Zen and the Unspeakable God: Comparative Interpretations of Mystical Experience by Jason N. Blum (review)

Jason Blum’s book essays two tasks: first, to propose a methodology for studying accounts of mystical experience; second, to apply that methodology through three extended worked examples in his central chapters on the Islamic theologian Ibn al-Arabi, the Christian Meister Eckhart, and the Zen Buddhist Master Hui-neng. Some helpful discussion of Jewish examples is additionally included in the introductory first chapter.

Blum sets out his methodological argument in his opening chapters and conclusion with exemplary clarity. In an account which promises to be a very helpful resource for any study group beginning to acquaint themselves with issues in the study of mystical spiritualities, he summarizes and addresses the ‘methodological war’ between contextualists and essentialists. Blum adopts Wayne Proudfoot’s distinction between descriptive/interpretive and explanatory approaches, arguing that, while on one hand, it may be entirely appropriate to offer an explanation of the claims in a mystical account using terms which depart from, or are even inimical to, the presuppositions and commitments of the text’s author/s, on the other hand clarity and charity both require us to take seriously the author’s own presuppositions when we interpret a text. Texts which claim, for example, that the author has had some experience of encounter with “the ultimate” without the mediation of thought, are liable to be dismissed as incompatible with the assumptions which dominate and shape contemporary epistemologies. Blum brackets the question of how such claims and experiences are to be explained and sets out only to interpret them. He argues cogently that the a priori commitments of the contextualist approach, including the assumption of a broad conformity between an account of mystical experience and “mainstream” doctrines of its home tradition, can substantially distort our readings of mystical texts.

Blum’s interpretive approach, based on the twin principles of a Gadamerian epoché and semantic holism, persuaded this reviewer. It has clear resonances with the new comparative theology of religions approach promoted by Clooney and others, and points of contact between the two approaches might have been usefully addressed. However, by structuring his interpretation of his three “key passages” around questions of ontology and epistemology, Blum imposes upon them a hermeneutical framework behind which a pale Procrustean shadow lingers. By comparison, for example, with Michael Sells’ rich account in Mystical Languages of Unsaying of the apophatic and aporetic strategies of al-Arabi and Eckhart, Blum’s appreciation of the extent to which these accounts resist and subvert his categories frequently seems underplayed. His sources’ paradoxes are, by his account, “apparent” and capable of resolution. One longs for a more nuanced, even playful, treatment, such as in Roger Corless’ wonderful neologism “ontologesque.” Blum repeatedly acknowledges the heuristic nature of the concepts deployed by his mystics, but he might have gone further: these are not primarily philosophers, but spiritual leaders of communities, whose interests are therapeutic, their texts designed not to inform, but to transform.

The central chapters on the three mystical “key passages” might be of interest independently of their methodological bookends. The strongest in this regard is the first: the passage from al-Arabi is well-chosen, and unpacks into a comely introduction to his thought. The treatment of Eckhart is less galvanizing and that of Huineng is at times idiosyncratic; each might be more densely supported by references to relevant scholarship: for example, Denys Turner’s treatment of Eckhart in The Darkness of God would have been a helpful addition, as would Yampolsky’s critical analysis of the legends and texts in his edition of The Platform Sutra. Indeed, the texts in the general bibliography which deal with Zen are outnumbered by those dealing with the Hindu tradition: Blum appears to have chosen to deal with Zen because of its greater distance from Neoplatonist contamination.

A few notes about presentation: Blum’s key passage from al-Arabi is clearly identifiable within his text, and his interpretive account...