Kwan Yin

Kwan Yin is a Buddhist female compassionate bodhisattva, often depicted with a child in her arms and erroneously equated by some with Isis and the Virgin Mary.

Related Posts » Anima

Kerouac, Jack

Kerouac, Jack » Beatnik, Burroughs (William S.)

Kundalini

Image via Wikipedia

Kundalini (Sanskrit: coiled like a snake) is a symbolic serpent in Tantric Hinduism and Buddhism, said to be coiled at the base of the spine, and charged with spiritual power.

Once awakened through meditative exercises such as pranamaya (i.e. controlled breathing), the kundalini serpent apparently rises through seven chakras.

Both the kundali and the chakras are often described as actual realities instead of symbolic interpretations of psychosomatic and numinous experiences.

Indeed, the kundalini and chakras are variously constructed and interpreted among different schools of thought, a fact sometimes overlooked by zealous New Age fundamentalists who adhere to and advocate just one interpretation.

Also rarely taken seriously among New Age fundamentalists is the valid question as to whether or not awakening the highest chakra in a given system really represents the highest, purest and holiest possible spiritual experience one may encounter. Along these lines, the Lutheran scholar Rudolf Otto, the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, and several others talk about various forms of the numinous, ranging from the healthy, heavenly and holy to the demonic, dreadful and destructive.

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Kshatriya

Painting of Krishna, Arjuna. (Bhagavad Gita) via Wikipedia

A Kshatriya is a hereditary member of the warrior caste, as outlined in the Hindu Veda.

Arjuna, the hero of the Bhagavad Gita, is of the Kshatriya caste.

The whole concept of the Kshatriya raises concerns among some thinking people because in the Bhagavad Gita it justifies killing on the basis of this being some kind of sacred duty (dharma).

This idea is comparable to the Catholic notion of the “Just War,” but not equivalent because Catholicism, and Christian scripture in general, clearly advocates “turning the other cheek” and “loving one’s enemies” as the ultimate ideal–an ideal not found in the Bhagavad Gita.

Some Hindus maintain that Krishna only advocates war after all attempts at obtaining a peaceful solution to a family conflict have failed (not unlike the Just War concept). But these peacemaking attempts certainly are not emphasized in the Bhagavad Gita, itself, as they are in the New Testament. While the New Testament predicts that wars will occur in the future, at no place does it advocate them nor claim that a war can have a holy status, as we find in the Bhagavad Gita.

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Krishna

Krishna and Arjun on the chariot, Mahabharata, 18th-19th century, India via Wikipedia

Krishna (Sanskrit: black) is the eighth avatar of Vishnu in Hindu mythology and religion.

A certain Krishna, with no reference to any kind of divinity, is mentioned in the Rig Veda. Later, in the Chandogya Upanisad, Krishna is depicted as a scholar.

But it’s not until the Mahabharata, specifically the Bhagavad Gita, that Krishna is fully outlined as a divine being. He’s also traditionally regarded as the author of the Bhagavad Gita, which translates into The Song of the Lord or The Song of God.

Following this, the Bhagavata Purana details the somewhat mischievous exploits of Krishna’s youth.

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Kraken

Drawing by malacologist Pierre Dénys de Montfort, 1801, from the descriptions of French sailors reportedly attacked by a sea monster off the coast of Angola via Wikipedia

The Kraken is a huge sea monster apparently spotted off the coasts of Norway and Iceland. It is also known as sykraken, sea kraken, or krabben because of its flat, rounded shape and numerous arms.

Reports from sailors claim that it’s between a mile and two miles in circumference and creates a huge whirlpool when submerging, sucking even the largest seafaring vessels underwater.

Although the word Kraken never appears in the old Norse Sagas, the idea of sea monsters is certainly present.

The Norwegian Churchman Erik Pontoppidan first popularized the term Kraken in the “Natural History of Norway” in 1752-53.

In reality, the Kraken may be nothing more than large squids spied by weary and imaginative sailors suffering from the malnutrition that often came with sea voyages in those days (it’s now known that malnutrition can affect brain performance and thus proper perception and judgment).

Psychologically speaking, however, we might see the myth or the Kraken as an archetypal symbol for forces emanating from the collective unconscious or underworld.

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Kowalska, St. Maria Faustina Helena

St. Maria Faustina Helena Kowalska via Wikipedia

St. Maria Faustina Helena Kowalska (1905-1938 ) was one of the great Christian mystics of the 20th century. Originally Helena Kowalska, this Polish nun wrote what has been called the Divine Mercy Diary, narrating the daily struggles and joys of her unique convent life.

Hers differs from most other spiritual diaries by virtue of its immediacy and simplicity. With her health rapidly deteriorating, Faustina strove to follow the strict religious observances of her order. And with the permission of her superiors, she continued to write striking descriptions of her alleged encounters with Jesus, whom, she says, spoke to her on a near daily basis.

Her alleged mystical visions and encounters include seeing Jesus as a person of great beauty and grace. They also include seeing many souls suffering in hell and those bound for hell—some of these hell-bound souls apparently were fallen priests and religious persons.

In a way not entirely unlike the Hindu notion of karma transfer, Faustina claims to have suffered for the spiritual benefit of others. In essence, she claims that sin transfers from some souls to others. She wrote that Christ told her:

You are not living for yourself but for souls, and other souls will profit from your sufferings. Your prolonged suffering will give them the light and strength to accept my Will (Saint Maria Faustina Helena Kowalska, Divine Mercy in My Soul, 2^nd edition, Stockbridge Mass.: Marian Press, 1990, p. 34).

For believing Catholics, St. Faustina’s Diary is filled with the kind of simple, unpretentious wisdom that eludes so many apparently ‘great’ philosophers, scholars and intellectuals who are limited by the walls of their own conceptual corridors. St. Faustina writes that Jesus, in one visitation, said:

Speak to Me about everything in a completely simple and human way; by this you will give Me great joy. I understand you because I am God-Man. This simple language of your heart is more pleasing to Me than the hymns composed in My honor (Ibid., p. 316).

With regard to the idea of sacrificial love (agape), Faustina says that souls not in a state of grace caused her intense suffering by virtue of the spiritual transfer of sin and impurity:

Sometimes when I meet a soul that is not in a state of grace…the suffering is terrible (Ibid., p. 304).

She says solitary “heroic souls” are misunderstood and hated by the world but nonetheless receive strength from God as they prayerfully assist others with humility and courage:

They not only carry their own burden, but also know how to take on, and are capable of taking on, the burdens of others (Ibid., p. 329).

And she believes this essentially spiritual connection with other souls may occur at a distance:

During the night, I was suddenly awakened and knew that some soul was asking me for prayer, and that it was in much need of prayer. Briefly, but with all my soul, I asked the Lord for grace for her (Ibid., p. 319).

And again:

This evening, I felt in my soul that a certain person had need of my prayer. Immediately I began to pray. Suddenly I realize interiorly and am aware of who the spirit is who is asking this of me; I pray until I feel at peace (Ibid., p. 326).

Indeed, distance, seems to have little effect on interior perception:

For the Spirit, space does not exist. It sometimes happens that I know about a death occurring several hundred kilometers away (Ibid., p. 327).

Also, speaking of dying souls she says:

I feel vividly and clearly that spirit who is asking me for prayer. I was not aware that souls are so closely united, and often it is my Guardian Angel who tells me (Ibid., p. 325).

Concerning the idea of ‘spiritual warfare,’ in she recounts in another diary entry:

Today I have fought a battle with the spirits of darkness over one soul. How terribly Satan hates God’s mercy! I see how he opposes this whole work (Ibid., p. 320).

Faustina also says that even religious persons are far from perfect. Pettiness and jealousy figure prominently in the religious life, just as in the secular world:

I have experienced just how much envy there is, even in religious life. I see that there are few truly great souls, ready to trample on everything that is not God. O Soul, you will find no beauty outside of God. Oh, how fragile is the foundation of those who elevate themselves at the expense of others! What a loss! (Ibid., p. 326)

On a happier note, she writes that spiritually inclined souls recognize each other when they meet, even if not discussing religious matters:

A soul united with God…easily recognizes a similar soul, even if the latter has not revealed its interior [life] to it, but merely speaks in an ordinary way. It is a kind of spiritual kinship. Souls united with God are few, fewer than we think (Ibid., pp. 307-8).

Some might wonder if St. Faustina was merely hallucinating or imagining things. Nevertheless she, herself, openly admits to experiencing moments of doubt:

Once again, a terrible darkness envelops my soul. It seems to me that I am falling prey to illusions. When I went to confession to obtain some light and peace, I did not find these at all. The confessor left me with even more doubts than I had before (Ibid., p. 109).

And quite unlike many alleged psychics and mystics, she was concerned with verifying her interior perceptions:

Especially now, while I am in the hospital, I experience an inner communion with the dying who ask me for prayer when their agony begins…since this has been happening more frequently, I have been able to verify it, even to the exact hour (Ibid., p. 326).

While atheists and worldly-minded people would probably reduce Faustina’s claims to psychophysical aberrations,¹ for Catholic believers she represents the very best of their rich mystical tradition.

—

¹ For an alarmingly biased (and scientifically unsound) critique of parapsychology in general, see The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology, 4th edition (2009),  p. 555.

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Koran

11th Century North African Qur’an in the British Museum via Wikipedia

The Koran¹ is the Holy Book of the Muslims, believed to be the word of God sent through the angelic messenger Gabriel to the apparently illiterate Mohammed. According to tradition, Mohammed recited the revelations to his fellows who set them to writing.

The translation of the Koran into non-Arabic languages is not sanctioned by some conservative Muslims, although more liberally-minded Muslims seem to favor translations of their scripture into several different languages. In Lebanon, a pop music star was given a five year prison sentence for setting verses of the Koran to his songs.

The Koran incorporates much of Jewish and Christian scripture but with significantly different meanings. Jesus, for instance, is not depicted as the son of God. Instead, Jesus and his mother Mary are apparently sent to provide good examples for mankind.

Also, the Koran teaches that Jesus, as a respected prophet, did not really die by crucifixion, and his death contributed nothing towards the salvation of Mankind (Surah 3:38-50).

Not unlike the Old Testament but quite unlike the New Testament (NT), holy war (killing in defense of the Muslim faith) is sanctioned in certain circumstances. This is called jihad. Unlike the NT, it’s rightful for men to have sex with not only their wife but also with “female slaves.”

Polygamus marriage is also sanctioned. That is, one man may have several wives. One woman, however may not have several husbands.

Interestingly, in his book Prayer of the Warrior, the Catholic writer Michael H. Brown talks about an alleged apparition where the Blessed Virgin Mary tells onlookers that a Muslim man living in a small Yugoslavian village is a saint. Apparently all of the Catholics in attendance were shocked to hear that this non-Christian man was favored by the Virgin Mary.

—

¹ See Wikipedia for alternate spellings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qur%27an

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Koestler, Arthur

Arthur Koestler with Mamaine Paget, Robie Macauley and Flannery O'Connor via Wikipedia

Arthur Koestler (1905-83) was a Hungarian-born journalist and author who initially favored communism and wrote against the Nazis.

Koestler joined the German Communist Party (KPD) and was interned in a concentration camp but escaped to England in 1940, where he spent the rest of his life. By this time he’d broken with communism and had begun to explore political, scientific and humanistic themes through fiction and learned works.

He had a definite interest in the human brain, envisioning it as inherently conflicted due to an incomplete process of evolution. This idea of inherited conflict might have been more about him, however, and not the vast majority of people. He apparently was a misogynist and has gone on record for raping one woman.

Koestler also became interested in possible links between sub-atomic physics and parapsychology. And he wrote about the idea of coincidence, forwarding ideas remarkably similar to C. G. Jung’s concept of synchronicity. While this may surprise some, one has to remember that synchronicity is an ethically neutral concept. Dangerous madpersons, troubled neurotics and suffering saints may all experience – or believe they experience – the alleged parapsychological phenomena that Jung called synchronicity.

An advocate of euthanasia, Koestler and his wife both committed suicide when he developed a terminal illness.

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Koan

Bodhidharma, woodblock print by Yoshitoshi, 1887 via Wikipedia

What is the sound of one hand clapping? What is the color of the wind?

These apparently nonsensical questions exemplify the Zen Buddhist koan. Designed to tease the brain, koans push the disciple to reply to a questioning master through intuition instead of conventional logic or accumulated experience.

If the disciple doesn’t get the ‘right’ answer (according to the master’s alleged wisdom) in some Buddhist schools they may be struck by a bamboo rod.

A Freudian thinker might view this as an institutionalized form of sadism and/or masochism that activates a complex which stems from an abusive scene (from childhood or otherwise). Spiritually-minded believers, however, would see that as a simplistic and culturally biased interpretation.

For believers, the koan comes from a legitimate historical and legendary tradition, traceable to the sage Bodhidharma. And its use (and perhaps physical scolding for ‘wrong’ answers) apparently helps the aspirant to achieve satori, which believers say is an ultimate experience that’s difficult to describe.

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¹ “Kōans originate in the sayings and events in the lives of sages and legendary figures, usually those authorized to teach in a lineage that regards Bodhidharma (c. 5th–6th century) as its ancestor. Kōans reflect the enlightened or awakened state of such persons and sometimes confound the habit of discursive thought or shock the mind into awareness.” (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dan)

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