Monitoring Emotion Through Body Sensation: A Review of Awareness in Goenka’s Vipassana

Awareness is one of the two most important abilities cultivated in Goenka’s Vipassana meditation, which refers to sensitivity to subtle bodily sensations and the associated psychological processes. This sensitivity and its derived function of monitoring emotion are not of notable concern in modern mindfulness-based psychotherapies. Evidence supports that Vipassana meditation truly enhances sensitivity to bodily sensations, but further study is required to assess the awareness of psychological processes. The value of monitoring mental processing has been widely accepted in psychology, as has enhanced sensitivity along with the potential dangers to mental health. Implications for practice and future studies are discussed.     

Flowing Within the Text: A Discussion on He Lin’s Explanation of Zhu Xi’s Method of Intuition

The author examines He Lin’s interpretation of Zhu Xi’s method of intuition from a phenomenological-hermeneutical perspective and by exposing Zhu’s philosophical presuppositions. In contrast with Lu Xiangshan’s intuitive method, Zhu Xi’s method of reading classics advocates “emptying your heart and flowing with the text” and, in this spirit, explains the celebrated “exhaustive investigation on the principles of things (ge wu qiong li).” “Text,” according to Zhu, is therefore not an object in ordinary sense but a “contextual region” or “sensible pattern” that, when merged with the reader, generates meanings. Furthermore, by discussing the related doctrines of Lao Zi, Zhuang Zi, Hua-Yan Buddhism, Zhou Dunyi, and Zhu Xi’s own “One principle with many manifestations (li yi fen shu),” the author identifies the philosophical preconditions of Zhu’s method. Based on this analysis, the author goes on to illustrate Zhu’s understanding of “observing potential yet unapparent pleasure, anger, sorrow and happiness” and “maintaining a serious attitude (zhu jing).”     

儒家哲理特征与文化间对话——普遍主义还是非普遍主义

Confucianism is a rather typical non-universalism, even though it does believe that its own doctrines are indeed the ultimate truth, and denies the validity of any higher, universalist meta-standard. Therefore, when facing the contemporary culture intercourse, Confucianism advocates genuine discourse: It rejects any cultural conflict to-the-death, refuses to engage in universalist competition and antagonism, and maintains a mutually-beneficial interaction with other cultures. However, it also adheres to a “free-to-terminate-relations” principle, which implies that any side is free to terminate, at any time, all potential and actual interactions, whenever it feels that its original cultural vitality is threatened. In other words, cultural interactions must only occur when the cultural uniqueness and independence of all participating sides is guaranteed.     

孝意识的时间分析

The reason for the emergence of consciousness of filial piety is that parental care could activate reciprocal filial piety. Parental care and filial piety are two supplementary phenomena caused by the same time consciousness. Phenomenology neglects consciousness of filial piety because it lacks the thinking that sees the fundamental “meaning of time” in the intersection of “past” and “future”. The consciousness of filial piety can only be really constituted by a human being’s personal experience. “Frustrations in personal life” and “breeding of children for oneself” are two occasions for an adult to fight against the separating effect of individualized consciousness and regain awareness of filial piety. Translated by Huang Deyuan from Beijing Daxue Xuebao 北京大学学报 (Journal of Peking University), 2006, (1): 14–24     

重建儒教的危险、必要及其中行路线

将儒家视为西方意义上的宗教,并且试图去建立儒教团体,会对儒家的事业带来危险。然而,在今天的文化形势下,又的确需要重建原本意义上的儒教,也就是依照儒家或儒教的“人间生活化”和“亲子源头性”的特点,来建构儒教。所以,在使儒家复活的现实努力中,只走上行路线(进入政治主流)和下行路线(进入民间)是困难的或不够的,还需要考虑中行路线,即建立儒家特区,在文化多样的格局中让儒家的天然活力得以复苏。     

慈心禅在心理学视角下的应用

随着正念在西方心理学界的流行,慈心禅作为另一种颇具应用潜力的传统佛教禅修方式,正受到越来越多心理学家的关注。系统的慈心禅训练可以培养积极情绪、缓解消极的情绪反应,而即时的慈心禅练习也可以作为一种情绪调节策略。慈心禅可有效提升自我同情,培养对他人的共情能力和积极态度,此外还可辅助某些疾病的治疗。除进一步深入已有方向,未来研究可更多借鉴佛教视角提出新课题,如对慈心进行有效测量,探索慈心禅所诱发情绪的特殊性质,干预愤怒、嫉妒等负性情绪并探索慈心禅的应用方式与条件等。     

周敦颐的《太极图说》、《易》象数及西方有关学说

本文从《易》象数的角度来解释周敦颐的《太极图说》与《通书》,认为这种象数的“二对生”的区别性特征是周氏学说的内在发动结构,由此而提出一些很不同于流行的“宇宙论加上伦理学”的解释模式的思路。在一些被长久争论的问题上,比如“太极与无极的关系”、“太极与两仪的关系”、“诚与太极的关系”、“中与太极和诚的关系”,都提出了新的看法。在这新的理解方式中,周敦颐的《太极图说》就不止是程朱陆王的一个含糊的先导,而是融合了儒道释的思想精华,而又有着自己独特的思想原发力与中和的精微境界的划时代的哲理学说,其蕴义(比如超出理气二分的原本发生论)并未被后来的理学家们穷尽。本文最后将周敦颐的思想与西方的毕达哥拉斯及莱布尼兹的学说进行对比,一方面揭示“象数”在伟大的哲理传统中的关键作用,另一方面又表明中西两大传统之间存在的深刻差异在结构上的原因。