Bibliography:
Ledi Sayadaw. A Manual of the Excellent Man: Uttamapurisa Dīpanī. Washington: BPS Pariyatti Editions, 2016.
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The renowned Sri Lankan scholar Y. Karunadasa examines Abhidhamma perspectives on the nature of phenomenal existence. He begins by discussing dhamma theory, which describes the bare phenomena that form the world of experience. He then explains the Abhidhamma view that only dhammas are real and that anything other than these basic phenomena are conceptual constructs. This, he argues, is Abhidhamma’s answer to common-sense realism—the mistaken view that the world as it appears to us is ultimately real.
Among the other topics discussed are
This book is designed to introduce readers to contemporary issues and debates in the field of Buddhist ethics. It does this by stimulating a dialogue between Buddhism and Western ethics on the topic of well-being. The Four Noble Truths present us with a conundrum: is nirvana a state of virtue attained by following the Eightfold Path, or a state of happiness defined as freedom from suffering? If both, how are they related?
This book is designed to accompany a course exploring the Buddhist response to a range of contemporary social issues. To facilitate its use as a course text each chapter is preceded by an overview of the contents and concludes with a summary of the key points. At the end of each chapter there are suggested questions for class discussion or use as essay titles at the tutor’s discretion as well as a ‘Further Reading’ section. At the end of the book, the reader will find a complete bibliography and an index of proper names, terms, and concepts.
An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology is a lucid, intelligible and authentic introduction to the foundations of Buddhist psychology. It provides comprehensive coverage of the basic concepts and issues in the psychology of Buddhism and thus it deals with the nature of psychological inquiry, concepts of mind, consciousness and behaviour, motivation, emotions, perception, and the therapeutic structure of Buddhist psychology. For the fourth edition, a new chapter on 'emotional intelligence' and its relationship with Buddhism has been added.
A classic since 1928, this masterly encyclopedia of ancient mythology, ritual, symbolism, and the arcane mysteries of the ages is available for the first time in a compact "reader's edition."
Like no other book of the twentieth century, Manly P. Hall's legendary The Secret Teachings of All Ages is a codex to the ancient occult and esoteric traditions of the world. Students of hidden wisdom, ancient symbols, and arcane practices treasure Hall's magnum opus above all other works.
In the second part, Buddhism and Buddhist teachings are looked at from the perspective of medicine. What do Buddhist teachings say on illness and health? Health for example, is referred to as the greatest gain in life. There is much that Buddhist anthropology and sociology could gain from Buddhist thought. The social aspects of the community of monks are discussed from a sociological point of view as its theme. …..
The great Marxist sinologist Joseph Needham blamed Buddhism for stifling science and technology in China while they flourished in Europe. In claiming that everything is an illusion, Buddhism ‘played a part in strangling the development of Chinese science’. Zen Buddhism, in ‘rejecting all philosophy’ was also unfavourable to a scientific view. Since the Buddha refused to speculate, Buddhism discouraged scientific research. Above all, its main object is to escape from this world, not to try to understand it. A ‘despairing’ and ‘perverse’ philosophy, he concludes.
In the Theravdin exegetical tradition, the notion that a intentionally killing a living being is wrong involves a claim that when certain mental states (such as compassion) are present in the mind, it is simply impossible that one could act in certain ways (such as to intentionally kill). Contrary to what Keown has claimed, the only criterion for judging whether an act is “moral” (kusala) or “immoral” (akusala) in Indian systematic Buddhist thought is the quality of the intention that motivates it.
This article discusses the controversy around the suicide of Arhants. With references to suttas and commentaries it critically analyses the possibility of Cunna's arahantship and his suicide.
Virtuous Bodies breaks new ground in the field of Buddhist ethics by investigating the diverse roles bodies play in ethical development. Traditionally, Buddhists assumed a close connection between body and morality. Thus Buddhist literature contains descriptions of living beings that stink with sin, are disfigured by vices, or are perfumed and adorned with virtues.
John's fourth book, You Were Never Born, addresses the perennial and compelling question of our true identity. With his usual clarity and focus he answers questions from seekers in over seventy concise chapters of dialogues and in a departure from the format of his previous published collections, John has written an introductory set of prose pieces as well as a summary of 'pointers' toward the end of the text. Also included as an addendum is an extended one-to-one interview with John. A clear and beautiful guide to any aspirant of self-knowledge.
Bestselling author and renowned Zen teacher Steve Hagen penetrates the most essential and enduring questions at the heart of the Buddha's teachings: How can we see the world in each moment, rather than merely as what we think, hope, or fear it is? How can we base our actions on reality, rather than on the longing and loathing of our hearts and minds? How can we live lives that are wise, compassionate, and in tune with reality? And how can we separate the wisdom of Buddhism from the cultural trappings and misconceptions that have come to be associated with it?
Sociology is a discipline through which Buddhism could be gainfully looked at. Ven. Dr. Gnanarama, with his erudite knowledge of Buddhism and formal training in Philosophy endeavours to look at early Buddhist Sociological Thought. In the first chapter he starts with an apt definition of early Buddhism in the perspective of various philosophies. In chapter two, Buddhism and Buddhist teachings are looked at from the perspective of medicine.
A psychologist in private practice and the director of the Buddhist Guhyasamaja Center in Virginia, Lorne Ladner has written a concise book that brings understanding to the Tibetan concept of compassion. In The Lost Art of Compassion: Discovering the Practice of Happiness in the Meeting of Buddhism and Psychology, he has brought his years of Buddhist meditation and mainstream psychology together into a workable formula that seeks to help people become their own therapists and seek their own inner peace, allowing them to then look outward and do good in the world.
This book is the carefully edited record of the fascinating discussions at a Mind & Life conference in which five leading physicists and a historian (David Finkelstein, George Greenstein, Piet Hut, Arthur Zajonc, Anton Zeilinger, and Tu Weiming) discussed with the Dalai Lama current thought in theoretical quantum physics, in the context of Buddhist philosophy. A contribution to the science-religion interface, and a useful explanation of our basic understanding of quantum reality, couched at a level that intelligent readers without a deep involvement in science can grasp.
The book bases Buddhist psychology on a sophisticated and thoroughgoing empiricism. Jamesean psychological concepts are used in order to clarify the Buddhist ideas. The first part of the book outlines the principles of psychology that can be traced to the Buddha himself with detailed comparison to James. The second part deals with the understanding of these principles by later disciples of Buddha. The substantial appendices present analyses of Maitreya's Madhyantavibhaga and Vasubandhu's Vijnaptimatratasiddhi.
Vastly different in belief and practice, two new Buddhist religious movements in Thailand, namely the Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Santi Asoke emerged in Thailand in the 1970s at a time of political uncertainty, social change and increasing dissatisfaction with the Thai Sangha and its leadership.
From the Jacket: "The book is an attempt to present the position of Buddhist laywomen and almswomen in historical perspective. For the study of the laywomen the author has exploited the material found in the Canonical literature, and the Commentaries on them".
Vasubandhu one of the most famous Mahayana Buddhist philosophers wrote works on a vast variety of subjects.
Weber's claim that Buddhism is an otherworldly religion is only partially true. Early sources indicate that the Buddha was sometimes diverted from supramundane interests to dwell on a variety of politically-related matters. The significance of Asoka Maurya as a paradigm for later traditions of Buddhist kingship is also well-attested. However, there has been little scholarly effort to integrate findings on the extent to which Buddhism interacted with the political order in the classical and modern states of Theravada Asia into a wider, comparative study.
Jackson, Roger and John Makransky. edit. Buddhist Theology: Critical
Reflections by Contemporary Buddhist Scholars. Richmond: Curzon Press,
2000.
Peter Della Santina. The Buddhist Tradition of Mental Development. Boston: Manjushri Press, 2002.
Buddha Mind, Buddha Body expands upon the themes in Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Understanding Our Mind. It opens with the question: Is free will possible? This concept becomes a leitmotif as the author considers how the mind functions and how we can work with it to cultivate more freedom and understanding, how to be in closer touch with reality, and how to create the conditions for our own happiness. Nhat Hanh discusses the connection between psychology, neuroscience, and meditation.
This book analyses the transplantation, development and adaptation of the two largest Tibetan and Zen Buddhist organizations currently active on the British religious landscape: the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) and the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives (OBC). The key contributions of recent scholarship are evaluated and organised thematically to provide a framework for analysis, and the history and current landscape of contemporary Tibetan and Zen Buddhist practice in Britain are also mapped out.
If you have been practicing Buddhism for a while, why do you still have problems? And how do you balance the sometimes different needs of spiritual and psychological perspectives? Rob Preece draws on his personal experience - over two decades as a psychotherapist and many years as a meditation teacher - to explore and map the psychological influences on our struggle to awaken. Wisdom does not always come as a flash of inspiration, but from the slow-often painful-working of experience. As we detach from our ideals of perfection and develop our acceptance of imperfection, our love and compassion can grow, and with this, our psychological and spiritual health will benefit as well. The Wisdom of Imperfection delves into this journey of individuation in Buddhist life, looking at the psychological process beneath the traditional path of the compassionate-minded Bodhisattva.
In a manner never before published, this book presents both Buddhism and Yoga and relates them to contemporary Western psychology. Although existing books begin with advanced concepts, such as emptiness or egolessness, The Positive Psychology of Buddhism and Yoga begins with very basic concepts and avoids the exotic and so called "mystical" notions. Levine emphasizes the goals of Buddhism and Yoga and the methods they employ to achieve those goals.
A great deal of Buddhist literature and scholarly writing about Buddhism of the past 150 years reflects, and indeed constructs, a historically unique modern Buddhism, even while purporting to represent ancient tradition, timeless teaching, or the "essentials" of Buddhism. This literature, Asian as well as Western, weaves together the strands of different traditions to create a novel hybrid that brings Buddhism into alignment with many of the ideologies and sensibilities of the post-Enlightenment West.
When neurology researcher James Austin began Zen training, he found that his medical education was inadequate. During the past three decades, he has been at the cutting edge of both Zen and neuroscience, constantly discovering new examples of how these two large fields each illuminate the other. Now, in Selfless Insight, Austin arrives at a fresh synthesis, one that invokes the latest brain research to explain the basis for meditative states and clarifies what Zen awakening implies for our understanding of consciousness. Austin, author of the widely read Zen and the Brain, reminds us why Zen meditation is not only mindfully attentive but evolves to become increasingly selfless and intuitive. Meditators are gradually learning how to replace over-emotionality with calm, clear, objective comprehension.
It is common in both Buddhism and Freudian psychoanalysis to treat desire as if it is the root of all suffering and problems, but psychiatrist Mark Epstein believes this to be a grave misunderstanding. In his controversial defense of desire, he makes clear that it is the key to deepening intimacy with ourselves, each other, and our world. Proposing that spiritual attainment does not have to be detached from intimacy or eroticism, Open to Desire begins with an exploration of the state of dissatisfaction that causes us to cling to irrational habits. Dr. Epstein helps readers overcome their own fears of desire so that they can more readily bridge the gap between self and other, cope with feelings of incompletion, and get past the perception of others as objects. Freed from clinging and shame, desire’s spiritual potential can then be opened up.
Being mindful can help people feel calmer and more fully alive. Mindfulness and Mental Health examines other effects it can also have and presents a significant new model of how mindful awareness may influence different forms of mental suffering. The book assesses current understandings of what mindfulness is, what it leads to, and how and when it can help. It looks at the roots and significance of mindfulness in Buddhist psychology and at the strengths and limitations of recent scientific investigations.
This book explores the Buddhist view of death and its implications for contemporary bioethics. Writing primarily from within the Tibetan tradition, author Karma Lekshe Tsomo discusses Buddhist notions of human consciousness and personal identity and how these figure in the Buddhist view of death. Beliefs about death and enlightenment and states between life and death are also discussed. Tsomo goes on to examine such hot-button topics as cloning, abortion, assisted suicide, euthanasia, organ donation, genetic engineering, and stem-cell research within a Buddhist context, introducing new ways of thinking about these highly controversial issues.
With Imagining Karma, Gananath Obeyesekere embarks on the very first comparison of rebirth concepts across a wide range of cultures. Exploring in rich detail the beliefs of small-scale societies of West Africa, Melanesia, traditional Siberia, Canada, and the northwest coast of North America, Obeyesekere compares their ideas with those of the ancient and modern Indic civilizations and with the Greek rebirth theories of Pythagoras, Empedocles, Pindar, and Plato. His groundbreaking and authoritative discussion decenters the popular notion that India was the origin and locus of ideas of rebirth. As Obeyesekere compares responses to the most fundamental questions of human existence, he challenges readers to reexamine accepted ideas about death, cosmology, morality, and eschatology.
Creatively exploring the points of confluence and conflict between Western psychology and Buddhist teachings, various scholars, researchers, and therapists struggle to integrate their diverse psychological orientations - psychoanalytic, humanistic, cognitive-behavioral, transpersonal - with their diverse Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist practices. By investigating the degree to which Buddhist insights are compatible with Western science and culture, they then consider what each philosophical/psychological system has to offer the other. The contributors reveal how Buddhism has changed the way they practice psychotherapy, choose their research topics, and conduct their personal lives. In doing so, they illuminate the relevance of ancient Buddhist texts to contemporary cultural and psychological dilemmas.
Are there Buddhist conceptions of the unconscious? If so, are they more Freudian, Jungian, or something else? If not, can Buddhist conceptions be reconciled with the Freudian, Jungian, or other models? These are some of the questions that have motivated modern scholarship to approach alayavijnana, the storehouse consciousness, formulated in Yogâcâra Buddhism as a subliminal reservoir of tendencies, habits, and future possibilities.
Cognitive Humanistic Therapy describes a new approach to psychotherapy and self-development, based on an understanding of what it means to be “fully human.” In a unique integration of theory and practice, the book synthesises ideas from the cognitive and humanistic domains of psychotherapy and the religious worlds of Buddhism and Christianity.
This book on engaged Buddhism focuses on women working for social justice in a wide range of Buddhist tradition and societies. Contributors document attempts to actualize Buddhism's liberating ideas of personal growth and social transformation. Dealing with issues such as human rights, gender-based violence, prostitution, and the role of Buddhist nuns, the work illuminates the possibilities for positive change that are available to those with limited power and resources. Integrating social realities and theoretical perspectives, the work utilizes feminist interpretations of Buddhist values and looks at culturally appropriate means of instigating change.
Weber's claim that Buddhism is an otherworldly religion is only partially true. Early sources indicate that the Buddha was sometimes diverted from supramundane interests to dwell on a variety of politically-related matters. The significance of Asoka Maurya as a paradigm for later traditions of Buddhist kingship is also well-attested. However, there has been little scholarly effort to integrate findings on the extent to which Buddhism interacted with the political order in the classical and modern states of Theravada Asia into a wider, comparative study.
Buddhism first came to the West many centuries ago through the Greeks, who also influenced some of the culture and practices of Indian Buddhism. As Buddhism has spread beyond India, it has always been affected by the indigenous traditions of its new homes. When Buddhism appeared in America and Europe in the 1950s and 1960s, it encountered contemporary psychology and psychotherapy, rather than religious traditions. Since the 1990s, many efforts have been made by Westerners to analyze and integrate the similarities and differences between Buddhism and it therapeutic ancestors, particularly Jungian psychology. Taking Japanese Zen-Buddhism as its starting point, this volume is a collection of critiques, commentaries, and histories about a particular meeting of Buddhism and psychology.
We spend our lives protecting an elusive self - but does the self actually exist? Drawing on literature from Western philosophy, neuroscience and Buddhism (interpreted), the author argues that there is no self. The self - as unified owner and thinker of thoughts - is an illusion created by two tiers. A tier of naturally unified consciousness (notably absent in standard bundle-theory accounts) merges with a tier of desire-driven thoughts and emotions to yield the impression of a self. So while the self, if real, would think up the thoughts, the thoughts, in reality, think up the self.
Buddhism teaches that to become happy, greed, ill-will, and delusion must be transformed into their positive counterparts: generosity, compassion, and wisdom. The history of the West, like all histories, has been plagued by the consequences of greed, ill-will, and delusion. A Buddhist History of the West investigates how individuals have tried to ground themselves to make themselves feel more real. To be self-conscious is to experience ungroundedness as a sense of lack, but what is lacking has been understood differently in different historical periods. Author David R. Loy examines how the understanding of lack changes at historical junctures and shows how those junctures were so crucial in the development of the West.