Plurality of Self: Buddhist Anthropology and the Two Natures of Christ

The union of divine and human in Jesus Christ was codified at the Council of Chalcedon. However, while this position makes good theological sense, in terms of soteriology, it remains a conceptual problem. How do two distinct entities combine into a single entity without the loss of their respective distinctiveness? This article recommends a move from a Greek metaphysic of “substance” to a Buddhist understanding of selfhood as emptiness. By understanding the self as an interweaving of multiple energies, rather than a fixed substance, Chalcedonian Christology can retain its soteriological integrity with a more helpful conceptual understanding of how two may become one.     

Who founded Buddhism? Notes on the psychological effectiveness of religious objects

Starting with an outline of Buddhist history from a psychoanalytic perspective, this paper uses ideas from philosophy and psychoanalysis to consider the nature of the psychological effectiveness of religious objects. It suggests that the development of the devotional cult of Buddhas ‘without form’ such as Amitābha, at‐first‐glance surprising when juxtaposed with the founding vision of Gautama Siddhartha, tells us a great deal about the psychological needs that impel the evolution of religious thinking. Distinguishing religious objects from mythological ones, it argues that ‘religious objects’ are, more specifically, allegorical objects that can be encountered in the second person; that these may not always be well described as ‘illusion’; and that they may in some cases be better understood as providing opportunities for experience that, like the transference in psychoanalysis, may have far‐reaching psychological impacts.     

From Freudian narcissism to the Buddhist notion of anatman,via Jung's idea of identity

Starting from the question the youthful Carl Gustav pondered as he sat on ‘his’ stone – ‘Am I he who sits on the stone, or am I the stone on which he sits?’ – the author has attempted to show that, for Jung, the idea of identity is founded on a wilful non‐determination. This stance results in ethical and methodological repercussions that differentiate it both from the Freudian project and from Hindu and Buddhist thought, while at the same time having much in common with them. The paper refers to the notions of emergence and (Varela et al. 1992) enaction 2 2 According to the Wikipedia entry, the introduction of the term ‘enaction’ is attributed to Francisco Varela, Evan Thompson, and Eleanor Rosch (1992), who proposed the name to ‘emphasize the growing conviction that cognition is not the representation of a pre‐given world by a pre‐given mind but is rather the enactment of a world and a mind on the basis of a history of the variety of actions that a being in the world performs’.
and argues that the concept of the archetype, especially in relation to the self, merits a re‐evaluation in light of the new scientific paradigm.     

The roots of empathy and aggression in analysis

Empathy and interpretation have complementary roles in analysis. Empathy diminishes psychological arousal, ego-defences, and promotes the therapeutic relationship. Interpretation, when adopted in the service of character analysis and the uncovering of unconscious conflict, represents one element of a larger set of interventions termed analytic aggression, whose primary goal is to promote insight. Psychoanalysis has been increasingly influenced by derivative theories that promote the therapeutic relationship. Clinical observations suggest that the application of analytic aggression has diminished and that many modern treatments may have become overly skewed towards empathic approaches. This paper explores ethical humanism, Jamesian typology, and feminine psychology, as factors that have contributed to the diminished emphasis on analytic aggression in practice. Eastern myth and Buddhist psychology are used to explicate the core features of narcissistic mental structuring and to support the continued importance of analytic aggression in its treatment. Case material is examined to elucidate the benefits and limits of analytic aggression.     

Importance of Morality in Mindfulness Practice

As the result of secularization and adaption of mindfulness practices from Buddhism, elements specific to culture and religion have been removed, now drawing criticism that mindfulness training has lost its original ethical characteristics. This article argues that the lack of formal coverage of morality in mindfulness‐based programs does not imply that morality plays no part, and that participants independently contextualize their mindfulness practice by drawing on their own sense of morality. Therefore, awareness of the role of morality in mindfulness practice is important for counselors, who can assist their clients with integrating their mindfulness practice with their own worldviews and ethical frameworks.     

From conscious experience to a conscious self

In his book The Opacity of Mind, Peter Carruthers (2011 Carruthers, P. (2011). The opacity of mind: An integrative theory of self-knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) presents the Interpretive Sensory Awareness theory (“ISA”), which holds that while we have direct access to our own sensory states, our access to “self-knowledge” is almost always interpretive. In presenting his view, Carruthers also claims that his account is the first of its kind; after a cursory examination of major theories of mind, he concludes that “transparent access” accounts of self-knowledge—the alternative to ISA—have been endorsed throughout history. This paper challenges this latter claim. Contrary to Carruthers’ view, the paper argues that Buddhist theories of mind are not “transparent access” accounts. Instead, they not only have an analysis of sensory processing and conscious experience similar to that of ISA, but also share what Carruthers sees as ISA’s central tenet: individuals lack transparent, conscious access to most of their propositional attitudes. Given this fundamental alignment, the Buddhist perspective can offer us fresh responses to ISA’s critics, as well as approaches to ethics and free will that are aligned with ISA’s conclusions.     

Who are these Buddhists and How Many of Them are There? Theoretical and Methodological Challenges in Counting Immigrant Buddhists: A Danish Case Study

Religious demography is generally a challenging endeavor and counting and defining religions and religious identities in an Asian context is notoriously difficult. Buddhists in both Asia and the West have a long tradition of gray-zone religiosity, which means that membership and mono-identity is less common than syncretic engagement and hybrid identity. The immigrant Buddhists in the West are generally far more numerous than the convert and new age Buddhists. Their numbers are, however, extremely difficult to ascertain. This article discusses the methodological and theoretical problems in quantifying immigrant religion and the challenges of operationalizing such constraints into concrete methods. The empirical data derive from the author’s engagement in research on Buddhism in Denmark, in which traditions from both Theravada and Mahayana groups are represented. While concrete figures are suggested, it is also concluded that further empirical research as well as comparison with more contexts are necessary for the continued refinement of usable methods in counting immigrant religion.     

Recovery and Buddhist practices in the aftermath of the Tsunami in Southern Thailand

For most Thai people, Buddhism serves as a base for explanations about life and death.This article focuses on Buddhist practices and the importance of ceremonies in the recovery process after the 2004 tsunami in Southern Thailand. The tsunami had devastating consequences for most people in the coastal regions. First, through the loss of life, and second, through the damage to and loss of houses, fishing boats and means of livelihood. This article analyses informants’ experiences, narratives, interpretations and actions in terms of their Buddhist beliefs. The key findings of this article are that collective ceremonies form an important part of the recovery process. One finding revealed that, in cases of ambiguous loss, a Buddhist ceremony that was unknown to most people before the tsunami became an important element of the search for missing persons. Another finding is that the common Buddhist practice of communicating across the boundary between the living and dead became the most important ritual among the surviving relatives. The ethnography is based on a long-term anthropological research project with in-depth interviews, life stories and participant observation carried out in coastal villages located mainly in Phang Nga, the worst hit province in Thailand.¹     

IMAG(IN)ING THE BUDDHIST BRAIN: EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

Buddhism has captured the imagination of many in the modern (Western) world. Recently, scientists have seemed eager to discover whether claims about Buddhist meditation can be verified experimentally. Brain research is beginning to produce concrete evidence that mental discipline and meditative practice can change the workings of the brain and allow practitioners to achieve different levels of awareness, as measurable for instance in reaction times to stimuli. The goal of this section of articles in Zygon is to address recent developments in this area. The contributions address a wide array of questions, although they certainly do not cover the whole ground of what one may consider “problems” of meditation. Yet, we believe that the issues addressed here have widespread implications and that they constitute a strong argument for the richness of the meditation domain.     

佛教果报理论与《聊斋志异》伦理思想

佛教果报理论与伦理观念的总原则是 :诸恶莫作 ,众善奉行 ;恶有恶报 ,善有善报 ,不是不报 ,时候未到。而《聊斋志异》叙述得最多的就是善恶之业 ,果报不爽 ,在劫难逃的故事。概言之 ,作者不仅借助佛教善恶报应的因果理论来宣说一定的纲常伦理观念 ,而且也借助佛教的因果规律来展开情节 ,塑造人物 ,交代故事的来龙去脉 ,使之更合乎情理。从而使人们通过阅读这些故事 ,更加明确遵守纲常伦理的重要性 ,增强社会道德的责任感 ,自觉修善积德 ,防恶止非 ,在严格要求自己的同时 ,也建立起良好的社会关系。