Teaching technique from Indian spirituality/culture

arundhati nyāya [1]
 
1. Describe a concept using an analogy
2. Extend/modify the analogy to modify the learning progressively
3. Finally, work directly with the concept
 
(4. For tough concepts, give other analogies for different perspectives)
 
Example (Chāndogya Upaniṣad):
 

1. Analogy 1 


Pluck a fruit from that huge banyan tree, slice it open, and take its seeds
 
Learnings
 
• a huge tree may have a small seed
• c.f. Mulla Nasruddin's story about pumpkins growing on thin vines while a huge oak has much smaller acorns
• simple direct reasoning - large effect from large cause - may be wrong in Nature
• a near-infinite cycle - from seed to tree and back


2. Analogy 2/modify analogy 1
 
Cut open a seed and look inside, it's practically empty/invisible.
 
Learnings
 
• something large can manifest from something small
  
• everything in the huge tree came from something so negligible
• variety (roots, trunk, leaves, fruit, seeds) can come from simplicity
 
3. Directly working with the concept [2]:
 
That thou art, Śvetaketu.

 
Learnings
 

• that simple, practically invisible, thing - within the seed, the tree, and various parts of the tree - is within you as well.
 
• how so?
 
• you are a human being, with a large, complex system, like a tree
• the same nothingness, or practically nothingness, in the seed, that became a tree has also become you
 
 
 
Discussion
 
But-but-but, animal vs. plant, human being vs. tree, thinking-moving being vs. unthinking stuck-in-the-mud organism - the analogies are incorrect/nonsensical!
 
Yes, yes, fine! Go read up on at least these two complex concepts before reading this again [3]:
 
1. the scientific theory of creation of the universe from a similar nothingness (a naked singularity?)
2.  creation and evolution of the vast variety of living beings from either:
1. non-living matter - the scientific theory - or
2. from conscious entities - Indian and other philosophies
 
 
Notes
 
[1] arundhati nyāya, or arundhati logic, is based on the technique of locating the arundhati star (Alcor) by first looking at the right area of the sky using a nearby tree or building, then locating nearby brighter stars, and finally the arundhati-vasishtha dual-star system.
 
[2] Other analogies (dissolving salt in water - uniform density, distribution) describe other aspects, but follow a similar sequence.
 
[3] While the answer may come across as a bit snarky, the example illustrates the depth of thinking needed to really grok the Upanishads. This thinking is called nididhyāsanam, essentially ruminating over a lesson, e.g. for inconsistencies, incomplete details, linking to earlier lessons, etc. nididhyāsanam forces students to update their conceptual models. As mananam means thinking, some traditions consider this to be mananam and nididhyāsanam to be a different learning activity - like meditating on the concepts.