Academic literature on the topic 'Buddhism and Self-Transformation'
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Journal articles on the topic "Buddhism and Self-Transformation"
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Lu, Lianghao. "The Bodily Discourse in Modern Chinese Buddhism—Asceticism and Its Presentation in Buddhist Periodicals." Religions 11, no. 8 (August 4, 2020): 400. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel11080400.
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This article focuses on accounts of bodily asceticism published in Buddhist periodicals in Republican China (1912–1949) in order to explore the mentality and motivation of publicly presenting this seemingly fanatic and backward tradition in an era marked by modernization. By zeroing in on practices of self-immolation, bodily mutilation, and blood writing, as presented in periodicals advocating either reform or preservation of Buddhist tradition, the article reveals that Buddhists with different visions for the modern form of Chinese Buddhism, despite their multifaceted responses, reached a consensus: ascetic practices were part of the tradition worthy of preservation and a strong testament of Buddhist morality. Arguments and eulogies about specific cases, preserved in these periodicals, made Buddhist asceticism an integral part of Chinese Buddhism’s modern transformation, which contributes to the rethinking of religion and modernity discourse.
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Dyadyk, Natalia. "Practices of self-knowledge in Buddhism and modern philosophical education." Socium i vlast 4 (2020): 71–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.22394/1996-0522-2020-4-71-81.
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Introduction. The article is focused on studying the self-knowledge techniques used in Buddhism and their application in teaching philosophy. The relevance of the study is due to the search for new approaches to studying philosophy, including approaches related to philosophical practice, as well as the interest of modern scientists in the problem of consciousness. The problem of consciousness is interdisciplinary and its study is of practical importance for philosophers, psychologists, linguists, specialists in artificial intelligence. Buddhism as a philosophical doctrine provides rich material for the study of the phenomenon of consciousness, which does not lose its relevance today. A feature of the Buddhist approach to consciousness is that it has an axiological orientation that is directly related to the problem of self-knowledge. The practices of self-knowledge used in Buddhism enable a person to become happier and more harmonious, which is so important for each of us. The aim of the study is to conduct a philosophical analysis of Buddhist practices of self-knowledge and self-transformation in order to use them in the educational process. Methods: the author uses general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction; phenomenological method to identify the intentions that are key for consciousness. The author also uses the hermeneutical method to interpret Buddhist texts. The method of introspection as self-observation of consciousness is used in Buddhist meditation techniques. The scientific novelty of the study is that we approach the study of extensive material on Buddhism in the context of the problem of selfknowledge, which is inextricably linked with the Buddhist concept of consciousness. The revealed and studied Buddhist techniques of self-knowledge have been adapted for teaching philosophy. Results. A philosophical analysis of the literature on Buddhism in the context of the problem of self-knowledge was carried out. As a result of the analysis, Buddhist techniques for working with consciousness, such as meditation, the method of pondering Zen koans, the method of getting rid of material attachments, or the practice of austerities, were studied and described. A philosophical analysis of various Buddhist meditation techniques showed that they are based on the Buddhist concept of consciousness, which denies the existence of an individual “I”, considers the “I” to be nothing more than a combination of various dharmas, therefore the purpose of meditation in Buddhism is to identify oneself with one’s own “I”, to achieve a state of voidness in which we must comprehend our true identity. The method of pondering Zen koans is also one of the techniques for working with one’s consciousness in Buddhism. As a result of deliberation of these paradoxical miniatures, a person goes beyond the boundaries of logical thinking; there is a transition from the level of profane consciousness to the level of deep consciousness. The basis of the method of getting rid of material attachments or the practice of austerities in Buddhism is the concept of the middle path. We have established a similarity between the method of getting rid of material attachments, the concept of the middle path and minimalism as a way of life. Findings. Elements of the Buddhist practices of self-transformation can be successfully used in the teaching of philosophy at the university as a practical aspect of studying this discipline, forming students with the idea of philosophy as a way of life leading to positive self-transformation. Studying the practical aspects of Buddhist philosophy contributes to the formation of tolerance, awareness, education of humanism and altruism, and the skills of psycho-emotional self-regulation.
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Ching-chung, Guey, and Hui-Wei Lin. "Inter-projection Involved in between Buddhism and Psychology." Asian Journal of Interdisciplinary Research 3, no. 1 (February 16, 2020): 103–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.34256/ajir2017.
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This paper proposes an interprojection model as a unified interface between psychology and Buddhism. The model aims to consolidate some essential concepts in Buddhism, as well as to extend and deepen the modern discipline of psychology. From the perspective of Buddhism, empirical methodology in psychology could be used to instruct about the deeper mysteries of Buddhism, help Buddhist philosophy become more objective and less metaphysical, thus offering an easier access to the general public. From the perspectives of psychology on the other hand, the precepts of Buddhism could help develop a deeper understanding of human experience, thus opening a path for psychology to explore the potential for personal transformation and finding existential meaning. This inter-projection model explains the mirror-like projection between human consciousness and external environment, from which we may obtain fresh insight from points of overlap between Buddhism and psychology. For one example, while Gestalt psychology explores relationships among various environmental stimuli at the given moment, Buddhist spiritual teachings seek to perpetuate the ultimate transcendence through increasing mindfulness on everything in the universe without time constraints. For another, according to Carl Rogers’ client-centered therapy, the therapist is, as suggested by Buddhism, required to foster his own skills on mindfulness other than demonstrating unconditional regard, genuineness, and empathetic understanding to clients, and eventually achieve self-transformation, and feel at ease in various adversities, like lotus growing from dirty muds.
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Galvan-Alvarez, Enrique. "Meditative Revolutions? A Preliminary Approach to US Buddhist Anarchist Literature." Atlantis. Journal of the Spanish Association for Anglo-American Studies 42, no. 2 (December 23, 2020): 160–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.28914/atlantis-2020-42.2.08.
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This article discusses the various shapes, inner structures and roles given to transformative and liberative practices in the work of US Buddhist anarchist authors (1960-2010). Unlike their Chinese and Japanese predecessors, who focused more on discursive parallelisms between Buddhism and anarchism or on historical instances of antiauthoritarianism within the Buddhist tradition(s), US Buddhist anarchists seem to favour practice and experience. This emphasis, characteristic of the way Buddhism has been introduced to the West,sometimes masks the way meditative techniques were used in traditional Buddhist contexts as oppressive technologies of the self. Whereas the emphasis on the inherently revolutionary nature of Buddhist practice represents a radical departure from the way those practices have been conceptualised throughout Buddhist history, it also involves the danger of considering Buddhist practice as an ahistorical sine qua non for social transformation. This is due to the fact that most early Buddhist anarchist writers based their ideas on a highly idealised, Orientalist imagination of Zen Buddhism(s). However, recent contributions based on other traditions have offered a more nuanced, albeit still developing picture. By assessing a number of instances from different US Buddhist anarchist writers, the article traces the brief history of the idea that meditation is revolutionary praxis, while also deconstructing and complicating it through historical and textual analysis.
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Yu, Fu. "The Early Buddho-Daoist Encounter as Interreligious Learning in the Chinese Context." International Journal of Asian Christianity 3, no. 2 (September 3, 2020): 184–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/25424246-00302006.
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Abstract This paper contends that the methodological tool of comparative theology, arising from and developing in Euro-American academia, resonates strongly with the historical interreligious learning praxis of China. Attention to comparative theology may indeed help us rethink the formation of a Chinese cultural identity vis-à-vis its religious others. A malleable way of doing comparative theology may offer nothing less than the mutual transformation of the interreligious interlocutors in a way consonant with Chinese history. A historical review of the interaction between Chinese Buddhism and Daoism shows that the adoption of Daoist terminology and concepts facilitated the Buddhist entry into the local milieu, while medieval Chinese Buddhism became paradigmatic for the elaboration of Daoist doctrine. The Buddho-Daoist interaction coheres with the enterprise of comparative theology with respect to the nature of interaction between religious traditions, the appropriative yet distinctive religious self-identification, and the transformation of the self and the other.
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Kim, David W. "Hoedang and Jingakjong: Esoteric Buddhism in Contemporary Korea." Religions 13, no. 10 (September 28, 2022): 908. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel13100908.
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This article discusses the emergence, transformation, and transmission of an esoteric Buddhist movement that Hoedang (孫珪祥, Kyu-shang Sohn [or Sohn, Gyu-sang], 1902–1963) began in the 1940s and 1950s. Starting in the middle of the eighth century, the history of Korean Esoteric Buddhism indicates that the tradition continued to exist (albeit marginally) until the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897). However, this case study, which focuses on the new religious sect of Jingak, explorers Jingak’s reformist characteristics and its efforts toward the renewal of Korean Buddhism in contemporary society. The article argues that the founder was intellectually receptive to other teachings, including the performance of esoteric healing, the prosocial characters of Pragmatic Buddhism, the doctrine of Japanese Shingon, and permitting priests to marry. This article additionally attempts to identify the innovative philosophy (including Simin, 心印, original sinless self) of Korean Esoteric Buddhism, in the combined concepts of Jinho gukga bulsa (鎭護國家佛事, Protecting the nation by the teaching of Buddhism), Iwon Weonri (二元原理, Relative Principle), Simin Bulgyo (心印佛敎, Mind-seal Buddhism), and Silhaengnon (實行論, The Teachings of Hoedang—Practical Theory).
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Matsue, Regina Yoshie. "The Glocalization Process of Shin Buddhism in Brasilia." Journal of Religion in Japan 3, no. 2-3 (2014): 226–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/22118349-00302007.
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The glocalization process of Shin Buddhism in Brasilia is the focus of this article. The first part of this work presents a historical and sociological overview of the introduction and settlement of Shin Buddhism in Brazil, and the second part examines the specificities of the contemporary temple situation in Brasilia. This paper illustrates how external cultural inflows interact and negotiate with daily local actions and demand and thus acquire a distinctive connotation at the local level. However, due to the mixture of local cultural elements in interaction with imported ones the processes of appropriation and transformation may allow the emergence of something new and unique. In the glocalization of Shin Buddhist practices in Brasilia the work of innovation and articulation conducted by some members of the clergy has been fundamentally important. Especially, the clergy have understood the demand for self-cultivation practices coming from a larger audience and incorporated meditation in the temple space.
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Lee, Raymond L. M. "The New Face of Death: Postmodernity and Changing Perspectives of the Afterlife." Illness, Crisis & Loss 11, no. 2 (April 2003): 134–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1054137302250937.
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Reflections on the near-death experience, the bardo teachings in Tibetan Buddhism, and the relationship between dying and dreaming have made possible many new insights into the death process. The postmodern context in which this knowledge is being disseminated provides an environment conducive to understanding the meaning of self-transformation in life and death. These developments suggest that the denial and fear of death have been an unnecessary distraction in the unfolding of human consciousness.
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Sapkota, Mahendra. "Going beyond the Material-Welling: A Buddhist Perspective of Development." Nepalese Journal of Development and Rural Studies 19, no. 01 (December 31, 2022): 14–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/njdrs.v19i01.51914.
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This paper aims to synthesize development issues from a Buddhist perspective by taking an analytical universe of ‘well-being’. Methodologically, the paper is a review-based article that follows a systematic review process following different themes of Buddhism, development, and well-being. The major findings of the study include that the development has been contested with the rise of various issues, and its materialistic interpretation has been in crisis both theoretically as well empirically. At this outset, the Buddhist perspective seems to be a more humanistic approach to development which treats underdevelopment as the cause of development. This is the principle of dependent origination, whereby the byproducts of underdevelopment can be analyzed. The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Paths are also replicative in the development studies for the socio-economic transformation of society. The material outlet of development doesn’t contribute to the eradication of suffering and miseries from their roots, both in mental and social structure. The paper, therefore, argues that the mainstream approach of development could not sustain development because of the ill-treatment of dukkha and the non-recognition of the sukha. Happiness, pleasure, and non-self are the contributory elements that have been proposed by Buddha’s teachings of Dhamma.
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Laksana, Albertus Bagus. "The Dynamics Of Human Desire In Buddhism And Christianity." DISKURSUS - JURNAL FILSAFAT DAN TEOLOGI STF DRIYARKARA 11, no. 2 (October 15, 2012): 174–201. http://dx.doi.org/10.36383/diskursus.v11i2.138.
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Abstract: In their struggle against the capitalist colonization of desire, Christianity and Buddhism offer similar strategies of fundamental formation or transformation of human desire. This article examines three specific features in which Christianity and Buddhism share a broad and deep resemblance in their analysis of on the dynamics of human desire and its transformation. First, both traditions identify distorted human desire as a source of bondage (or suffering), which affects the mind (intellectual), the heart (affective) and the body. Second, in terms of the strategy of liberation from this bondage, both agree that human desiring constitutes the most effective internal force available in the human make up itself. Thus, the liberation process is not aimed at wiping out human desire but rather at channeling the very power of human desiring through a process of education whose dynamics are understood as an ascent or a journey that leads to higher (or deeper) Reality. Third, with regard to the direction of liberation, both traditions assert that this process should be directed not only toward the self but also towards others. Here the benefit for others, the virtue of caritas in Christianity and bodhicitta in Buddhism, constitutes a fundamental part of the direction of this process of formation.
Keywords: Christianity, Buddhism, desire, capitalism, bondage,transformation, caritas, bodhicitta.
Abstrak: Dalam perlawanan mereka terhadap kolonisasi hasrat oleh kapitalisme, tradisi Budhis dan Kristiani menawarkan cara-cara yang mirip untuk mendidik atau mentransformasi hasrat manusia. Artikel ini membahas tiga unsur penting yang sama dari analisis Budhisme dan Kristianitas mengenai dinamika hasrat manusia dan transformasinya. Pertama, kedua tradisi ini mengidentifikasi hasrat manusia yang rusak atau salah arah sebagai sebab dasariah dari penderitaan manusia. Kerusakan hasrat ini juga mempengaruhi dimensi intelektual, afektif dan juga tubuh manusia. Kedua, perihal cara pembebasan dari penderitaan ini, kedua tradisi ini juga sepakat bahwa hasrat manusia merupakan dayainternal paling efektif dalam diri manusia sendiri. Karena itu, proses pembebasan ini tidak dimaksudkan untuk membuang hasrat dari kemanusiaan, melainkan untuk menyalurkan daya hasrat ini melalui proses transformasi yang berdinamika “mendaki,” sebuah perjalanan menuju Realitas yang lebih tinggi atau dalam. Ketiga, mengenai arah pembebasan ini, kedua tradisi menekankan bahwa proses ini ditujukan tidak hanya untuk diri sendiri melainkan juga sesama. Dalam hal ini, kepentingan sesama seperti diungkapkan oleh keutamaan caritas dalam Kristianitas dan bodhicitta dalam Budhisme merupakan bagian dasariah dari arah transformasi hasrat manusia itu sendiri.
Kata-kata kunci: Kristianitas, Budhisme, hasrat, kapitalisme, penderitaan, transformasi, caritas, bodhicitta.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Buddhism and Self-Transformation"
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Bolanakis, Panos. "The ecstasy of transformation : self-transformation and ecstasy in Hesychasm and Theravāda Buddhism." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2017. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.743018.
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TSuwan, Chaiyatorn, and nakrop99@gmail com. "Buddhist Perspectives on Sustainability: Towards Radical Transformation of Self and World." RMIT University. Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, 2009. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20090527.095110.
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This thesis concerns the contribution of Buddhism to sustainability. It explores the impacts of Buddhism on the lives of nine individuals and the implications of these impacts for a sustainable world. This thesis regards sustainability as the most pressing issue at this junction in human history. It believes that the shift to sustainability requires profound individual and social transformations throughout the world and that such transformations necessitate the involvement of the spiritual traditions of the world. As one such tradition, Buddhism has the ability to impart principles and practices that have been applied in daily living for over 2,500 years to contemporary sustainability discourse. The modern idea of sustainability first became prominent in the international arena in 1980s when the Brundtland Commission enunciated its vision of the path to sustainability and referred to it as 'sustainable development'. However, this thesis contends that the concept of sustainable development was flawed from the beginning because it was founded on the idea of perpetual economic growth as the solution to environmental and social problems. Instead, the thesis forwards a holistic, systems approach to sustainability that regards human well-being as the ultimate goal. It adopts two theoretical conceptions of sustainability developed by Donella Meadows - the pyramidal framework for sustainability and the scheme of leverage points - as tools to analyse the contribution of Buddhism to sustainability. This thesis examines the literature on Buddhism and sustainability. It finds that Buddhism espouses many ecological and social values conducive to a sustainable philosophy of life. In addition, Buddhist economics has experienced rich theoretical developments in recent years and provides an alternative to mainstream economics based on growth. Buddhist economics has helped propel two Buddhist developmental paradigms - Bhutan's Gross National Happiness and Thailand's Sufficiency Economy - to the forefront of national agendas in their respective countries, thus demonstrating the renaissance of the application of Buddhist thinking in society. At the micro level, many communities around the world are attempting to translate the most fundamental principles of Buddhism into ways for harmonious living and in an attempt to combat the tide of environmental and social degradation. Thus, Buddhism is making an impact on sustainability at many levels around the world. However, this thesis finds little empirical evidence to demonstrate the effect of Buddhism on forms of personal transformation that leads to sustainable behaviour. This is despite the importance of the idea of transformation and personal growth in Buddhism. This empirical void leads to the aim of the thesis, which is to explore the ways in which the beliefs, practices and transformational tools within Buddhism can contribute to living sustainably. To achieve this aim, the methodology of mindful inquiry was employed. Mindful inquiry is a methodological union of East and West and integrates four perspectives: critical theory, hermeneutics, phenomenology and Buddhism. It is appropriate for a values-based research such as this one where the orientation of the researcher is critical to the outcome of the research. A method consistent with mindful inquiry is the basic interpretive qualitative study. The basic interpretive qualitative study used in this study combines elements from ethnography, case study, phenomenology and critical research. It was used to explore the lifeworlds of nine Buddhist participants in order to understand the impact of Buddhism on their lives. The major data gathering technique was in-depth interviews although participant observation and document collection were also used. Analysis of data proceeded through the constant comparative method. The findings from this thesis are divided into three themes. Firstly, the idea of personal sustainability is forwarded as a concept to help understand the impact of Buddhism. Personal sustainability concerns the psychological 'integratedness' of individuals to enable the achievement of higher levels of well-being. The findings suggest that Buddhism has significantly enhanced the personal sustainability level of all nine participants. Secondly, Meadows' ideas of paradigm shift and paradigm transcendence are explored. The findings suggest that paradigm shifts or paradigm transcendence have occurred among the participants through the adoption of Buddhist principles and meditative practices. Thirdly, the notions of happiness and purpose in life are investigated. The findings highlight radical changes in the participants' understandings of these notions and the nature of these understandings that are significantly different from conventional views. As a result of these findings, the thesis argues that the contribution of Buddhism to sustainability can be considerable because Buddhism contributes to the protection of natural capital, the enrichment of social and human capitals, and a deepened understanding of well-being, which is divorced from simplistic ideas such as material accumulation and sensual gratification. The thesis concludes by highlighting the potentials of Buddhism to instigate profound personal and social transformations that could lead to a sustainable world.
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Eddy, Glenys. "Western Buddhist Experience: The Journey From Encounter to Commitment in Two Forms of Western Buddhism." Arts, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/2227.
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Doctor of PhilosophyThis thesis explores the nature of the socialization and commitment process in the Western Buddhist context, by investigating the experiences of practitioners affiliated with two Buddhist Centres: the Theravadin Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre and the Gelugpa Tibetan Vajrayana Institute. Commitment by participants is based on the recognition that, through the application of the beliefs and practices of the new religion, self-transformation has occurred. It follows a process of religious experimentation in which the claims of a religious reality are experientially validated against inner understandings and convictions, which themselves become clearer as a result of experimental participation in religious activity. Functionally, the adopted worldview is seen to frame personal experience in a manner that renders it more meaningful. Meditative experience and its interpretation according to doctrine must be applicable to the improvement of the quality of lived experience. It must be relevant to current living, and ethically sustainable. Substantively, commitment is conditional upon accepting and succesfully employing: the three marks of samsaric existence, duhkha, anitya and anatman (Skt) as an interpretive framework for lived reality. In this the three groups of the Eight-fold Path, sila/ethics, samadhi/concentration, and prajna/wisdom provide a strategy for negotiating lived experience in the light of meditation techniques, specific to each Buddhist orientation, by which to apply doctrinal principles in one’s own transformation. Two theoretical approaches are found to have explanatory power for understanding the stages of intensifying interaction that lead to commitment in both Western Buddhist contexts. Lofland and Skonovd’s Experimental Motif models the method of entry into and exploration of a Buddhist Centre’s shared reality. Data from participant observation and interview demonstrates this approach to be facilitated by the organizational and teaching activities of the two Western Buddhist Centres, and to be taken by the participants who eventually become adherents. Individuals take an actively experimental attitude toward the new group’s activities, withholding judgment while testing the group’s doctrinal position, practices, and expected experiential outcomes against their own values and life experience. In an environment of minimal social pressure, transformation of belief is gradual over a period of from months to years. Deeper understanding of the nature of the commitment process is provided by viewing it in terms of religious resocialization, involving the reframing of one’s understanding of reality and sense-of-self within a new worldview. The transition from seekerhood to commitment occurs through a process of socialization, the stages of which are found to be engagement and apprehension, comprehension, and commitment. Apprehension is the understanding of core Buddhist notions. Comprehension occurs through learning how various aspects of the worldview form a coherent meaning-system, and through application of the Buddhist principles to the improvement of one’s own life circumstances. It necessitates understanding of the fundamental relationships between doctrine, practice, and experience. Commitment to the group’s outlook and objectives occurs when these are adopted as one’s orientation to reality, and as one’s strategy for negotiating a lived experience that is both efficacious and ethically sustainable. It is also maintained that sustained commitment is conditional upon continuing validation of that experience.
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Eddy, Glenys. "Western Buddhist Experience: The Journey From Encounter to Commitment in Two Forms of Western Buddhism." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/2227.
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This thesis explores the nature of the socialization and commitment process in the Western Buddhist context, by investigating the experiences of practitioners affiliated with two Buddhist Centres: the Theravadin Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre and the Gelugpa Tibetan Vajrayana Institute. Commitment by participants is based on the recognition that, through the application of the beliefs and practices of the new religion, self-transformation has occurred. It follows a process of religious experimentation in which the claims of a religious reality are experientially validated against inner understandings and convictions, which themselves become clearer as a result of experimental participation in religious activity. Functionally, the adopted worldview is seen to frame personal experience in a manner that renders it more meaningful. Meditative experience and its interpretation according to doctrine must be applicable to the improvement of the quality of lived experience. It must be relevant to current living, and ethically sustainable. Substantively, commitment is conditional upon accepting and succesfully employing: the three marks of samsaric existence, duhkha, anitya and anatman (Skt) as an interpretive framework for lived reality. In this the three groups of the Eight-fold Path, sila/ethics, samadhi/concentration, and prajna/wisdom provide a strategy for negotiating lived experience in the light of meditation techniques, specific to each Buddhist orientation, by which to apply doctrinal principles in one’s own transformation. Two theoretical approaches are found to have explanatory power for understanding the stages of intensifying interaction that lead to commitment in both Western Buddhist contexts. Lofland and Skonovd’s Experimental Motif models the method of entry into and exploration of a Buddhist Centre’s shared reality. Data from participant observation and interview demonstrates this approach to be facilitated by the organizational and teaching activities of the two Western Buddhist Centres, and to be taken by the participants who eventually become adherents. Individuals take an actively experimental attitude toward the new group’s activities, withholding judgment while testing the group’s doctrinal position, practices, and expected experiential outcomes against their own values and life experience. In an environment of minimal social pressure, transformation of belief is gradual over a period of from months to years. Deeper understanding of the nature of the commitment process is provided by viewing it in terms of religious resocialization, involving the reframing of one’s understanding of reality and sense-of-self within a new worldview. The transition from seekerhood to commitment occurs through a process of socialization, the stages of which are found to be engagement and apprehension, comprehension, and commitment. Apprehension is the understanding of core Buddhist notions. Comprehension occurs through learning how various aspects of the worldview form a coherent meaning-system, and through application of the Buddhist principles to the improvement of one’s own life circumstances. It necessitates understanding of the fundamental relationships between doctrine, practice, and experience. Commitment to the group’s outlook and objectives occurs when these are adopted as one’s orientation to reality, and as one’s strategy for negotiating a lived experience that is both efficacious and ethically sustainable. It is also maintained that sustained commitment is conditional upon continuing validation of that experience.
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Hoffman, Jeffrey. "A Crack in Everything." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2012. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/5305.
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Contained herein is a close examination of self-awareness and self-portraiture as it applies to the works of artist Jeffrey Hoffman. Water, frozen into various forms and combined with natural elements of wood, slowly melt over an indeterminable amount of time, each droplet documented as the process transforms the elements. Through this process, we see change. We see time. We see truth. This documentation of change and time through natural elements is where the artwork comes full circle. Working with new media to explore man's interconnectivity to life, energy, and the cosmos, he produces time based installations, photographs, videos, and sculptures that serve as both existential metaphors and Tantric symbols. With the use of digital cameras and video, a record is created by which the disintegration which occurs from the unseen forces of gravity, heat and time upon sculptures made from natural elements and ice is examined. In its sculptural form, his work can be categorized as Installation art and Performance art due to its evolving nature. Each piece is intended to either change over time or to have that change halted by another temporal force like that of flowing electricity. The possibility of allowing varying levels of self-awareness to emerge through self portraiture is also examined. The existential, as well as the metaphysical, can be present in a physical form when the form is imbued with evidence of an evolutionary process. In many ways, the work serves as a self portrait. It is a means for Hoffman to examine his own existentialism as a student of the modern western world and life.ID: 031001330; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Title from PDF title page (viewed April 8, 2013).; Thesis (M.F.A.)--University of Central Florida, 2012.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 31).
M.F.A.
Masters
Visual Arts and Design
Arts and Humanities
Emerging Media; Studio Art and the Computer
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Hart, M. J. Alexandra. "Action in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: an Enactive Psycho-phenomenological and Semiotic Analysis of Thirty New Zealand Women's Experiences of Suffering and Recovery." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Social and Political Sciences, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/5294.
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This research into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) presents the results of 60 first-person psycho-phenomenological interviews with 30 New Zealand women. The participants were recruited from the Canterbury and Wellington regions, 10 had recovered. Taking a non-dual, non-reductive embodied approach, the phenomenological data was analysed semiotically, using a graph-theoretical cluster analysis to elucidate the large number of resulting categories, and interpreted through the enactive approach to cognitive science.
The initial result of the analysis is a comprehensive exploration of the experience of CFS which develops subject-specific categories of experience and explores the relation of the illness to universal categories of experience, including self, ‘energy’, action, and being-able-to-do.
Transformations of the self surrounding being-able-to-do and not-being-able-to-do were shown to elucidate the illness process.
It is proposed that the concept ‘energy’ in the participants’ discourse is equivalent to the Mahayana Buddhist concept of ‘contact’. This characterises CFS as a breakdown of contact. Narrative content from the recovered interviewees reflects a reestablishment of contact.
The hypothesis that CFS is a disorder of action is investigated in detail.
A general model for the phenomenology and functional architecture of action is proposed. This model is a recursive loop involving felt meaning, contact, action, and perception and appears to be phenomenologically supported.
It is proposed that the CFS illness process is a dynamical decompensation of the subject’s action loop caused by a breakdown in the process of contact.
On this basis, a new interpretation of neurological findings in relation to CFS becomes possible. A neurological phenomenon that correlates with the illness and involves a brain region that has a similar structure to the action model’s recursive loop is identified in previous research results and compared with the action model and the results of this research. This correspondence may identify the brain regions involved in the illness process, which may provide an objective diagnostic test for the condition and approaches to treatment.
The implications of this model for cognitive science and CFS should be investigated through neurophenomenological research since the model stands to shed considerable light on the nature of consciousness, contact and agency.
Phenomenologically based treatments are proposed, along with suggestions for future research on CFS. The research may clarify the diagnostic criteria for CFS and guide management and treatment programmes, particularly multidimensional and interdisciplinary approaches.
Category theory is proposed as a foundation for a mathematisation of phenomenology.
Books on the topic "Buddhism and Self-Transformation"
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The magic of Zen: Pathway to self transformation. Atlanta, GA: Humanics Trade, 1996.
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Becoming Buddhist: Experiences of socialization and self-transformation in two Australian Buddhist centres. New York: Continuum International Pub. Group, 2012.
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Imagining the course of life: Self-transformation in a Shan Buddhist community. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006.
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Osho. Tantric transformation. 2nd ed. Shaftesbury: Element, 1994.
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Mark, Allen. Tantra for the West: Everyday miracles and other steps for transformation. 2nd ed. San Rafael, Calif: New World Library, 1992.
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Letting go of the person you used to be: Lessons on change, loss, and spiritual transformation. New York: Broadway Books, 2003.
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1940-, Yokoyama Ko ichi, ed. An intelligent life: Buddhist psychology of self-transformation. 2015.
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Eddy, Glenys. Becoming Buddhist: Experiences of Socialization and Self-Transformation in Two Australian Buddhist Centres. Bloomsbury Academic, 2019.
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Eberhardt, Nancy. Imagining the Course of Life: Self-Transformation in a Shan Buddhist Community. University of Hawaii Press, 2006.
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Barbour, John D. Journeys of Transformation: Searching for No-Self in Western Buddhist Travel Narratives. Cambridge University Press, 2022.
Find full textBook chapters on the topic "Buddhism and Self-Transformation"
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Gowans, Christopher W. "Indian Buddhism." In Self-Cultivation Philosophies in Ancient India, Greece, and China, 82–110. Oxford University Press, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190941024.003.0004.
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The chapter argues that the teaching of the Buddha, Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga, and Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra are each plausibly interpreted as self-cultivation philosophies. For each, the existential starting point is that we are caught in a cycle of rebirth permeated by suffering caused by craving, something rooted in the delusion that we are selves or have an intrinsic nature. The ideal state of being is centrally the awareness that we are not selves or are empty of an intrinsic nature. This awareness—nirvana—is a state of peace and compassion that ends the cycle of rebirth. The transformation from suffering to nirvana is achieved through intellectual, ethical, and meditative disciplines, the spiritual exercises, namely the Eightfold Path or the Six Perfections. Though Buddhism denies that there is a self, this denial is connected to an understanding of human nature as consisting of five kinds of “aggregates” and having the capacity for enlightenment.
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"The Power of Self-Transformation as the Beginning of Internal and External Liberation: The Nexus of Buddhism, Liberation Theology, and Law." In Beyond Global Crisis, 149–95. Routledge, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781351313964-14.
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Garfield, Jay L. "Buddhist Ethics as Moral Phenomenology." In Buddhist Ethics, 29–42. Oxford University Press, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190907631.003.0003.
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This chapter explains Buddhist ethics as moral phenomenology, that is, as a theory of the transformation of our moral experience of ourselves, others, and the world. It compares Buddhist “input ethics” to Western “output ethics” and explains how Buddhist practice aims at developing a less pathological, less egocentric view of our place in the world by cultivating a sense of interdependence. The discussion is grounded in Śāntideva’s Bodhicāryāvatāra, and explores his insights on anger, aversion, vice, and generosity. Śāntideva argues for the importance of developing our moral self-awareness, and changing the way we view suffering, both of ourselves and others.
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McRae, John R. "Climax ParadigmCultural Polarities and Patterns of Self-Cultivation in Song-Dynasty Chan." In Seeing through ZenEncounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism, 119–54. University of California Press, 2004. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520237971.003.0006.
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Wright, Dale S. "Practicing Meditation." In Living Skillfully, 59–78. Oxford University Press, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197587355.003.0005.
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This chapter describes the Buddhist practice of meditation as it appears in the early Mahayana context of the Vimalakīrti Sūtra. It stresses mindfulness as a state of mind cultivated in the midst of ordinary life activity. Rather than demanding the abandonment of the passions and emotional sensitivity, it encourages bodhisattvas to cultivate emotion as one essential element of life. That sensitivity is prevented from being an extreme source of suffering by calming and concentration meditation practices. Vimalakirti is described as practicing and teaching insight meditation throughout the sutra as a means of self-transformation and as a method to deal with the inevitable suffering in human life.
Conference papers on the topic "Buddhism and Self-Transformation"
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Uya, Yifan. "Collaborative Vibration: The Mythic Journey of A Coal Boy." In LINK 2021. Tuwhera Open Access, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.24135/link2021.v2i1.119.
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Acknowledging the Anthropocene crisis, my research examines myth and myth-making to reimagine the role of Claude Lévi-Strauss’ bricoleur concept. Following Joseph M. Coll’s Taoist and Buddhist systemic thinking inspired theory of sustainable transformation, the practice-led project evolves into the making of an essayist film that conveys a specific personal myth.My research reckons that a bricoleur should perceive myth-making as an organic growing organisation that acquires intuition and posteriori knowledge. And focus on a narrative that evolves into the mythic identity of a piece of coal and a bar-tailed godwit corresponding to designated oppositional values and semiotic assets. Apart from the practitioner works of Stan Brakhage, Chris Marker and Adam Curtis, my research also dives into Elysia Crampton Chuquimia, Howie Lee and Yaksha‘s musical languages to explore the other narrative possibilities when re-examining history in a socially conscious manner. As the film soundtrack is also part of the myth-making production. My practice-led project inevitably evolves into the subject of the self as the production presents a negotiation through metaphors and signifiers concerning memory, history and experience. The filmmaking echoes a search for the wisdom of self-acceptance. It adopts Stephen Yablo’s understanding of conceivability to generate and regenerate meaningful assets. Concepts are planted to grow into newer representations compromising posteriori knowledge and self-realisations, with informal syllogistic reasoning concerning the epistemological nature of imagination and the transformative structure of myth. The contextual knowledge of my research examines the subject of myth and myth-making through Jacques Lacan's theory of fantasy, Jungian analytical psychology and Claude Lévi-Strauss knowledge of structural linguistics. It adopts Lévi-Strauss’ canonical myth formula concerning the missing discussion of experience, community, and the wilder contexts of shamanology. Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological body and Martin Heidegger's thoughts on the philosophy of technology concerning the body-to-technology relation and the notion of symbolic light and darkness. With critics on the instrumentalist stance of technology and Rene Descartes's modal metaphysics concerning Arnold Gehlen’s conservative alert of mankind’s debased condition of modern existence, my research proposes that myth-making is a necessary altruistic form of social technology that can transform experience into wisdom. Acknowledging that will is the priority for behaviour change. The production examines the Dao of myth and myth-making as a specific technological answer to resolve David Attenborough's calling for a global transformation and collaboration in his book A Life of Our Planet. To further develop such a technology, my research seeks a systemic understanding of myth and myth-making. Therefore, my research hypothesis a wholistic and heuristic methodology, namely Daoist bricoleur. By experiencing a personal myth, I celebrate my Manchu and Chinese culture origin and the complexity of my upbringing. My research visits the endangered Manchu Ulabun storytelling tradition and reckons the film production rely on the structural establishment of critical mythic fragments founded on autobiography and social conventions. As a permanent resident of New Zealand born in a coal-mining town in eastern Inner Mongolia, China, with an unverifiable ancestral clan name related to Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty and much more.