210 lines
8.3 KiB
Plaintext
210 lines
8.3 KiB
Plaintext
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PURITY
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Purity is the counterpart to sincerity. It is prized and sought
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after in every religion as the foundation for proper action. The
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religions of China and Japan emphasize that even before exerting effort, a
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person should purify his or her heart. Passages in this section use the
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motifs of the mirror and ablution with water to set forth the idea of
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inward purity of mind. Such ideas of purity are found everywhere, but
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purity is particularly central to Shinto, as represented here by a central
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chapter from the Kojiki in which the very creation of the gods takes place
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through purification.
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Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
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Christianity. Matthew 5.8
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By purity of heart alone is the holy Eternal attained.
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Sikhism. Adi Granth, Asa-ki-Var, M.1, p. 472
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Filth on hands, feet, and body may be washed off with water;
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Clothes fouled by dirt may be washed with soap;
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The mind fouled by sin and evil
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May only be cleansed by devotion to God.
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Sikhism. Adi Granth, Japuji 20, M.1, p. 4
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For everything there is an appropriate way of polishing; the heart's
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polishing is the remembrance of God.
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Islam. Hadith of Tirmidhi
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O my brother! A pure heart is as a mirror; cleanse it with the burnish of
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love and severance from all save God, that the true sun may shine within
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it and the eternal morning dawn.
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Baha'i Faith. The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys, 21
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Matthew 5.8: Cf. Psalm 24.3-6, p. 229; Dhammapada 183, p. 715. Hadith of
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Tirmidhi: Cf. Qur'an 2.222, p. 902.
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Even as a mirror stained by dust
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Shines brilliantly when it has been cleansed,
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So the embodied one, on seeing the nature of the Self,
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Becomes unitary, his end attained, from sorrow freed.
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Hinduism. Svetasvatara Upanishad 2.14
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All you who come before me, hoping to attain the accomplishment of your
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desires, pray with hearts pure from falsehood, clean within and without,
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reflecting the truth like a mirror.
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Shinto. Oracle of Temmangu
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The mind of the perfect man is like a mirror. It does not lean forward or
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backward in its response to things. It responds to things but conceals
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nothing of its own. Therefore it is able to deal with things without
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injury to [its reality].
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Taoism. Chuang Tzu 7
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Though I had nothing to eat but a red-hot ball of iron, I will never
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accept the most savory food offered by a person with an impure mind.
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Though I were sitting upon a blazing fire hot enough to melt copper, I
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will never go to visit the place of a person with a polluted mind.
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Shinto. Oracle of the Kami Hachiman
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Should clothing be rendered impure if blood-stained, How reckon pure the
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way of those who suck human blood? Saith Nanak: Utter God's Name with thy
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tongue in purity of heart-- That alone is true religion; All else is
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worldly show and false deeds.
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Sikhism. Adi Granth, Var Majh, M.1, p. 140
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The body is cleansed by water, the internal organ is purified by
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truthfulness, the individual soul by sacred learning and austerities, the
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intellect by true knowledge.
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Hinduism. Laws of Manu 5.109
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Svetasvatara Upanishad 2.14: The mirror of the soul is cleansed through
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meditation, pp. 842f. Oracle of Temmangu: Here makoto is translated
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'truth,' but it in fact connotes sincerity and inner coherence. See
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Divine Injunctions, p. 721. On Temmangu, see p. 246n. Chuang Tzu 7: Cf.
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Dhammapada 95, p. 230; Garland Sutra 10. This verse also has to do with
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an attitude of detachment; see Diamond Sutra 10, p. 933. Oracle of the
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Kami Hachiman: This is one of the Oracles of the Three Shrines, printed on
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hanging scrolls and found hung in homes throughout Japan. Var Majh, M.1:
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Cf. Asa-ki-Var, M.1, p. 225. Laws of Manu 5.109: Cf. Bhagavad Gita
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4.37-38, p. 790; Udana 6, p. 858.
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If any one purifies himself from what is ignoble, then he will be a vessel
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consecrated and useful to the Master of the house, ready for any good
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work. So shun youthful passions and aim at righteousness, faith, love,
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and peace, along with those who call upon the Lord with a pure heart.
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Christianity. 2 Timothy 2.21-22
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Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being;
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therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
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Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
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wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
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Fill me with joy and gladness;
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let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice.
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Hide thy face from my sins,
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and blot out all my iniquities.
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Create in me a clean heart, O God,
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and put a new and right spirit within me.
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Judaism and Christianity. Psalms 51.6-10
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"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
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remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes.
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Cease to do evil, learn to do good.
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Seek justice, correct oppression.
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Defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.
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"Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord.
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"Though your sins are like scarlet,
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they shall be as white as snow;
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though they are red like crimson,
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they shall become like wool.
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If you are willing and obedient
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you shall eat the good of the land;
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But if you refuse and rebel,
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you shall be devoured by the sword;
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for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
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Judaism and Christianity. Isaiah 1.16-20
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Izanagi said, "I have been to a most unpleasant, a horrible,
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unclean land [the underworld]. Therefore I shall purify myself." Arriving
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at the plain Ahakihara by the river-mouth of Tachibana in Himuka in
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Tsukushi, he purified and exorcised himself....
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After taking off the articles worn on his body, he said, "The
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current of the upper stream is a current too swift; the current in the
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lower stream is a current too weak." Then, when he went down and dived
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into the middle stream and bathed, there came into existence a deity named
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Yasomagatsuhi-no-kami [Numerous Forces of Misfortune]; next,
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Omagatsuhi-no-kami [Spirit of Great Calamity]. These two deities came
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into existence from the pollution which he took on when he went to that
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unclean land.
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Next, in order to rectify these evils, there came into existence
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the deity Kannaobi-no-kami [Divine Renewal God]; next, Onaobi-no-kami
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[Great Renewal God]; next, Izunome-no-kami.
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Next, when he bathed at the bottom of the water, there came into
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existence the deity named Sokotsuwatatsumi-no-kami [Bottom Sea-Spirit
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Deity] and Sokotsutsunoo-no-kami [Bottom Spirit Male Lord]. Next, when he
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bathed in the middle, there came into existence the deity named
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Nakatsuwatatsumi-no-kami [Middle Sea-Spirit Deity] and
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Nakatsutsunoo-no-kami [Middle Spirit Male Lord]. When he bathed at the
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surface of the water, there came into existence the deity named
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Uwatsuwatatsumi-no-kami [Upper Sea-Spirit Deity] and Uwatsutsunoo-no-kami
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[Upper Spirit Male Lord]....
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Then when he washed his left eye, there came into existence a deity
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named Amaterasu-omi-kami.
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Next, when he washed his right eye, there came into existence a
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deity named Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto [the Moon god].
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Next, when he washed his nose, there came into existence the deity
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named Susanoo-no-mikoto.
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Shinto. Kojiki 11
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2 Timothy 2.21-22: Cf. Hebrews 9.11-14, p. 521; Titus 1.15, p. 725;
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Analects 2.2, p. 926. Kojiki 11: Izanagi must purify himself after
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visiting the land of the dead. The first fruits of his purification are
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deities of misfortune, representing the pollutions which he is casting
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off; the next three deities are the great gods of purification who are
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entreated in the Shinto rite of shubatsu (purification) to this day. The
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following three pairs of kami are ancestral deities of various clans in
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Japan, and the final fruits of purification are the major deities:
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Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess and chief Shinto diety, and Susanoo,
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Amaterasu's rival and a storm god; see Kojiki 19, p. 626n. This passage
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is a scriptural root for the widespread concern for purification of both
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body and mind in Shinto. Cf. Engishiki 8, p. 522.
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