The Heart of Wang Daiyu’s Philosophy: The Seven Subtleties of Islamic Spiritual Physiology*
In: Journal of Sufi StudiesSearch for other papers by Kristian Petersen in
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Abstract
The True Explanation of the Orthodox Teaching (Zhengjiao zhenquan 正教真詮), published in 1642 by Wang Daiyu 王岱輿 (ca. 1590–1658), is the oldest extant text in the Han Kitab, a Sino-Islamic canon. This literature employed Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist language and imagery to explain Islamic thought. Wang was a pioneering figure in the institutionalization of this distinct Sino-Islamic discourse and crystallized much of the terminology used throughout subsequent Han Kitab literature. In the Zhengjiao zhenquan, Wang analyzes the spiritual nature of the heart, dividing it into three aspects and seven levels. These seven levels are correlative of the classification of subtleties (laṭāʾif ) or stages (aṭwār) developed by authors affiliated with the Kubrawi Sufi order. In this article, Wang’s spiritual taxonomy is analyzed in comparison with delineations of the multiple levels of the heart determined by Najm al-Dīn Rāzī (d. 1256) and Nūr al-Dīn Isfarāyīnī (d. 1317). Through a close reading of the sources I establish the intellectual influences from these authors’ thought on Wang’s explanation of Islam. By doing so we begin to determine the various sources for Sino-Islamic thought and determine an exact lexical register of Chinese language Islamic literature.
Résumé
Publié en 1642 par Wang Daiyu 王岱輿 (c. 1590–1658) La véritable explication de l’enseignement orthodoxe (Zhengjiao Zhenquan 正教真詮) est le plus ancien texte dans le canon sino-islamique appelé le Han Kitab. Cette littérature utilise des lexiques et des images confucéenne, taoïste et bouddhiste pour expliquer la pensée islamique. Wang était un défricheur dans l’institutionnalisation de ce discours sino-islamique, et formalisée de la terminologie utilisée dans le Han Kitab. Dans le Zhengjiao Zhenquan Wang analyse la nature spirituelle du cœur, en le divisant en trois aspects et sept niveaux. Ces sept niveaux correspondre de la classification des subtilités (laṭāʾif) ou des niveaux (aṭwār) développés par des auteurs affiliés à la confrérie soufie de la Kubrawiyya. Dans cet article la taxonomie spirituel de Wang est analysée en comparaison avec les délimitations des multiples niveaux de cœur ont déterminé par Najm al-Dīn Rāzī (m. 1256) et Nūr al-Dīn Isfarāyīnī (m. 1317). Par à une lecture attentive des sources je décris les influences intellectuelles de la pensée de ces auteurs sur l’explication de l’Islam de Wang. Ce faisant, nous commençons à déterminer les différentes sources de pensée sino-islamique et de déterminer un registre lexical de la littérature islamique en la langue chinoise.
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7
See Benite, The Dao of Muhammad, 39–43; and Petersen, “Reconstructing Islam.”
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11
Ma, Zhongguo yisilan jiaopai, 88–93; and Lipman, Familiar Strangers, 47–51.
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15
Tony Stewart, “In Search of Equivalence: Conceiving Muslim-Hindu Encounter through Translation Theory,” History of Religions 40.3 (2001): 261–88.
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21
Wang, Zhengjiao zhenquan, 16. Quoted in Murata, Chinese Gleams, 20.
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42
Wang, Zhengjiao zhenquan, 58. The original reads, “Neither the earth nor the heavens are wide enough for Me, but there is room for Me in the gentle, meek heart of My faithful servant.” Cited in al-Ghazālī, The Elaboration of the Marvels of the Heart (Kitāb sharḥ ʿajāʾib al-qalb), book 21 of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn), quoted in John Renard, Knowledge of God in Classical Sufism: Foundations of Islamic Mystical Theology (New York: Paulist Press, 2004), 304.
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46
Fritz Meier, Die Fawāʾiḥ al-ǧamāl wa-fawātiḥ al-ǧalāl des Naǧm ud-dīn al-Kubrā (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1957), 168–74. For an English gloss of this treatise’s content see, Gerhard Böwering, “Mystical Circles and Colors in Kubra’s Philosophical Kaleidoscope,” in Beyond Conventional Constructs, ed. G. Irfan (Lahore: Maktaba Jadeed Press, 1987), 82–101.
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49
Hermann Landolt (trans.), Le Révélateur des Mystères: Kâshif al-Asrâr (Paris: Verdier, 1986).
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The Heart of Wang Daiyu’s Philosophy: The Seven Subtleties of Islamic Spiritual Physiology*
In: Journal of Sufi StudiesSearch for other papers by Kristian Petersen in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
The True Explanation of the Orthodox Teaching (Zhengjiao zhenquan 正教真詮), published in 1642 by Wang Daiyu 王岱輿 (ca. 1590–1658), is the oldest extant text in the Han Kitab, a Sino-Islamic canon. This literature employed Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist language and imagery to explain Islamic thought. Wang was a pioneering figure in the institutionalization of this distinct Sino-Islamic discourse and crystallized much of the terminology used throughout subsequent Han Kitab literature. In the Zhengjiao zhenquan, Wang analyzes the spiritual nature of the heart, dividing it into three aspects and seven levels. These seven levels are correlative of the classification of subtleties (laṭāʾif ) or stages (aṭwār) developed by authors affiliated with the Kubrawi Sufi order. In this article, Wang’s spiritual taxonomy is analyzed in comparison with delineations of the multiple levels of the heart determined by Najm al-Dīn Rāzī (d. 1256) and Nūr al-Dīn Isfarāyīnī (d. 1317). Through a close reading of the sources I establish the intellectual influences from these authors’ thought on Wang’s explanation of Islam. By doing so we begin to determine the various sources for Sino-Islamic thought and determine an exact lexical register of Chinese language Islamic literature.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 572 | 136 | 30 |
| Full Text Views | 176 | 5 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 87 | 16 | 0 |