN 1931907269.
- Odin, Steve (1982), Process Metaphysics and Hua-Yen Buddhism: A Critical Study of Cumulative Penetration Vs. Interpenetration, SUNY Press, ISBN 0873955684.
Further reading
- Cleary, Thomas (1983), Entry Into the Inconceivable: An Introduction to Hua-yen Buddhism, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 9780824816971.
Buddhism Categories:- Buddhism stubs
- Buddhist symbols
- Metaphors
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