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The work presents in clear focus, comparative perspectives on the nature of Man, Mind, Motivation, Conflict, Anxiety and Suffering, as well as the therapeutic management of these problems, in both the writings of Sigmund Freud and the discourses of the Buddha. The nature of the instinct of sexuality, ego instinct and the death instinct in Freud are compared to parallel concepts in Buddhism. An interesting addition to the study is the discussion of the question whether Schopenhauer is a link between Freud and Buddhism. This third edition of the book also throws new light on some of the dilemmas of Freudian psychology from a Buddhistic perspective. It is a valuable contribution to the study of philosophy in cross-cultural perspective and should be of interest to both scholars and general readers.
The Self Possessed is a multifaceted, diachronic study reconsidering the very nature of religion in South Asia, the culmination of years of intensive research. Frederick M. Smith proposes that positive oracular or ecstatic possession is the most common form of spiritual expression in India, and that it has been linguistically distinguished from negative, disease-producing possession for thousands of years. In South Asia possession has always been broader and more diverse than in the West, where it has been almost entirely characterized as "demonic." At best, spirit possession has been regarded as a medically treatable psychological ailment and at worst, as a condition that requires exorcism ...
Winner of the 2014 Frederick J. Streng Award presented by the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies In this work of Buddhist-Christian reflection, John Ross Carter explores two basic aspects of human religiousness: faith and the activity of understanding. Carter's perspective is unique, putting people and their experiences at the center of inquiry into religiousness. His model and method grows out of friendship, challenging the so-called objective approach to the study of religion that privileges patterns, concepts, and abstraction. Carter considers the traditions he knows best, the Protestant Christianity he was born into and the Theravāda and Jōdo Shinshū (Pure Land) traditions of the Sri Lankan and Japanese friends among whom he has lived, studied, and worked. His rich, wide-ranging accounts of religious experience include discussions of transcendence, reason, saṃvega, shinjin, the inconceivable, and whether lives oriented toward faith will survive in a global context with increased pressures for individualism and secularism. Ultimately, Carter proposes that the endeavor of interreligious understanding is itself a religious quest.
Corrected Edition
This book studies the diverse array of species of memory in Buddhism. Contributors focus on a particular school, group of texts, terms, or practices and identify a considerable range of types of mnemonic faculties in Buddhism. Included are discussions of Buddhist teaching, meditation, visualization, prayer, commemoration of the Buddha, dha?rani practice, the use of mnemonic lists to condense lengthy scriptures, and the purported recollection of infinite previous lives that immediately preceded Sakyamuni's attainment of Buddhahood. Even enlightened awareness itself is said by some Buddhist schools to consist in a "mnemic engagement" with reality as such. The authors explore Buddhist views on ...
This book offers the first published translation of the contemplative manual Virūpāksapañcasikā, written circa the twelfth century CE, and the commentary on it, Vivrti by Vidyācakravartin. These late works from the Pratyabhijñā tradition of monistic and tantric Kashmiri Śaiva philosophy focus on means to deindividualize and disclose the primordial, divine essential natures of the human ego and body-sense. David Peter Lawrence situates these writings in their medieval, South Asian religious and intellectual contexts. He goes on to engage Pratyabhijñā philosophical psychology in dialogue with Western religious and psychoanalytic conceptions of identity and "narcissism," and also demonstrates the Śaiva tradition's strong concern with ethics. The richly annotated translation and glossary illuminate the texts for all readers.
Apparitions of the Self is a groundbreaking investigation into what is known in Tibet as "secret autobiography," an exceptional, rarely studied literary genre that presents a personal exploration of intimate religious experiences. In this volume, Janet Gyatso translates and studies the outstanding pair of secret autobiographies by the famed Tibetan Buddhist visionary, Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798), whose poetic and self-conscious writings are as much about the nature of his own identity, memory, and the undecidabilities of autobiographical truth as they are narrations of the actual content of his experiences. Their translation in this book marks the first time that works of this sort have been tr...
The issue of saints is a difficult and complicated problem in Buddhology. In this magisterial work, Ray offers the first comprehensive examination of the figure of the Buddhist saint in a wide range of Indian Buddhist evidence. Drawing on an extensive variety of sources, Ray seeks to identify the "classical type" of the Buddhist saint, as it provides the presupposition for, and informs, the different major Buddhist saintly types and subtypes. Discussing the nature, dynamics, and history of Buddhist hagiography, he surveys the ascetic codes, conventions and traditions of Buddhist saints, and the cults both of living saints and of those who have "passed beyond." Ray traces the role of the saints in Indian Buddhist history, examining the beginnings of Buddhism and the origin of Mahayana Buddhism.
The fate of the newly independent nation is absorbing the attention of statesmen and scholars. This comprehensive study of Ceylon since its independence in 1947 provides a case study of the fundamental issues in these new Asian and African nations. Mr. Wriggins, who spent two years in Ceylon, presents the full historic, economic, political, and social background. He discusses the current political situation in Ceylon, the effect of universal franchise, the increasing communal disorders, the resulting dilemma of representative government, the search for an adequate foreign policy. His findings, which are based on extensive on-the-spot research, illuminate the crucial problem of political chan...
John Holt's groundbreaking study examines the assimilation, transformation, and subordination of the Hindu deity Visnu within the contexts of Sri Lankan history and Sinhala Buddhist religious culture. Holt argues that political agendas and social forces, as much as doctrinal concerns, have shaped the shifting patterns of the veneration of Visnu in Sri Lanka. Holt begins with a comparative look at the assimilation of the Buddha in Hinduism. He then explores the role and rationale of medieval Sinhala kings in assimilating Visnu into Sinhala Buddhism. Offering analyses of texts, many of which have never before been translated into English, Holt considers the development of Visnu in Buddhist literature and the changing practices of deity veneration. Shifting to the present, Holt describes the efforts of contemporary Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka to discourage the veneration of Visnu, suggesting that many are motivated by a reactionary fear that their culture and society will soon be overrun by the influences and practices of Hindus, Muslims, and Christians.