Indra’s Net & Timelessness - exploring a metaphor for timeless ways of learning
what is the indra’s jaal ?
source: http://www.wikiwand.com
Indra's net, known in Sanskrit as the Indrajāla is a metaphor which originates from the Atharva Veda, which likens the world to a net woven by the great deity Shakra or Indra.
The net is said to be infinite and it is spread in all directions with no beginning or end. At each node of the net is a jewel, arranged in a way that every jewel reflects all the other jewels. No jewel exists completely by itself or independently.
It stands as an explanation to the nature of reality and cosmology.
The Mahayana school in the third-century Avatamsaka Sutra followed by the Huayan school used it to illustrate the concepts of Śūnyatā (emptiness), Pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination) and interpenetration in Buddhist philosophy.
indrajāla as a metaphor for values of timeless ways of learning
The key attributes of the Indrajāla that could be identified are:ORGANIC UNITY & HOLOGRAPHIC EXISTENCE
That there is an organic unity between the whole and the parts.
That the microcosm is as much a part of the macrocosm and that each microcosm contains the entire macrocosm, almost having a holographic existence.
TIMELESSNESS
Transcends time and space, lending meaning to the nature of reality
INTER-RELATIONSHIP OF PARTS WITH THE WHOLE
That there is connectedness between each jewel and between the jewels and the net, called ‘bandhu’ in the vedic texts. Also, the void between entities provides meaning to the whole and is not merely the absence of matter
DEPENDENT ORIGINATION
No entity, objects, ideas, thoughts exist in isolation from its own side (shunyata) and are dependent on other entities surrounding it. IMPERMANENCE
Given the reflective nature of the parts, each entity exists only momentarily.
The whole is always in a state of flux because, a change to one, affects the others in the net.
CORRESPONDENCE TO OTHER DOMAINS OF KNOWLEDGE
Natyashastra, as encompassing the knowledge of cosmology.
How dance/ music/performance have elements within the underlying grammar that mirrors reality.
tessellations as carriers of the values of timeless ways of learning
The attributes of this metaphor may be treated as the values of the concept of timelessness itself.
To me, this metaphor helps understand the more complex concepts of not just cosmology, but find direct correspondence with familiar domains that we encounter in every ay life.
Being a creative practitioner, this metaphor allows me to visualize an otherwise vast and unfathomable concept in a simple manner and therefore helps me map it to other areas of understanding.
It is with this understanding, I would like to propose the values or virtues of timeless ways of learning and what that can look like, through another co-related metaphor, that of a tessellation.
What if a learning unit were to possess these virtues,
source: http://www.wikiwand.com
Indra's net, known in Sanskrit as the Indrajāla is a metaphor which originates from the Atharva Veda, which likens the world to a net woven by the great deity Shakra or Indra.
The net is said to be infinite and it is spread in all directions with no beginning or end. At each node of the net is a jewel, arranged in a way that every jewel reflects all the other jewels. No jewel exists completely by itself or independently.
It stands as an explanation to the nature of reality and cosmology.
The Mahayana school in the third-century Avatamsaka Sutra followed by the Huayan school used it to illustrate the concepts of Śūnyatā (emptiness), Pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination) and interpenetration in Buddhist philosophy.
indrajāla as a metaphor for values of timeless ways of learning
The key attributes of the Indrajāla that could be identified are:ORGANIC UNITY & HOLOGRAPHIC EXISTENCE
That there is an organic unity between the whole and the parts.
That the microcosm is as much a part of the macrocosm and that each microcosm contains the entire macrocosm, almost having a holographic existence.
TIMELESSNESS
Transcends time and space, lending meaning to the nature of reality
INTER-RELATIONSHIP OF PARTS WITH THE WHOLE
That there is connectedness between each jewel and between the jewels and the net, called ‘bandhu’ in the vedic texts. Also, the void between entities provides meaning to the whole and is not merely the absence of matter
DEPENDENT ORIGINATION
No entity, objects, ideas, thoughts exist in isolation from its own side (shunyata) and are dependent on other entities surrounding it. IMPERMANENCE
Given the reflective nature of the parts, each entity exists only momentarily.
The whole is always in a state of flux because, a change to one, affects the others in the net.
CORRESPONDENCE TO OTHER DOMAINS OF KNOWLEDGE
Natyashastra, as encompassing the knowledge of cosmology.
How dance/ music/performance have elements within the underlying grammar that mirrors reality.
tessellations as carriers of the values of timeless ways of learning
The attributes of this metaphor may be treated as the values of the concept of timelessness itself.
To me, this metaphor helps understand the more complex concepts of not just cosmology, but find direct correspondence with familiar domains that we encounter in every ay life.
Being a creative practitioner, this metaphor allows me to visualize an otherwise vast and unfathomable concept in a simple manner and therefore helps me map it to other areas of understanding.
It is with this understanding, I would like to propose the values or virtues of timeless ways of learning and what that can look like, through another co-related metaphor, that of a tessellation.
What if a learning unit were to possess these virtues,
what would it look like?
tessellations as timeless learning units
- Learning units as the repeating pieces of this tessellation, identical in the way that they disseminate learning.
- Transformation in one affects the other and hence learning as a whole
- Units intersecting in ways that complete each other
- Considering tessellations are endless, the scope of learning and practice can be expanded in any direction by mere additions.
- It will break the linearity of learning units and resolve the conflict between the ‘ought to know’ but ‘do not know’.
- Each unit will therefore have overlaps with 2-4 domains of learning.
- Interface with other kinds of units will build the basis for curiosity to explore them and beyond.
References
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga5gQ5R80dw
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Indra's_net#/Notes
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Avatamsaka_Sutra
http://www.hindupost.in/society-culture/vedic-metaphor-indras-net/
https://mindfulnesshealing.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/spiderweb2.jpg
http://fpmt.org/education/#mantrassutras
http://www.heartspace.org/misc/IndraNet.html
THE HANDBOOK OF TIBETAN BUDDHIST SYMBOLS – Beer, Robert (2003), Serindia Publications
THE HEART OF PRAJNA PARAMITA SUTRA – Buddhist Text Translation Society, California, USA
tessellations as timeless learning units
- Learning units as the repeating pieces of this tessellation, identical in the way that they disseminate learning.
- Transformation in one affects the other and hence learning as a whole
- Units intersecting in ways that complete each other
- Considering tessellations are endless, the scope of learning and practice can be expanded in any direction by mere additions.
- It will break the linearity of learning units and resolve the conflict between the ‘ought to know’ but ‘do not know’.
- Each unit will therefore have overlaps with 2-4 domains of learning.
- Interface with other kinds of units will build the basis for curiosity to explore them and beyond.
References
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga5gQ5R80dw
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Indra's_net#/Notes
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Avatamsaka_Sutra
http://www.hindupost.in/society-culture/vedic-metaphor-indras-net/
https://mindfulnesshealing.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/spiderweb2.jpg
http://fpmt.org/education/#mantrassutras
http://www.heartspace.org/misc/IndraNet.html
THE HANDBOOK OF TIBETAN BUDDHIST SYMBOLS – Beer, Robert (2003), Serindia Publications
THE HEART OF PRAJNA PARAMITA SUTRA – Buddhist Text Translation Society, California, USA
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