S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 7 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 2 1 9 Slavomír Gálik spirituality. Though it was very difficult for her to be separated from her father, she decided to enroll in a convent. This internal fight caused a serious psycho-spiritual crisis that had a negative impact on her health. The most severe crisis came in 1537 when she lost consciousness, and everybody thought she would die [6]. She regained her consciousness again after four days but fought with the consequent health problems for long months. Spirituality of St. Teresa of Ávila is based on friendship with Jesus. This relationship culminates in mystical unification, also called spiritual marriage. She describes it in the seventh chamber of her Interior Castle (1921, 121): “But spiritual marriage is like rain falling from heaven into a river or stream, becoming one and the same liquid, so that the river and rainwater cannot be divided; or it resembles a streamlet flowing into the ocean, which cannot afterwards be disunited from it. This marriage may also be likened to a room into which a bright light enters through two windows — though divided when it enters, the light becomes one and the same.” In other words, we can say that her case describes a total unification of the soul with God, which traditional Christian mysticism calls unio. The second, equally important component of St. Teresa’s spirituality is in the road that led her to spiritual fulfilment. St. Teresa of Ávila had a great talent regarding spiritual life and could develop it even further in a convent – through prayer, contemplation, silence and isolation from the outside world. Yet, it is also probable that her spirituality was greatly influenced by her spiritual crisis in the beginning of her life in the convent, her experience in 1537 with almost dying and conversion when contemplating the Agony of Christ painting in 1554. This all enhanced her spiritual desire (Sudbrack 1995, 47). The most important description of St. Teresa’s steps that lead to the completion of her mission can be seen in the seven stages of prayer, these correspond to the seven mansions of her Interior Castle. The first three stages describe purification of the soul (Lat. purification). The fourth stage is the place in which deeper spiritual experiences begins, these correspond to the illumination phase (Lat. illuminatio). Teresa says (Teresa 1921, 39): “Henceforth they begin to be supernatural and it will be most difficult to speak clearly about them.” The fifth stage of prayer is transformation, described also as mystical death [7]. On this transformation Teresa says (Teresa 1921, 58): “Now let us see what becomes of the ‘silkworm,’ for all I have been saying leads to this. As soon as, by means of this prayer, the soul becomes entirely dead to the world, it comes forth like a lovely little white butterfly!” The sixth stage of prayer means preparation for spiritual marriage, with visions, inner voices and other mystical experiences. However, spiritual marriage takes place in the Seventh mansion – the seventh stage of prayer. 3.1.2 Buddhism – Zen Buddhism – Rōshi Jiyu-Kennett The ultimate goal of Buddhism is enlightenment, which we can also see when we look at the etymology of the word: Buddha means “awakened”, “enlightened” both in Sanskrit and Pāli. In Sanskrit, this ultimate goal is also articulated as nirvāna (nibbāna in Pāli), which indicates this condition exceeds everything that is temporary and conditioned. Thus, nirvāna is unconditioned and goes beyond I–world dualism. Mircea Eliade explains that Buddha did not define nirvāna but would constantly turn towards its features: “He says that arhats [note: enlightened saints] have achieved unshakeable happiness, that nirvana is a bliss, that he, blessed, is immortal and monks can be immortal too: You will live. Arhats are freed in their lives; they enjoy nirvana and bliss and spend their time with Brahma.” (Eliade 1997, 85). In Buddhism, the path to awakening (freeing, enlightenment) is equally important. Buddha explains that we first need to know the correct path to walk along. In this respect, Buddha’s teaching mentions Four noble truths and, most importantly, an Eightfold path that leads to awakening. We can see a detailed explanation of this Eightfold path that leads to nirvāna in Abhidharma (ancient Buddhist texts). In order to succeed, we need to master meditation, which, according to Abhidharma, is composed of three parts: mindful breathing (Pi. ānāpānasati), mindful walking (Pi. chankamanasati), and loving kindness (Pi. mettā bhāvanā). All of these three concepts describe focusing of attention, its continuity and even realization of being disturbed and similar concepts. In Buddhism, knowledge, or wisdom, is a very important complementary condition in meditation. This means that the person who mediates and experiences various stages of consciousness is also able to describe these stages. Buddhism is primarily a practical guide to achieve awakening, the fact that it deals with metaphysical aspects that are related to humans and the world is of secondary importance.
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