Lotus and the Robot [Hardcover]

Koestler's writings are as rule well researched and balanced. Regrettably, however, this cannot be said of 'The Lotus and the Robot.' The blurb attached to the 1964 p/back edition described the text as 'a cool, clear look at the Yoga doctrine in India, and the Zen cult in Japan' - but, this is an odd, tension filled book. While it would be unfair to say that all of Koestler's criticism was ill-founded, his account was seriously jaundiced - full of rash deductions and harsh conclusions, after devoting a year and a half to a somewhat shallow exploration of both traditions. Koestler was not writing with practical experience of either tradition, but as a reporter, commenting upon the mere externals.

Admittedly, Indian yogic systems and Zen - are open to the sort of abuses discussed by Koestler and it is probably true to say that both have been exploited as forms of social control. Koestler was perfectly correct to point out that there is a distinct difference between breaking down the ego in order to perceive a higher identity, and breaking down the ego as a corollary of social control. To put it another way, the wish to be 'nirvandva' or 'free of the opposites' makes sense if it presupposes a quest for transcendence; it becomes dangerous

when it violates or negates common sense on the empirical level. Koestler was right to complain about the failure to distinguish between these two levels (i.e. the different claims accorded to samvrtti or paramartha-satya). What is disappointing, is that Koestler says next to nothing about the positive attributes of these traditions. Reading page after page of negative assessments, is about as inspiring as reading a 'bad food guide.'

Indian yoga and Buddhist Dhyana both had their origin in Vedic tradition but racial stereotypes aside, it must be admitted that something about yogic postures conveys a cosmic intuition - the image of the whole being, grounded and centered. Hence, whether seen as an attribute of yoga or Zen, the psycho-somatic processes involved here - are, rightly directed, healing processes. For one reason or another, Western culture has departed from or lost touch with this sense of rootedness and the greater energic identity it embraces. Hence, in its hour of need, the West has turned to Asia for inspiration. In the final estimate, what matters is not shallow racial distinctions and stereotypes, but whether we know the 'primal being' - and live and move in it. Those who find their way back to the primal man and the invisible centre are stengthened thereby, just as those who lose sight of the invisible centre - are weakened.

As a counter-balance to Koestler's negative conclusions, I recommend reading reliable Vedic sources, and Durckheim's 'Hara: The Vital Centre of Man.'