The Torment of Secrecy: Ethical and Epistemological Problems in the Study of Esoteric Traditions (original) (raw)
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As the verse chosen as a title for this article emblematically shows, esoteric movements have consistently used secrecy as a literary topos in their oral and written cultural expressions for a number of purposes. Scholars of South Asian religions, especially those in field of Tantric studies, have been scrutinizing for decades the need for secretive doctrines and a secret code-language (sandhy¯ a bh¯ as. ¯ a), mostly interrogating textual sources and neglecting the contemporary experience and exegetical authority of living lineages. In this paper, I firstly address ethical and epistemological problems in the study of esoteric religious movements in order to propose innovative methodological strategies. Then, I offer numerous examples drawn from extensive fieldwork and in-depth literary study of contemporary esoteric lineages of West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh, in order to discuss the local discourse on secrecy. Finally, I review previously assumed notions on secrecy in South Asian religions, and I suggest to take into serious consideration local perspectives on the accessibility of esoteric knowledge, leading to a more nuanced idea of secrecy, constantly subjected to temporal and situational negotiations between silence and disclosure.
Secrecy in South Asian Hindu Traditions: "The Gods Love What is Occult"
The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Secrecy, 2022
The chapter provides an overview of the presence and significance of the category of secrecy in South Asian Hindu traditions. Secrecy is important, even essential, in Indian culture, both as a social mechanism that determines inclusion or exclusion, of certain groups and individuals, into and from domains of knowledge and communal ascendency, and as a perceived aspect of the chosen field of study and practice. While these mechanisms are arguably cross-cultural universals, I interrogate culturally and historically specific ways and means that they have been conceptualized and deployed in South Asian religions. The subtitle of the chapter, a quote from the Upaniṣads, refers to the important contention that the coherence and functionality of the perceptible universe hinges on the secret web of connections (bandhu) and that to know this secret, to have access to this secret knowledge, is salvific in nature: to know the secret of reality means to be liberated from its bondage. In terms of historical chronology, the chapter covers the ancient, classical, and medieval Hinduism; thematically, it provides illustrative examples of various forms of secrecy as encountered in the Vedas, the Upaniṣads, and in the devotional, Yogic, and Tantric traditions.
Popular secrecy and occultural studies
Cultural studies, 2007
Is cultural studies becoming-strategic in accordance with its context? In this era where traditional conceptual tactics have not provided the desired results, perhaps we can experiment with new techniques. This essay explores one such tactic and commitment, namely the faith in publicity as a truth-telling strategy to expose, and ultimately neutralize, power’s machinations. We are witnessing a regime-oftruth change, one that requires us to rethink our own notions and attachments to truth, insofar as it is tied to revealing and concealing, to secrecy and publicity. Recent events compel us to revise our conceptions of publicity, secrecy, and activist strategy. How can cultural studies recognize its own commitment to transparency and publicity, and make it alterable? By turning an eye towards secrecy, justly, cultural studies can become a strategic craft that enhances its capacities to remake its context.
2020
Dorji Wangchuk, “Secrecy in Buddhism.” In Birds as Ornithologists: Scholarship between Faith and Reason. Intra- and Inter-disciplinary Perspectives, edited by Orna Almogi. Indian and Tibetan Studies 8. Hamburg: Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies, Universität Hamburg, 2020, pp. 7–177.
An article about the necessity for secrecy in initiatory ritual. First published in Philalethes magazine. Vol. 63, №2 · Spring 2010.