3 Juan Mascaró, The Upanishads, 75.
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sages is to shut their mouths and keep silent. The Tao-te Ching is
seeking other means of making people understand without relying on
words. However, the other means are not elaborated on in the Tao-te
Ching.
III. The View of Metaphoric Resemblance.
In this view of metaphoric resemblance, metaphors and symbols
are used as the main tools in pointing to the essential reality of
non-duality. Metaphors and symbols are not the same as the
transcendental reality which they point to. However, as Stace insists, a
metaphor implies a resemblance (Stace, 1960:293). Stace distinguishes
the Dionysian theory and the metaphor theory as follows:
According to Dionysus the word X if used of God means that
God is the cause of X. According to the metaphor theory if the
word X is used of God, it means that X is a metaphor for
something in the actual nature of God himself or in the
mystical experience. … Another way of expressing the difference
between them is to say that in the Dionysian theory the
relation between symbolizandum and symbol is causal, whereas
the metaphor theory implies a relation of resemblance (Stace,
1960:291-292).
In this passage, Stace insists that a particular metaphor is used
for one of the actual natures of God. Although a metaphor is not the
same as the actual quality of God, it has a certain resemblance with
one of the qualities of God.
Rudolf Otto holds that the ‘numinous’ is ineffable and human
conceptions are inadequate to illustrate what God is. However, he used
many metaphors to illustrate the characteristics of the mystical
experience of God. For example, Otto has used the term ‘awe’ for the
mystical experience and illustrated the experience of awe as ‘mystery,’
‘fear,’ and ‘fascination’. ‘Awe’ implies the mystical experience of ineffable
reality. Although God reveals Himself to human beings, He remains as
an incomprehensible mystery. The term ‘fear’ has three elements such
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as awfulness, overpoweringness, and energy.4 Moses's mystical
experience at Mt. Sinai showed his fear of God. Moses was
overwhelmed by the power of God and trembled at the awfulness of
God. Moses also showed his fascination to the “Totally Other.” Stace
asserts that a concept is possible wherever there is a resemblance.5 The
metaphors used by Otto, as Stace insists, imply resemblances of the
characteristics of God. In other words, though the metaphors are not
the same as the reality which they illustrate, these metaphors show
some resemblances to the characteristics of God.
It seems that Ch'an masters have used symbols as the means or
vehicles to attain enlightenment; the truth per se. For example, Ch'an
masters sometimes burned the wooden Buddha statue and the ma!3ala
because they believed the symbol (i.e., the wooden Buddha statue) was
an expedient means to show the limitless qualities of the Buddha. This
fact does not necessarily mean that Ch'an masters ignored the Buddha
statue, but they might have thought that the symbols remained as
symbols pointing to the Buddha. In another Ch'an metaphor, the finger
pointing to the moon in the sky is not considered the moon, but as a
means of pointing to the reality of the true moon. In this sense, the
wooden Buddha statue would remain as the sign pointing to the
qualities of the Buddha. It is not the Buddha himself. The approach of
Tantric Buddhism is different from the Ch'an tradition. The symbols
(i.e., mudr2, ma!3ala, and mantra) represented the secret or sacred power
of Mahavairocana Buddha in Japanese Shingon Buddhism.
Stace insists that “metaphorical language is only meaningful and
justifiable if it is at least theoretically translatable into literal language”
(Stace, 1960:293). Stace points out one possibility of ‘meaningless
metaphor’ in the metaphor theory, saying: “If A is used as a metaphor
4 Three elements in the fear: (a) awfulness: there is an element of horror at beholding the totally
other; (b) overpoweringness: It leaves us stripped of any pretense of power; (c) energy: The
Holy is the source of all energy. Those who encounter God perceive that they are in the
presence of vast energy (Meitzen, 1993:11-12).
5 Stace illustrates this as follows: “X can only be a metaphor for Y if X resembles Y in some
way. But any two resemblant things can be placed in a class because of the resemblance.
Therefore to say that X is a metaphor for something in the essence of God is to say that the
something can be conceptualized” (Stace, 1960:293).
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for B, both A and B must be before the mind and also the resemblance
between them which is the foundation of the metaphor. If this is not
the case, we have what is usually called ‘meaningless metaphor’” (Stace,