Cyclical Time & Ismaili Gnosis by Henry Corbin (1983).pdf

ISLAMIC TEXTS AND CONTEXTS

Cyclical Time

and Ismaili Gnosis

General Editor

Hermann Landolt

Professor of Islamic Studies, McGill University, Montreal

and The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London

Henry Corbin

KEGAN PAUL INTERNATIONAL

London, Boston, Melbourne and Henley

in association with

ISLAMIC PUBLICATIONS

London

Assistant Editors

Elizabeth Brine

Dr James Morris

The Institute of Ismaili Studies

The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London

The Institute of Ismaili Studies was established in December 1977 with the

object of promoting scholarship and learning in Islam, and a better

understanding of other faiths, beliefs and practices.

Its programmes are designed to encourage a balanced study of Islam and

the diversity that exists within its fundamental unity. They also deal with

the contemporary situation of the Islamic World, focusing on issues that are

critical to its well-being.

Since 1980 the Institute has been affiliated to McGill University, Mon-

treal, Canada. It also works in association with other universities.

With the co-operation of McGill University, the Institute runs a Depart-

ment of Graduate Studies and Research (London and Paris). The series

"Islamic Texts and Contexts" is edited by this Department.

The views expressed in this series are those of the respective authors.

Contents

Editorial Note

1 CYCLICAL TIME IN MAZDAISM AND ISMAILISM

Translated by Ralph Manheim

1. Cyclical Time in Mazdaism

The Ages of the World in Zoroastrian Mazdaism

The Absolute Time of Zervanism

Dramaturgical Alterations

Time as a Personal Archetype

2. CyclicalTime in Ismailism

Absolute Time and Limited Time in the Ismaili Cosmology

The Periods and Cycles of Mythohistory

Resurrection as the Horizon of the Time of

"Combat for the Angel" .

2 DIVINE EPIPHANY AND SPIRITUAL BIRTH

IN ISMAILIAN GNOSIS

Translated by Ralph Manheim

1. The Metamorphoses of Theophanic Visions

2. Ebionite and Ismailian Adamology

3. Hierarchies and Cycles: The Fundamental Angelology of

Ismailism

4. Imamology and Docetism

5. The Eternal Imam

6. The "Quest of the Imam"

103

117

130

CONTENTS

3 FROM THE GNOSIS OF ANTIQUITY TO ISMAILI

GNOSIS

Translated by James W. Morris

151

Subject Index

Index of Authors and Titles

195

206

Editorial Note

The three articles contained in this volume, concerning the main themes of

early Ismaili thought, were originally presented by Professor Corbin as

lectures before learned audiences, the first two at the annual Eranos

Conferences and the third at a conference given under the auspices of the

Acaadcmia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome. In reprinting them here the

assistance of Mme Stella Corbin is gratefully acknowledged..

"Le Temps Cyclique dans le Mazdeisme et dans l'Ismaelisme" was

delivered at the Eranos conference of 1951 (general theme: "Man and

Time"), and appeared in the Eranos-Jahrbuch XX (1951), Zurich, 1952. The

English translation by Ralph Manheim, "Cyclical Time in Mazdaism and

Ismailism," was first published in Man and Time: Papers from the Eranos

Yearbooks (Bollingen Series XXX, volume 3), edited by Joseph Campbell,

New York, Princeton University Press, and London, Routledge & Kegan

Paul, 1957, reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press and

Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.

"Epiphanie Divine et Naissance Spirituelle dans la Gnosc Ismaelienne"

was delivered at the Eranos conference in 1954 (general theme: "Man and

Transformation"), and was published in the Eranos-Jahrbuch XXIII (1954),

Zurich, 1955. The English translation by Ralph Manheim, "Divine

Epiphany and Spiritual Birth in Ismailian Gnosis," was first published in

Man and Transformation: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks (Bollingen Series

XXX, volume 5), edited by Joseph Campbell, New York, Princeton

University Press and London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964, reprinted by

permission of Princeton University Press and Routledge & Kegan Paul

Ltd.

viii

EDITORIAL NOTE

"De la Gnose Antique Ismaelienne" was the title of a lecture

delivered in Rome in 1956, at the XIIth Convegno "Volta": the theme of

that conference was "Orient and Occident in the Middle Ages." It was

published in the proceedings of that conference, Oriente e Occidente nel

Medioevo, Rome, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincci, 1957. The English

translation, "From the Gnosis of Antiquity to Ismaili Gnosis," was pre-

pared for this volume by James W. Morris.

Cyclical Time in Mazdaism and Ismailism

In accordance with the wishes of the Publishers, the first two articles have

been reprinted exactly as they appeared in the original English translations

(printing errors excepted). For the third article, a few references have been

completed or brought up to date (identified by square brackets), while the

transliteration system, following the pattern set in the preceding article, has

been slightly adapted to English usage. The indices for this volume were

prepared by the Institute's editorial staff.

1. Cyclical Time in Mazdaism

THE AGES OF THE WORLD IN ZOROASTRIAN MAZDAISM

A little manual of Mazdean doctrine, written in Pahlavi and dating from

the fourth century of our era, contains a number of questions the answers

to which everyone over the age of fifteen is supposed to know. The first

questions are: "Who am I and to whom do I belong? Whence have I come

and whither am I returning? What is my lineage and what is my race? What

is my proper calling in earthly existence? . . . Did I come from the celestial

world, or is it in the earthly world that I began to be? Do I belong to

Ohrmazd or to Ahriman? To the angels or the demons?" 1

And here are the answers:

Books by Henry Corbin available in English translation

Avicenna and the Visionary Recital (Bollingen Series, LXVI), translated by

W. R. Trask, New York, i960; reprinted Spring Books, Dallas, 1980

(paperback edition).

Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi (Bollingen Series, XCI),

translated by Ralph Manheim, Princeton University Press, 1969, Rout-

ledge & Kegan Paul, 1970.

I came from the celestial world (menok), it is not in the terrestrial

world (getik) that I began to be. I was originally manifested in

the spiritual state, my original state is. not the terrestrial state. 2

Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth: From Mazdean Iran to Shi'ite Iran (Bollingen

Series, XCI:2), translated by N. Pearson, Princeton University Press, 1977.

1 Pand Namak i Zartusht (The Book of Counsels of Zartusht). The short treatise is also

entitled Cilak Handarz i Poryotkeshan (Selected Instructions of the First Doctors of the

Faith). Its authorship remains doubtful. One tradition attributes it to the Grand

Mobao Aturpat i Mahraspandan, a high dignitary of the Mazdean clergy whom the

Sassanid King Shapur II (A.D. 309-79) had empowered to establish the definitive

canonical text of the Avesta, divided into twenty-one books or nask. A little "book of

counsels" by this author has come down to us. It is dedicated to his son Zartusht (so

named to assure him of the holy prophet Zarathustra's spiritual sponsorship). But a

"book of counsels" is also attributed to his son, who in his turn was Grand Mobao

under Ardashir II (A.D. 379-83). A critical edition of our Pand Namak has been pub-

lished by H. S. Nyberg in Hilfsbuch des Pehlevi, Vol. I (Uppsala, 1928), pp. 17-30,

68-69. Cf. also J. C. Tarapore, Pahlavi Andarz-Namak (Bombay, 1933). The questions

quoted here occur in Strophe 1.

1 On the contrast between the meanings of the verbs a fritan and butan, cf. Nyberg,

Hilfsbuch des Pehlevi, Vol. II (Uppsala and Leipzig, 1931), Glossary, s.v.; and Heinrich

Junker, "Uber iranische Quellen der hellenistischen Aion-Vorstellung," Vortrage der

Bibliolthek Warburg (Leipzig), I (1923), 133-34-

The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism, translated by N. Pearson, Shambhala

Publications Inc., Boulder and London, 1978.

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