Transtheism

Transtheismrefers to a system of thought orreligious philosophythat is neithertheisticnoratheistic,but is beyond them. The word was coined by either theologianPaul TillichorIndologistHeinrich Zimmer.

Zimmer applies the term toJainism,which is theistic in the limited sense that gods exist but are irrelevant as they are transcended bymoksha(that is, a system that is notnon-theistic,but in which the gods are not the highest spiritual instance). Zimmer (1953, p. 182) uses the term to describe the position of theTirthankarashaving passed "beyond the godly governors of the natural order."

The term has more recently also been applied toBuddhism,Advaita Vedanta,and theBhakti movement.

Terminology

Transpolytheism and transtheism

Main concepts of transtheism are transpolytheism and transtheism.

Nathan Katz inBuddhist and Western Philosophy(1981, p. 446) points out that the term "transpolytheistic" would be more accurate, since it entails that the polytheisticgodsare not denied nor rejected even after the development of a notion of theAbsolutethat transcends them, but criticizes the classification as characterizing the mainstream by the periphery: "like categorizing Roman Catholicism as a good example of non-Nestorianism."For example, in Buddhism, there are multiple deities, but its main focus is not on them. ScholarPeter Harveycalls this "trans-polytheistic." The term is indeed informed by the fact that the corresponding development in the West, the development ofmonotheism,did not attempt to "transcend" polytheism but to abolish it, while in the mainstream of theIndian religions,the notion of "gods" (deva) was never elevated to the status of "God" orIshvara,or the impersonal AbsoluteBrahman,but adopted roles comparable to Westernangels."Transtheism," according to the criticism of Katz, is then an artifact ofcomparative religion.

Paul TillichusestranstheisticinThe Courage to Be(1952), as an aspect ofStoicism.Tillich stated that Stoicism andNeo-Stoicism

are the way in which some of the noblest figures in later antiquity and their followers in modern times have answered the problem of existence and conquered the anxieties of fate and death. Stoicism in this sense is a basic religious attitude, whether it appears in theistic, atheistic, or transtheistic forms.

Like Zimmer, Tillich is trying to express a religious notion that is neither theistic nor atheistic. However, the theism that is being transcended in Stoicism according to Tillich is not polytheism as in Jainism, butmonotheism,pursuing an ideal of humancouragethat has emancipated itself from God.

The courage to take meaninglessness into itself presupposes a relation to the ground of being which we have called 'absolute faith.' It is without a special content, yet it is not without content. The content of absolute faith is the 'god above God.' Absolute faith and its consequence, the courage that takes the radical doubt, the doubt about God, into itself, transcends the theistic idea of God.

Martin Bubercriticized Tillich's "transtheistic position" as a reduction of God to the impersonal, "necessary being" ofThomas Aquinas.

Buddhism as transtheistic

Following the term coined by Tillich and Zimmer, Buddhism, namely Theravada Buddhism, can be regarded as a transpolytheistic religion.This can be evident by the transcendence of the state ofNibbana(Nirvana) that surpasses all the realms of existence, including the planes ofdevasandbrahmaswho are considered gods inBuddhist cosmology.The historical Buddha made it clear that the path to enlightenment does not depend on a god or gods. Although there is acknowledgment of a multitude of gods in the oldest Buddhist scriptures, there is also reference toMahabrahma,who considered himself to be the all-powerful all-creator god, only to be critiqued by the Buddha as having wrongly perceived his plane of existence as the highest.

Nevertheless, these deities remain an inseparable aspect of the Buddhist worldview. The Buddha recommended meditation on the virtues of the devas as one of several means of cultivating good mental qualities, as it was mentioned in the Mahanama Sutta.In the Paṭhamamahānāma Sutta (AN 11.11) and the Samgyutta Agama (T. ii 237c9), the Buddha recommends that a disciple recollect each category of deity and their qualities offaith(saddha),ethics(sīla),learning(suta),renunciation(cāga), andwisdom(pañña). This fivefold enumeration of virtues is known in Chinese Buddhism as the "five virtues of a householder" ( ở nhà năm pháp or listed tin giới thi nghe tuệ ). It is notable that the Chinese text also lists six virtues ( sáu pháp ), drawing a distinction betweengiving(dāna;Thi ) and renunciation (tyāga;Xá ).

ThePure Abodesare also a significant aspect of Buddhist soteriology because the deities born there areanāgāmins.As with the function of thepure landsinMahayana Buddhism,this explicitly presents certain deities with the ability to accessnirvana,which confirms that their status is an indication of advancement on the path of liberation.

See also

• Antitheism
• Apatheism
• Ietsism
• Jain cosmology
• Nonduality
• Nontheism
• Nontheistic religions
• Pantheism
• Post-monotheism
• Post-theism
• Prakirnaka Sutra
• Syntheism
• Transcendence (religious)

References

• Ruth Reyna, Dictionary of Oriental Philosophy, Munshiram Manoharlal (1984).
• Heinrich Robert Zimmer,Philosophies of India,ed.Joseph Campbell(1953).

External links

• The dictionary definition oftranstheisticat Wiktionary
• Media related toTranstheismat Wikimedia Commons