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Polarity, Relationality, And Interdependence
World Scripture
POLARITY, RELATIONALITY, AND INTERDEPENDENCE
A result of the transcendent law at work in the creation and sustenance of the
cosmos is that the cosmos evidences order, regularity, and mutuality. All
existences, great and small, are linked in a web of interdependent
relationships. Every relationship has a certain polarity and a certain order,
and there is dynamic, mutual movement, and exchange between male and female,
heaven and earth, mind and matter, subject and object, light and dark, being
and non-being, this and that, myself and the other. The movement within and
between beings in relationship is the source of generation and creative power.
This motion is seen in the regular cycles of nature, the changing seasons. It
is sometimes mythically represented by the cosmic union of god and goddess, of
male and female principles.
In addition, interdependence is the basis for teachings which deny egoism and
acquisitiveness while encouraging compassion and reciprocity. The Buddhist and
Taoist understandings of causality link all beings into an interdependent whole
of which the individual is but one part, and this is the basis for the attitude
of no-self and the ethic of compassion. Each person is his neighbor; any
distinction between myself as subject and the other as object is illusory.
The Great Primal Beginning (t'ai chi) generates the two primary forces [yang
and yin]. The two primary forces generate...the great field of action.
1. Confucianism. I Ching, Great Commentary 1.11.5-6
And of everything created We two kinds; haply you will remember.
2. Islam. Qur'an 51.49
Beauty arises from the fusion of extremes into a harmonious oneness.
3. Unification Church. Sun Myung Moon 9-11-79
All things are twofold, one opposite the other,
and he has made nothing incomplete.
One confirms the good things of the other,
and who can have enough of beholding his glory?
4. Christianity. Sirach 42.24-25
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male
and female he created them.
5. Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Genesis 1.27
The Originator of the heavens and the earth; He has appointed for you of
yourselves spouses, and pairs also of the cattle, by means of which He
multiplies you.
6. Islam. Qur'an 42.11
All life, all pulsation in creation throbs with the mighty declaration of the
biune truth of Shiva-Shakti, the eternal He and the eternal She at play in
manifestation.
7. Hinduism. Kularnava Tantra 3
The creator, out of desire to procreate, devoted himself to concentrated ardor
(tapas). Whilst thus devoted to concentrated ardor, he produced a couple,
Matter and Life (prana), saying to himself, "these two will produce all manner
of creatures for me." Now Life is the Sun; Matter is the Moon.
8. Hinduism. Prasna Upanishad 1.4-5
The Master said, "Heaven and earth come together, and all things take shape and
find form. Male and female mix their seed, and all creatures take shape and
are born." In the Changes it is said, "When three people journey together,
their number decreases by one. When one man journeys alone, he finds a
companion."
9. Confucianism. I Ching, Great Commentary 2.4.13
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Sun Myung Moon 9-11-79: Cf. Book of Ritual 19, p. 325. Kularnava Tantra 3: In
the Tantra this defines a Mantra 'Ham-sa,' identified with the breath, inhaling
and exhaling. Prasna Upanishad 1.4-5: Tradition has speculated on the fact
that Matter (rayi) is feminine and prana, that is Life or energy, is masculine.
This is another expression of the polarity of Purusha and prakriti, or Shiva
and Shakti. Cf. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.3, p. 252; Rig Veda 10.129, p.
130; 10.190.1-3, p. 150; Bhagavad Gita. 13.19-26, p. 178; Shiva Purana, p. 179.
I Ching, Great Commentary 2.4.13: Cf. I Ching, Great Commentary 1.4.1-4, p. 324.
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Observe how all God's creations borrow from each other: day borrows from night
and night from day, but they do not go to law one with another as mortals
do.... The moon borrows from the stars and the stars from the moon... the sky
borrows from the earth and the earth from the sky.... All God's creatures
borrow from the other, yet make peace with one another without lawsuits; but if
man borrows from his friend, he seeks to swallow him up with usury and robbery.
10. Judaism. Midrash, Exodus Rabbah 31.15
When the sun goes, the moon comes; when the moon goes, the sun comes. Sun and
moon alternate; thus light comes into existence. When cold goes, heat comes;
when heat goes, cold comes. Cold and heat alternate, and thus the year
completes itself. The past contracts. The future expands. Contraction and
expansion act upon each other; hereby arises that which furthers.
The measuring worm draws itself together when it wants to stretch out. Dragons
and snakes hibernate in order to preserve life. Thus the penetration of
germinal thought into the mind promotes the workings of the mind. When this
working furthers and brings peace to life, it elevates a man's nature.
11. Confucianism. I Ching, Great Commentary 2.5.2-3
Which of these two came earlier, which came later?
How did they come to birth? Who, O Seers, can discern it?
They contain within them all that has a name,
while days and nights revolve as on a wheel.
You two, though motionless and footless, nurture
a varied offspring having feet and movement.
Like parents clasping children to their bosoms,
O Heaven and Earth, deliver us from evil!
These twin maidens (day and night), like two friendly sisters
nestled close together, rest in their parents' bosom
and kiss together the center of the world.
O Heaven and Earth, deliver us from evil!
12. Hinduism. Rig Veda 1.185.1,2,5
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I Ching, Great Commentary 2.5.2-3: The philosophy of the I Ching emphasizes the
constant dynamic interchange of yang and yin. Every action engenders its
opposite. One who wishes to prosper should understand the principles of change
and use them to his advantage; cf. Chuang Tzu 22, p. 550 and 27, p. 153. Hence
the example: he who wishes to create and expand must first look within and
concentrate the self--cf. Chuang Tzu 12, p. 589. Exodus Rabbah 31.15: Cf.
Isaiah 1.2-3, p. 456.
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Heaven is high, the earth is low; thus the Creative and the Receptive are
determined. In correspondence with this difference between low and high,
inferior and superior places are established.
Movement and rest have their definite laws; according to these, firm and
yielding lines [of the hexagrams] are differentiated.
Events follow definite trends, each according to its nature. Things are
distinguished from one another in definite classes. In this way good fortune
and misfortune come about. In the heavens phenomena take form; on earth shapes
take form. In this way change and transformation become manifest.
Therefore the eight trigrams succeed one another by turns, as the firm and the
yielding displace each other.
Things are aroused by thunder and lightning; they are fertilized by wind and
rain. Sun and moon follow their courses and it is now hot, now cold.
The way of the Creative brings about the male.
The way of the Receptive brings about the female.
The Creative knows the great beginnings.
The Receptive completes the finished things.
13. Confucianism. I Ching, Great Commentary 1.1.1-5
Know that prakriti (nature, energy) and Purusha (spirit) are both without
beginning, and that from prakriti come the gunas (qualities of the phenomenal
world) and all that changes. Prakriti is the agent, cause, and effect of every
action, but it is Purusha that seems to experience pleasure and pain. Purusha,
resting in prakriti, witnesses the play of the gunas born of prakriti. But
attachment to the gunas leads a person to be born for good or evil. Within the
body the supreme Purusha is called the witness, approver, supporter, enjoyer,
the supreme Lord, the highest Self... Whatever exists, Arjuna, animate or
inanimate, is born through the union of the field and its Knower.
14. Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 13.19-22, 26
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I Ching, Great Commentary 1.1.1-5: The philosophy of Change finds its concrete
form in the system of divination of the I Ching, with its 64 hexagrams, each
composed of two trigrams. Each of the six lines of the hexagram may be either
yang or yin, firm or yielding. Because these lines change into each other
according to rule: firm yang becoming yielding yin, firm yin becoming yielding
yang, the hexagrams denote a fortune that is dynamic and has various potentials
for change. This passage is a commentary on two paradigmatic hexagrams: the
Creative (ch'ien) is composed of all six yang lines and the Receptive (k'un) is
composed of all six yin lines. Bhagavad Gita 13.19-22, 26: The cosmos is
formed by the polarity of Purusha--mind, consciousness, divinity--and
prakriti--matter, energy, the world of nature. However, in monistic Vedanta,
the duality of Purusha and prakriti is not at all benign or supportive of
enlightenment, it is rather a fetter to be transcended. Cf. Mundaka Upanishad
3.1.1-3, p. 387.
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The original Being without a second, with neither beginning nor end... the
Supreme Brahman, the all-pervasive and undecaying, vanished. The manifest form
of that formless Being is Shiva. Scholars of the ancient and succeeding ages
have sung of it as Ishvara.
Ishvara, though alone, then created the physical form Shakti from his body.
This Shakti did not affect his body in any way.
Shakti is called by various names: Pradhana, Prakriti, Maya, Gunavati, Para.
She is the mother of Cosmic Intelligence, without modification. That Shakti is
Matter-energy (prakriti), the goddess of all and the prime cause and mother of
the three gunas....
The supreme Purusha is Shiva. He has no other lord over Him.... In the form of
Time (Kala) together with Shakti, they simultaneously created the holy center
called Shivaloka. It is the seat of salvation shining over and above
everything. The holy center is of the nature of supreme Bliss inasmuch as the
primordial lovers, supremely blissful, made the beautiful holy center their
perpetual abode.
15. Hinduism. Shiva Purana, Rudrasamhita I.16
The deities Izanagi and Izanami descended from Heaven to the island Ono-goro
and erected a heavenly pillar and a spacious palace.... "Let us, you and me,
walk in a circle around this heavenly pillar and meet and have conjugal
intercourse," said Izanagi. "You walk around from the right, and I will walk
around from the left and meet you."... They united and gave birth to children,
[the eight islands of Japan].
16. Shinto. Kojiki 4-6
In space
is the triangle;
here meditate.
Thence the circles
in right order,
and the divine forms
appearing in due order..
In the lotus
lies knowledge;
here is union
Thence bliss
self-experiencing,
which is bodhicitta
and is thought of enlightenment
Therefore the Innate is twofold, for Wisdom is the woman and Means is the man.
Thereafter these both become twofold, distinguished as absolute and relative.
In man there is this twofold nature: the thought of enlightenment [relative]
and the bliss arising from it [absolute]; in woman too it is the same, the
thought of enlightenment and the bliss arising from it.
17. Buddhism. Hevajra Tantra 8.26-29
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Kojiki 4-6: In Shinto, the deities Izanagi and Izanami correspond to the male
and female principles. The union of opposites is seen as the source of life,
divine and human. However, the deities at first erred in this ritual; the
complete text is given on p. 431. Hevajra Tantra 8.26-29: This Tantric text
advocates the attainment of enlightenment by the union of Wisdom (prajna) and
Means (upaya), the female and male principles. The first column describes the
Means, a meditation surrounded by certain geometric symbols, and the second
column describes the unfolding of Wisdom.
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When ones accumulate to become ten, it becomes a complete being. Heaven is
three because positivity and negativity harmonize to produce the neutral. Earth
is three because positivity and negativity come together to produce the one.
Man is three because man and woman come together to produce the one. The three
poles are added together to form six. The processes of life are manifested
through the seven, eight, and nine.
The Ultimate One achieves the four by the movement of the three [poles]. The
five becomes the seven by a circular movement, and then returns to the One as
life flows on mysteriously. Although myriads of things come out from the One,
flow, are used, and change, the root is always present in all movement coming
and going. It lies in man to highly brighten the core of his mind like the sun.
Heaven is one, earth is one, and they move as one body. The end of a finite
being is a return to the endless; the beginning and the end are one.
18. Korean Religions: Chun Boo Kyung
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Chun Boo Kyung: This cryptic text plays with numbers one to ten but never
explains what these numbers mean, leaving much to interpretation. Many see the
Chun Boo Kyung as setting forth a theory of generation, movement, and return.
The theory of generation states that the three poles, interpreted as mind,
life, and energy, or positive, negative, and neutral (see Chun Boo Kyung, p.
95), are generated through the harmony of subject and object. This generates
the power of growth through nine stages to maturity, the tenth stage. The
theory of movement describes a circular or spherical motion of the three poles
centered on the Ultimate One, thus creating a unified body of four positions.
It is said that man should similarly brighten his mind by centering on the
Ultimate and participating in this movement. Finally, the theory of return
affirms that all things return to their origin and continually change into new
forms of existence.
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Thirty spokes share one hub to make a wheel.
Through its not-being (wu),
There being (yu) the use of the carriage.
Mold clay into a vessel.
Through its not-being,
There being the use of the vessel.
Cut out doors and windows to make a house.
Through its not-being
There being the use of the house.
Therefore in the being of a thing,
There lies the benefit;
In the not-being of a thing,
There lies its use.
19. Taoism. Tao Te Ching 11
Every existence has both internal character [mind] and external form [body];
accordingly, its purpose is two-fold. One purpose pertains to internal
character and the other to external form. The purpose pertaining to internal
character is for the whole, while the purpose pertaining to external form is
for the individual. These relate to each other as cause and effect, internal
and external, and subject and object. Therefore, there cannot be any purpose
of the individual apart from the purpose of the whole, nor any purpose of the
whole that does not include the purpose of the individual. All the creatures
in the entire universe form a vast complex linked together by these dual
purposes.
20. Unification Church. Divine Principle I.1.3.1
This world of men, given over to the idea of "I am the agent," bound up with
the idea "a