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How does the tendency to crave pleasure and reject pain shape our lives? How does it affect the way we perceive reality, and how is it related to the emergence of suffering and the way it is experienced and transmitted? Can we live free of this tendency, beyond the pleasure principle? This book approaches these questions through an examination of the psychoanalytic concepts of projection and projective identification in the light of early Buddhist thought. It looks at the personal and the interpersonal, at theory, meta-theory, and everyday life. It observes how the mind's habits mould the human condition, and investigates its ability to free itself from their domination. It examines the potential of this liberation: to be in touch with reality as it is and live a less reactive, more ethical life.
Inspired by Buddhist teachings and psychoanalytic thought, this book explores gentleness as a way of being and a developmental achievement. It offers reflections on the unique position of "gentle people", as well as certain gentle layers of the psyche in general, as they meet the world. Examining the perceptual-sensory-conscious discrepancy that often exists between a gentle person and their surroundings, it follows the intricate relationship between sensitivity and fear, the need for self-holding, and the possibility of letting go. Incorporating theoretical investigation, clinical vignettes, and personal contemplation, the book looks into those states of mind and qualities of attention that may compose a favorable environment, internal and interpersonal, where gentleness can be delicately held. There, it is suggested, gentleness may gradually shed the fragility, confusion, and destructiveness that often get entangled with it, and serve as a valuable recourse. Offering a unique perspective on a topic rarely discussed, the book has broad appeal for both students and practitioners of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, as well as Buddhist practitioners and scholars.
Carved by Experience is a close look through psychoanalysis and Buddhism into the mind's most basic conditioning: to crave the pleasant and reject the unpleasant. Drawing upon the rich literature concerning projective mechanisms, Buddhist concepts such as kamma (karma) and conditioned arising, personal stories, and real-life situations, the book follows the manner in which this conditioning takes part in the way we experience reality, perceive it, and react to it. It explores the self-reinforcing habitual patterns formed by this conditioning, and the way they are reproduced across various relationships and situations, thus building our own virtual realities and personal prisons. But the disc...
Demonstrating a relational, dialogic way of thinking and writing, this book offers an innovative perspective on the human potential for intersubjective engagement and on the nature of true encounter. The authors engage in creative, associative dialogues and trialogues inspired by psychoanalysis and Buddhism, poetry and religion, theory and case studies, academic and free styles of writing – each enriching the other. Reflecting on the essence of relating, they convey a flow between inner, private reveries and shared ones, and between individual expressions of thought and evolvements of newly born thirds. Through this interdisciplinary, experimental setting, the authors explore the possibility to reach truths and meanings that each individual would not have achieved on their own. Offering new concepts and formulations that may nourish psychotherapists’ thought and be usefully implemented in their practice, this book presents a pressingly unique and essential viewpoint for psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists in training and in practice.
Esta coleção de escritos -- as explicações de Goenkaji sobre o ensinamento do Buda, os versos das escrituras do Buda, histórias poéticas de monges e de monjas do tempo do Buda, relatos de amigos meditadores – nasce da aceitação da verdade sobre o sofrimento. Contém exemplos inspiradores de pessoas que adquiriram força e degustaram a liberdade por meio de sua prática, e demonstra, de forma convincente, a eficácia do Caminho, a saída do sofrimento.
Meditation is an essential part of the Buddhist way of life and Buddhist meditation practices cannot be explained apart from the fundamental doctrines of Buddhism. Buddhaghosa, the author of the Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification), gave elaborate expositions of these fundamental doctrines. As such his work has served not only as a manual of meditation but also as the standard work on Theravada Buddhism as a whole. No other school of Buddhism has handed down to us a work of such importance. Therefore the Visuddhimagga occupies a unique position in the field of Buddhism in particular and the religious literature of the world in general. What is to the advantage of the scholar is sometimes to the disadvantage of the layman. While going through the elaborate explanations of a certain topic in the Visuddhimagga, one is liable to lose its thread and become confused. This book gives a clear outline of the system and its essential points so that the details can be understood without much difficulty.
The Pali word mettā; is a multi-significant term meaning loving-kindness, friendliness, goodwill, etc. If these qualities of mettā are sufficiently cultivated through mettābhāvanā the meditation on universal love the result is the acquisition of a tremendous inner power which preserves, protects and heals both oneself and others. The present booklet aims at exploring the various facets of mettā both in theory and in practice. The examination of the doctrinal and ethical side of mettā will proceed through a study of the popular Karaniyametta Sutta, the Buddha s Discourse of Universal Love and several other short texts. The explanation of the meditation on universal love will give practical directions for developing this type of contemplation as set forth in the main meditation texts of the Theravada Buddhist tradition.
This volume brings between two covers the author’s original writings from the BPS’s Wheel and Bodhi Leaves series. These writings offer one of the most mature, comprehensive, and authoritative expressions of Buddhism by a contemporary Western monk. Contents The Way to Freedom from Suffering The Worn-Out Skin The Power of Mindfulness The Roots of Good and Evil The Five Mental Hindrances The Four Nutriments of Life The Threefold Refuge The Four Sublime States Anattā and Nibbāna Seeing Things As They Are Buddhism and the God-Idea Devotion in Buddhism Courageous Faith Why End Suffering? Kamma and Its Fruit Contemplation of Feelings Protection Through Right Mindfulness Glossary A Bibliography of Nyanaponika Thera’s Publications in English
A fascinating, engaging, and unique memoir, this story covers John Coleman’s life after his cover is blown as a CIA agent in Asia in the late 1950s, leading him to embark on a vigorous pursuit of spiritual truth. In his travels through India, Burma, Japan, and Thailand, he encounters luminous teachers such as Krishnamurti, Maharishi, and D.T. Suzuki. Ultimately, his search for peace of mind and liberating insights comes to fruition in Yangon—also known as Rangoon—under the tutelage of the great Vipassana meditation master Sayagyi U Ba Khin.