FREE YOUR MIND: BUDDHISM,CAUSALITY, AND THE FREE WILL PROBLEM

The problem of free will is associated with a specific and significant kind of control over our actions, which is understood primarily in the sense that we have the freedom to do otherwise or the capacity for self-determination. Is Buddhism compatible with such a conception of free will? The aim of this article is to address three critical issues concerning the free will problem: (1) what role should accounts of physical and neurobiological processes play in discussions of free will? (2) Is a conception of mental autonomy grounded in practices of meditative cultivation compatible with the three cardinal Buddhist doctrines of momentariness, dependent arising, and no-self? (3) Are there enough resources in Buddhism, given its antisubstantialist metaphysics, to account for personal agency, self-control, and moral responsibility?     

Echoes of Tsültrim Lodrö: An Indigenous Voice from Contemporary Tibet on the ‘Buddhism and Science Dialogue’

This paper seeks to find a place for the intellectual voices of an indigenous movement of ‘Buddhist modernism’ that recently took shape in eastern Tibet. It presents how a prominent leader of this movement, Tsültrim Lodrö (tshul khrims blo gros, b. 1962), articulates Buddhism in response to modern discourses of rationality and science. In particular, since the ‘dialogue’ between Buddhism and science in recent years has largely been a series of monologues, this paper seeks to open up the conversation in order to shed light on the nature of this dialogue and what is at stake in this conversation. I will discuss Tsültrim Lodrö’s most recent work on philosophy and science with the aim to shed light on the nature of the current Buddhism and science discourses through considering the contributions of this influential contemporary Tibetan.     

An All-new Timeless Truth

Donald Lopez argues that we should reject the narrative of compatibility between Buddhism and science as any apparent compatibility is achieved through a process of propositional compromise that sacrifices Buddhism’s distinctive content. This conclusion puts tension on the project within Buddhist modernism to formulate a Buddhism that functions within or alongside modern scientific paradigms. Lopez suggests that we should abandon this project, lest Buddhism should be demythologised away to nothing. While agreeing with Lopez I argue that his conclusion only holds under a particular epistemological assumption that is at odds with the Madhyamaka-Prāsa?gika philosophy of ?ūnyatā. I will argue, therefore, that a Madhyamaka analysis of the tensions in Buddhist modernism opens up the possibility of a frictionless pluralism between Buddhism and science. This resolution can only be achieved, however, if Madhyamaka Buddhists are willing to make a clear distinction between their Buddhism and their Madhyamaka attitude towards that Buddhism.     

Interaction and bio-cognitive order

The role of interaction in learning is essential and profound: it must provide the means to solve open problems (those only vaguely specified in advance), but cannot be captured using our familiar formal cognitive tools. This presents an impasse to those confined to present formalisms; but interaction is fundamentally dynamical, not formal, and with its importance thus underlined it invites the development of a distinctively interactivist account of life and mind. This account is provided, from its roots in the interactivist biological constitution of life, through the evolution of the dual internal regulatory capacities expressed as intentionality and intelligence, to its expression in self-directed anticipative learning in persons and in science.     

Buddhism and Science: Allies or Enemies?

Buddhist teachings and modern science are analogous both in their approach to the search for truth and in some of the discoveries of contemporary physics, biology, and psychology. However, despite these congruencies and the recognized benefits of science, Buddhism reminds us of the dangers of a tendency toward scientific reductionism and imperialism and of the sciences' inability to deal with human moral and spiritual values and needs. Buddhism and science have human concerns and final goals that are different, but as long as the boundaries between them are not trespassed, they can be mutually corrective and allied to benefit humankind. Buddhism must be open to the discoveries of science about the physical world as must all religions today, but no matter how much it may have to modify some of its ancient beliefs, its basic truths—the truths about human suffering and its release—will remain untouched.     

Radical embodied cognitive science and “Real Cognition”

A persistent criticism of radical embodied cognitive science is that it will be impossible to explain “real cognition” without invoking mental representations. This paper provides an account of explicit, real-time thinking of the kind we engage in when we imagine counter-factual situations, remember the past, and plan for the future. We first present a very general non-representational account of explicit thinking, based on pragmatist philosophy of science. We then present a more detailed instantiation of this general account drawing on nonlinear dynamics and ecological psychology.

     

系统生物学的发展与思维方法的变革

通过论述系统生物学发展的动因及其对未来生命科学发展的影响,揭示生命科学研究正发生一场从分子生物学时代过渡到系统生物学时代的趋势,必将推动科研思维方法的变革.     

Brooklyn Bhikkhu: How Salvatore Cioffi Became The Venerable Lokanatha

This article provides a biographical overview of the life of the Venerable Lokanatha (1897–1966), who was born in Italy as Salvatore Cioffi and raised in Brooklyn, New York. After converting to Buddhism in his late-twenties, Lokanatha travelled to Burma, took ordination as a monk, and began a remarkable 40 year career as a writer, lecturer, organizer, and Buddhist missionary throughout South Asia and the world. Beyond biography, Lokanatha and the various responses to him are contextualized within the different cultural spheres in which he operated, from the anti-colonial Buddhist revival in Burma to the mocking indifference Lokanatha found in the United States. Scholarship on modern Buddhism, particularly recent work on U Dhammaloka, is used to situate Lokanatha's life and its facets of conservative reformer and transnational actor. Finally, an account of the source material used to reconstruct the life of Lokanatha is employed to offer practical methodological explanations for his absence from conventional narratives of modern Buddhism and what his inclusion along with other figures might mean in the future.     

BUDDHISM AND SCIENCE: HOW FAR CAN THE DIALOGUE PROCEED?

On the stage of the religion‐and‐science dialogue, Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, is a late arrival. However, thanks primarily to the long‐standing personal interest of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan tradition he represents has come to engage deeply with various disciplines of modern science. This essay follows the active engagement that has occurred particularly in the form of the biannual Mind and Life dialogues between the Dalai Lama and scientists. From the perspective of an active participant, I present the careful deliberations that ensure constructive parameters for these dialogues so that no one side can exert a hegemonic voice. I explore the challenges that are likely to confront the Buddhist side from its encounter with science, particularly with respect to its worldview. I identify specific areas where the two sides can and do engage in concrete collaboration, especially with respect to investigating healthy qualities of the mind and the effects of conscious mental training for attention and emotion regulation. Finally, I explore the question of the possible impact of this dialogue on modern science.     

Observations on some aspects of current psychoanalytic theories

The competing theories in the psychoanalytic marketplace today should be judged on their merits, not on the basis of the authority of whoever first proposed them. What is valid in each theory should be included in any formulation of a psychoanalytic theory of mental development and functioning. Since psychoanalysis, as part of psychology, is a branch of natural science, pluralism in theory is to be avoided in psychoanalysis as in every branch of science. The psychoanalytic method is a valid one of studying a particular aspect of brain functioning. The method and the theories based upon it are as "organic" as is the case with any of the other neurosciences. Any valid psychoanalytic theory of mental functioning and development should include the following conclusions: (1) Unconscious mental processes are omnipresent and of great importance in mental functioning; (2) Thoughts are as causally related to one another as are other events in the universe; (3) Mental functioning is a developmental phenomenon with describable, sequential features; and (4) A major role in mental functioning and development is played by conflicts over the sexual and aggressive wishes that characterize mental life during the period from three to six years of age, and by the compromise formations that result from those conflicts. The last of these conclusions, though disputed by many, is abundantly supported by evidence that is not dependent on the use of the psychoanalytic method, as well as by evidence furnished by the use of the psychoanalytic method. There is also much evidence to support the assertion that any psychoanalytic theory that attributes language-dependent thoughts to a child whose brain is not yet mature enough to be capable of language is to be considered invalid, as are any observations made by the psychoanalytic method (= clinical observations) that are influenced by such an invalid theory. In psychoanalysis, as in every other branch of science, an observer--no matter how astute and how experienced--who subscribes to an invalid theory will be led astray by that theory, sooner or later, in one way or another.     

An innovative group experience for couples expecting their first child

Abstract

This paper presents a pilot project that was developed to work with small groups of couples in which the women were pregnant with their first child. The primary purpose was to stimulate couples to become aware of their communications and support systems as the necessary building blocks for healthy family emotional development. Pregnancy can be seen as a transitional period leading to another life stage in the growth of an individual. The format, topics, evaluation and summary are presented with the hope that other mental health professionals will be motivated to develop similar groups.     

BUDDHISM,COMPARATIVE NEUROPHILOSOPHY,AND HUMAN FLOURISHING

Owen Flanagan's The Bodhisattva's Brain represents an ambitious foray into cross‐cultural neurophilosophy, making a compelling, though not entirely unproblematic, case for naturalizing Buddhist philosophy. While the naturalist account of mental causation challenges certain Buddhist views about the mind, the Buddhist analysis of mind and mental phenomena is far more complex than the book suggests. Flanagan is right to criticize the Buddhist claim that there could be mental states that are not reducible to their neural correlates; however, when the mental states in question reflect the embodied patterns of moral conduct that characterize the Buddhist way of being‐in‐the‐world, an account of their intentional and normative status becomes indispensable. It is precisely this synthesis of normativity and causal explanation that makes Buddhism special, and opens new avenues for enhancing, refining, and expanding the range of arguments and possibilities that comparative neurophilosophy can entertain.     

John S. Harding,Victor Sōgren Hori,and Alexander Souci,eds. Wild geese: Buddhism in Canada

Both Buddhism and Marxism have strengths and weaknesses in helping us to understand human experiences and social problems. Rather than trying to create a synthesis of the two perspectives, I attempt to discern the elements in each which can help us experience better lives and be more effective political activists. Buddhism identifies those understandings and practices which lead to greater happiness and less suffering in response to existential challenges that we all must face as mortal human beings, irrespective of the particular family, society, or historical era that we live in. But while Buddhism captures certain basic aspects of universal human experience, it does not take account of the interaction or dialectic between humans qua social beings and the relatively permanent social structures that humans both reinforce and challenge in the course of history. The latter is the province of a radical social theory, such as Marxism. At the same time, however, Marxism does not address the ways in which, at an experiential level, life causes suffering and anguish irrespective of the social context.     

Buddhist Life Stories

This article argues that contemporary Buddhist memoirs are an important source to investigate and understand the phenomenon of modern Buddhism. Modern Buddhism is a current development in which Buddhists consider their tradition in new ways. The connections between life stories and modern Buddhist traits are striking. No document can get closer to the source of this movement than a life story. In this article I consider this in terms of the memoirs of the German Buddhist nun Ayya Khema and the Sinhalese monk Bhante Gunaratana. Although the figures may not represent all of the categories of modern Buddhism, the reader understands their choices in terms of their entire lives. The reader is constantly faced with the interplay between modern and traditional traits that make up their life stories.     

佛教的善的思想的心理诠释

佛教的宗旨是众善奉行诸恶莫作,认为人的先天本性无分善恶,亲近善知识能形成善的心理,亲近恶知识会形成恶的心理。佛教相信善有善报恶有恶报,鼓励人们行善积德。佛教认为欲望是恶的根源,控制欲望,通过戒定慧、八正道等方式能达到善的心理状态。佛教关于善的先天本性的观点、善恶形成的思想以及善的自我修养方法符合心理学的有关规律。佛教的崇善理念及善的修养思想对于构建社会主义核心价值观的友善价值准则具有积极意义。     

Emotional Well-Being Following Religious Conversion Among Women in Northeast Thailand

Religious conversion can have a profound impact on individual mental health and emotional well-being. These changes may need specific nursing care. In this article, we describe the lived experiences of 21 women who converted from Buddhism to Islam and who live in Isan, the northeast region of Thailand. The data derive from in-depth interviews, natural conversations, and observations. Thematic analysis revealed two dominant themes: women’s sense of happiness in their new faith, and their suffering following from and as a result of their conversion. To provide appropriate care to and prevent mental health problems among Isan women who convert from Buddhism to Islam, and other women in similar contexts, health providers need to enhance their understanding of conversion and to be aware of life experiences that impact on their emotional well-being.     

自我观的新形式:有关自悯的研究论述

由于自尊并不能完全地预见个体心理健康的程度,许多研究者提出了新的构念。本文介绍了其中的努力之一,在吸收东方佛学思想的基础上,Neff于2003年提出了自悯这种新的自我观形式。文章介绍了自悯的成分,即自我友善、普遍人性感和正念以及相关的研究方法;然后,从早期经验、社会文化的角度讨论了自悯的影响来源;在心理功能方面,自悯能有效地帮助个体应对负性事件,增强积极的心理品质和力量,对人际知觉和互动也有重要影响。自悯的这些积极功能已经在临床上得到了运用。最后,对未来的研究方向进行了展望。     

MENTAL HEALTH AND THE GOSPEL: BOYLE LECTURE 2020

Mental health has become a domain of professional and scientific endeavor, distinguished in the modern mind from spirituality, which is understood as a more subjective, transcendent, and private concern. This sharp separation has been challenged in recent decades by scientific research, which demonstrates the positive benefits of spirituality/religion (S/R) for mental health. Increasing scientific interest in the topic is to be welcomed, but the contribution of theology to the debate has been neglected. It is proposed here that Jesus’ life and teaching are presented in the synoptic Gospels as fundamentally concerned with what we now call mental health. Jesus’ teaching on worry, for example, offers various psychological strategies for dealing with anxiety. Moreover, it presents prayer as an effective and constructive response to worry, involving disciplined attention rather than avoidance. Critical interdisciplinary conversations between science and theology on matters such as worry offer a constructive approach to understanding the human condition in the context of adversity.     

The Limits of the Buddhist Embrace of Science

The readiness of Buddhists to dialogue with and embrace modern science has caused some to worry that this encounter will deform Buddhist traditions for the sake of acceptance by the West. But their strong tradition of epistemological skepticism and intellectual pluralism makes it unlikely that Buddhists will embrace scientific positivism. Given the tensions between religion and science in contemporary western society, it is perhaps this feature of Buddhism that can make the most fruitful contribution in its dialogue with science.     

当今医学科技的发展趋势及我国的发展战略

作为生命科学最重要组成部分的医学科学走向科技发展的新时代。在下个世纪,科研重点将向生命科学和生命医学转移。充分认识医学科学技术的地位和作用,及当代医学科技发展的主要趋势和特点,制定我国医学科学的发展战略,加强医学高技术的发展,对我国的医学科技发展将具有十分重要的意义。