Severing the Source of Fear: Contemplative Dynamics of the Tibetan Buddhist GCod Tradition

Asking ‘What is the nature of fear?’, ‘How is it that fear and terror are amenable to being “severed” or “transcended”?’, and ‘Why would it be advantageous to “sever” fear?’, this paper investigates the act of cutting-through fear via the Tibetan Buddhist meditative tradition known as ‘gCod’ (‘chöd’). Through examining Mahayana philosophical notions of self and phenomena, as well as the psychological implications of subject-object reification at the heart of gCod, we elaborate on the interior cognitive and emotional dynamics of gCod praxis. In order to elaborate on these contemplative dynamics, we reflect upon translated verses from one of the seminal texts of the gCod tradition, entitled The Essence of Enlightened Awareness: The Quintessence of the Profound Meaning of the Entirety of Expositions and Guidance on the Transcendent Wisdom that Cuts-Through.     

儒学传统:在理性与信仰之间的平衡与开展——略述孔孟荀思想脉络

孔子从世间日常情感出发建构的儒家思想体系与价值意识,体现有“在理性与信仰之间保持平衡与张力”的一种运思方式与精神特质。由孔子到孟子再到荀子,其开展的思想脉络是:孟子把孔子信仰的一面强化了,荀子则把孔子理性的一面张扬了,他们各自从不同面向丰富了孔子原创儒学的体系,无需贬彼褒此。     

The Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms: Miracles,Monotheism, and Reason in Spinoza

Spinoza insists in the Theological Political Treatise that philosophy and theology are two separate kingdoms. I argue here that there is a basis in the psychology of the Ethics for one of the major components of the doctrine of the two kingdoms. Under the kingdom of theology, religion's principal function is to overcome the influence of harmful passion that prevents people from living life according to a fixed plan: people can live according to a fixed plan because they can obey. Through a series of arguments I show that Spinoza takes obedience to arise through devotion; devotion to associate with ideas of miracles and imaginative monotheism; and these ideas to be imaginative ideas of singular objects. On the psychology of the Ethics, ideas of this sort, although highly irrational, nevertheless give minds a power to resist harmful passion similar to that of ideas of reason. Although problems remain for the interpretation of the doctrine of the two kingdoms, this argument shows that Spinoza's psychology grounds his claim that theology, although different from philosophy, can help us to live well.     

Contemplative Meditation and Neuroscience: Prospects for Mental Health

Numerous studies show that personal spirituality developed through prayer positively influences mental health. Phenomenological and neuroscientific studies of mindfulness, an Eastern meditative prayer form, reveal significant health benefits now yielding important insights useful for guiding treatment of psychological disorders. By contrast, and despite its practice for millennia, Christian meditation is largely unrepresented in studies of clinical efficacy. Resemblances between mindfulness and disciplinary acts in Christian meditation taken from the ancient Greek practice of askesis suggest that Christian meditation will prove similarly beneficial; furthermore, psychological and neuroscientific studies suggest that its retention of a dialogical and transcendent praxis will additionally benefit social and existential psychotherapy. This paper thus argues that study of contemplative meditation for its therapeutic potential is warranted.     

The Scandal of Reason: A Critical Theory of Political Judgment

Abstract

Carruthers argues that knowledge of our own propositional attitudes is achieved by the same mechanism used to attain knowledge of other people’s minds. This seems incompatible with ‘privileged access’ – the idea that we have more reliable beliefs about our own mental states, regardless of the mechanism. At one point Carruthers seems to suggest he may be able to maintain privileged access, because we have additional sensory information in our own case. We raise a number of worries for this suggestion, concluding that Carruthers’s new theory cannot clearly preserve the superior reliability of our beliefs about our own attitudes.     

个体性与公共性:王船山理性概念的双重向度

王船山哲学中的理性概念是从公共性与个体性两个维度加以勘定的。在公共性的层面 ,王船山把宋明思想系统中形而上学的“天理”观念转化为“公理”的意识 ,并强调这种公共理性是在主体间交互关系中得以发源的 ;在个体性层面 ,王船山指出凡是合理性的总是包含了个体自慊 (自我满足 )的感受特性 ,由此 ,理性并不与感性相对峙 ,而是把后者纳入它本身之中     

冥想科学研究现状与展望

近年来,冥想的研究有了快速发展,形成一门多学科交叉、实践性很强的学科,主要采用行为量表、生理观测工具、生物标记检测身心变化机制.脑成像技术的应用较广泛,反映个体特定时刻的脑部结构和功能的变化.冥想与藏医有着密切关系,属于藏医身心行为疗法,通过“心练”来调控人体的三大因素,即隆、赤巴、培根的平衡.     

The Suicide of Thomas Merton: Moral Narcissism,Contemplative Prayer,and the Religion of Humor

In this third and final of three successive essays, the author argues that Thomas Merton suffered from narcissistic personality disorder in conjunction with his melancholic condition. The author argues that contemplative prayer disabled Merton from working through his melancholic condition. Finally, the author argues that Merton’s melancholia, coupled with his heightened identity conflicts lead him to kill himself.     

信仰理性·认知理性·反思理性--理性"天然合法性"的根据何在

人类文明的发展,经过了"信仰理性"、"认知理性"的支配阶段后,将进入一个"人性自主一反思理性"的时代.在已往的历史中,理性并没有真正握有自主权,它更多地充当了一种工具化的角色.信仰理性是"本性在外"的理解方式,理智理性是"本性对外"的理解方式,二者均未达到人性的自主.反思理性作为理性的自我反省,是向生成自身的那个人性根基的回归.理性的"天然合法性"的根据即在理性自身.反思理性使"理性自洁"的功能得以发挥,它一定能够解决理性自身造成的问题."反思理性"将成为新世纪人类文明的主导理性.     

占星术,或者,面相学与头盖骨相学——阿多诺与《精神现象学》的一种批判传统

该文试图从黑格尔《精神现象学》中的一个小问题入手,来探讨这部著作在思想传承上对于阿多诺所具有的意义。首先,我们考察了这个时代所普遍存在着的对理性的误解。接着,我们通过黑格尔《精神现象学》中对面相学和头盖骨相学的论述,分析了一种反理性的倾向。最后,我们在阿多诺的研究中发现,这种反理性的倾向在当代通过占星术的形式更为貌似合理地深潜在我们的社会生活之中,对此,阿多诺是一个洞悉者和批判者。这种洞悉和批判是黑格尔《精神现象学》的理性传统的承继。     

衰落之后:后期批判理论中的理性之光

早期法兰克福学派理论家宣称,理性在自我清算中已终结自身,因此置批判理论于困境之中。哈贝马斯背离传统理性观,通过合理重建为理性寻找新的基础,以挽救启蒙传统中的批判能量,激起了广泛的批评。在超越了理性启蒙和理性他者的反启蒙时代而进入理由的时代后,哈贝马斯召回与慎思纠缠的认知主义时刻,诉诸理性评判和给出理由,从而达成合理共识,彰显了交往合理性的价值;但将合理化扩展至社会领域时,对理性的社会功能,依然需要保持警惕。     

Finding God in the Silence: Contemplative Prayer and Therapy

In this paper the author shares some of his experiences of using silence in therapy. He presents one of the modes of practicing silence, namely the meditation technique known as Contemplative Prayer, and shows advantages of using this technique in the process of self-purification and self-balancing of the therapist. The author stipulates that silence is a royal way to discovering God. Finding this divine particle within oneself and client changes the whole outlook of therapy. The therapist is no longer alone with the client, but God becomes an active participant in the therapeutic process through His love for both therapist and client.