1,626 research outputs found
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Exorcising the Illusion of Bon Shamans: A Critical Genealogy of Shamanism in Tibetan Religions
Revue dāEtudes TibĆ©taines Number 6, October 200
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Poisoned Ground, The Roots of Eurocentrism: Teleology, Hierarchy, and Anthropocentrism
The dissertation starts with the premise that Eurocentrism, in philosophy and many other areas, continues to be a problem. It comes from the belief in teleological history, which itself rests on hierarchical, anthropocentric metaphysics. To combat the negative effects of Eurocentrism, we must establish alternatives to the metaphysics it rests on and the historical attitudes that it constructs and maintains. The dissertation is divided into three main parts, each with a number of subdivisions. Part one sketches the history of academic Eurocentrism and demonstrates that it is built on a combination of historical ignorance and certain presuppositions associated with Western religious thinking. Specifically, Eurocentrism, since the modern era, has substituted the monotheistic Deity with a peculiar notion of Reason, and has constructed a myth that Reason, and all the positive things it signifies, are uniquely European. Part two is the longest section and it examines Hegel's influence in building the Eurocentric world. He expounds a history that is unequivocally teleological, in which non-European people and ways of thinking are stepping-stones to the more highly evolved European, Christian culture. The events of history have been the unfolding of a code, and that code, or Logos, was discovered in his Science of Logic. This underlying Logic explains both the life of the mind--described in his Phenomenology of Spirit--as well as the life of the world, described in other works, such as his Lectures on the History of Philosophy and Philosophy of History. However, is the Logos truly the source-code for historical events showing them to be completely determined by a preexisting fate? Or does it merely explain the conditions of the possibility for events to arise, the way that they constantly do arise and have arisen? These are completely different alternatives and their implications are massive. I then compare diverging interpretations of Hegel that choose to focus on either his anthropocentric historical teleology, or else his more abstract and spacious metaphysics, which may undermine much of his historical theory. The thrust of these chapters is to show that anthropocentric metaphysics support beliefs in teleological history, which leads to political and social practices of inequality and injustice (e.g., Eurocentrism). To counter this tendency of Hegel's, I consider Darwin's insights against teleology, as well as contemporary object-oriented-ontology, which help us move beyond philosophical anthropocentrism. Rather than being absolute antipodes to these developments, Hegel's theories are adaptable enough to be a useful resource for non-teleological, non-anthropocentric, and non-Eurocentric theories. Part three focuses on the role of language and metaphor in the Eurocentric canons of philosophy. For example, Hegel famously employs the metaphor of the master and slave to describe the dialectical process at work in both the mind and history. The metaphor has significant heuristic power, but it is still a metaphor. When taken literally, it can lead to dangerous misunderstandings about history and justifications for violence. Moreover, when Hegel writes about the Oriental and the African, those terms are hidden metaphors: they do not denote any real persons. However, what he says about them has historically been taken literally, thus leading to warped attitudes about real Asians and Africans in the world. I also analyze the role of literary style in establishing Eurocentric canons, suggesting that an important critical development against Eurocentrism would be the proliferation of alternative writing styles to the entrenched norms of the argumentative monograph and journal article
The Inheritance of this Moment: An Exploration of Temporality, Subjectivity, and Liberation in Non-Dual Contemplative Practice and Psychotherapy
This dissertation considers the meaning of āpresent-moment awarenessā and its role in psychological healing and transformation. The current conversation around mindfulness, a secularized practice with roots in Buddhist contemplative traditions, has largely unfolded within a dualistic framework in which subject and object are separate from one another as well as from a discrete entity called a moment. While widely appreciated for its capacity to foster well-being and insight, mindfulness as construed above remains disconnected from Buddhist psychologyās non-dualistic view of experience, which radically challenges our ordinary understandings of subjectivity and temporality. In the current project, I sought to explore this non-dualistic perspective phenomenologically, and to highlight its potential intersection with psychotherapeutic theory and practice. To this end, I worked with Peter Fenner, Ph.D., a non-dual teacher and former Buddhist monk, exploring contemplative instructions from a Tibetan Buddhist tradition known as Dzogchen. These so-called pointing-out instructions involve a teacher āpointing-outā to their student āthe nature of mind,ā the non-dual reality held to be already present but habitually unrecognized in their experience. Over 11 meetings, I worked with Peter as he abided within the recognition of non-dual awareness, reading and commenting on five different pointing-out instructions from masters in the Dzogchen lineage and spontaneously engaging me in conversation regarding my own understandings. I wrote phenomenological descriptions of what it was like to work with Peter and the instructions, and then analyzed the different texts in terms of what they might suggest about subjectivity, temporality, suffering and healing. From this analysis emerged four themes that cohere as a single way of being: Immediacy, Letting Go, Not Knowing, and Relating Intimately. I then explored how these might already be implicit within the psychotherapy process. Through a consideration of psychotherapy in terms of the relational context, the clientās experiencing, and shifts in understanding, I suggested various ways that effective psychotherapy can be understood as an attenuated expression of non-duality. Insofar as we realize that the gap between ourselves, experience, and time is in fact imagined, and we can never truly be separate from āthis moment,ā we might discover novel possibilities for psychotherapeutic theory and practice
The rDzogs-chen distinction between mentation and excitatory intelligence
The rDzogs-chen thinkers of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition are unique in presenting a highly developed account of mind and intelligence that remains grounded in experience while avoiding the pitfalls of reductionism. This study focuses on a distinction, important for understanding the rDzogs-Āchen contribution, between mentation (sems) and excitatory intelligence (rig-pa). Mentation refers to the non-optimal operations in which the experiential field becomes structured into the subjective grasping of projects that elicit interest. It is marked by the repetition of habitual patterns and by a dimming of the cognitive potential. Excitatory intelligence, on the other hand, involves an optimizing energy that restores the fluidity to experience. Here the dynamics of evolutionary change are accessed. To set the stage for a discussion of the rDzogs-chen contributions to the understanding of mind, an account of the philosophical debate amongst the Buddhist schools of philosophy is first presented
History education for nation-building in exile : The case of Tibetan refugee schools in India
History education is often deemed essential to the construction of national identity and to the project of nation-building. History teaching, in particular, serves to promote and legitimize a certain category of historical knowledge as the official knowledge and participates in the reproduction of the existing social relationships. However, the issue of how sub-nation groups like refugee communities construct their ethnonational identity and the image of their historical legacy via the teaching of history is an understudied one. As such, this research examines role history teaching plays in engendering a collective national identity for the Tibetan refugee children in India. By employing critical discourse analysis of the history textbooks of the Tibetan refugee schools and thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews held with fifteen history teachers, this study analyzes the key features of nation-building project of the Tibetan exiles and how it manifests itself in the curricular and pedagogical practices of history education.
The findings of the research show that the teaching of history in the Tibetan refugee schools carries an overriding burden of political and cultural agenda. The discursive repertoires present in the textbooks construct an image of a lost homeland for the young Tibetans born in exile and offer them a victimized subject position. The results also indicate that the history education is deployed to subvert the dominant Chinese colonial narrative on Tibetan history and Sino-Tibetan relationships, and to reveal the colonial nature of the Chinese rule in Tibet. Yet it fails to question the traditional power structure of the Tibetan society. In stark contrast, it perpetuates the dominant Buddhist narrative of Tibetan history. Therefore, it is reasoned that the deployment of critical and decolonial pedagogy in the teaching of history is selective and is guided primarily by political motivations rather than by its interest in questioning power and domination.
Based on the findings of this research, it is argued that refugees and other communities in diaspora generally live in a vulnerable socio-political climate where the use of history for the construction of a collective ethno-national identity is more pertinent and urgent. Under such a scenario, the disciplinary goals of the teaching of history remain subservient to the pursuit of nationalist goals. It is also argued that Indiaās pluralistic and flexible system of education, which allowed the Tibetan refugees to develop a mother-tongue based schooling with a culturally-relevant curriculum, provides an interesting model that can potentially benefit multicultural countries in addressing the question of diversity and representation in education
The Water In Which We Swim: The Influence of the Contemplative on Higher Education in American (Capitalist) Culture
The 20th century brought about the development of an increased climate of capitalist influence on every aspect of American life, including and especially on higher education. Simultaneously, as more and more purposes of higher education have come to reflect values of capitalist culture, a movement towards new ways of teaching and learning has begun to emerge in the academy. These new ways of teaching and learning value relationship, introspection, and inquiry based on critical reflection. Many of them have their roots in the contemplative traditions of Asia. Guided by the framework of Paulo Freire and Parker Palmer\u27s broad visions for the purpose of education, this multiple-case study, focused on six participants, explored the influence of traditionally trained Tibetan Buddhist teachers on American faculty members in American higher education. The study\u27s findings illustrate this influence in the form of three major themes: Care For (Even Love) Your Students; Think Critically; and There Is Value in Authentic Voices from Other Traditions. This study informs practice for stakeholders in teaching and learning in higher education
YONGHEGONG: IMPERIAL UNIVERSALISM AND THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF BEIJING'S "LAMA TEMPLE"
Yonghegong ("Palace of Harmony and Peace"), popularly known in English as the "Lama Temple," is often described as Beijing's largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monastery, but from its establishment in 1694 during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) to the present, Yonghegong has continued to evolve physically and functionally, from imperial prince's residence, to "travelling palace" (xinggong), to imperial ancestral shrine and Tibetan Buddhist monastic college, and finally to its current role as monastery, monastic college and museum. Despite its history and ubiquity as a Beijing landmark and destination for pilgrims and tourists, it has received limited academic attention. Furthermore, previous studies have emphasized the site as a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, downplaying its political significance. This study will provide a more comprehensive interpretation of Yonghegong as an expression of the Qing ideology of imperial universalism, focusing on the site during the reign of its major patron, the Qianlong emperor (r. 1735-1796). In order both to describe and interpret the multidimensional complexities of Yonghegong in a systematic fashion, I will employ as a heuristic device an interpretive model for the site inspired by two aspects the Indo-Tibetan tradition of the mandala: symbolic mapping and spatial ordering. The many symbols at the site will be arranged according to what I call the "three spheres" that center on the person of the Qianlong emperor: microcosm, the somatic sphere (symbols of the emperor's presence and personal history at the site); mesocosm, the socio-politcal sphere (multicultural symbols of the emperor's legitimacy); and finally macrocosm, the eschatological sphere (symbols of the emperor's role as enlightened ruler, ushering in the coming of the next buddha, Maitreya). Interpretation of the three spheres at Yonghegong is then applied first to the site's external features (e.g. site plan, architecture, what I call the "outer mandala") and then to examples of the internal features (e.g. sculptures, inscriptions, what I call the "inner mandala"). This study will both contextualize much of the overlooked symbolism of the Qianlong-era art and architecture at Yonghegong, as well as provide the first comprehensive interpretation of the site as a whole
XX gs.mistiskÄs antropoloÄ£ijas dimensijas: Hesihasma un Tibetas budisma salÄ«dzinÄjums
PÄtÄ«jums ir veltÄ«ts komparatÄ«vajai reliÄ£iski-filozofisko ideju problemÄtikai un
mÄÄ£inÄjumam saskatÄ«t saikni starp idejÄm un to arhetipiski empÄ«risko zemtekstu. Lai
salÄ«dzinÄtu Tibetas budisma un hesihasma antropoloÄ£iskÄs idejas un to soterioloÄ£iski
empÄ«riskÄs konsekvences, ir izmantota M. Eliades fenomenoloÄ£iskÄ metode. IzÅemot
arhetipiskÄ kopsaucÄja meklÄjumus, darbÄ ir analizÄtas divu tradÄ«ciju atŔķirÄ«bas ar A.
Pjerisa izstrÄdÄtÄs reliÄ£iju klasifikÄcijas palÄ«dzÄ«bu. SaskaÅÄ ar to budismu varÄtu
kvalificÄt kÄ gnostisko, bet kristietÄ«bu ā kÄ agapeisko reliÄ£iski-filozofisko ideju kopu.
Darbs sastÄv no ÄetrÄm daļÄm. PirmajÄ ir iztirzÄts reliÄ£ijas bÅ«tÄ«bas jautÄjums, meklÄta
atbilstoÅ”a pieeja un metodoloÄ£ija un ir apskatÄ«ti avoti. OtrajÄ daÄ¼Ä ir veikta divu
tradÄ«ciju svarÄ«gÄko antropoloÄ£isko jÄdzienu komparatÄ«vÄ analÄ«ze, treÅ”ajÄ ir vilktas
paralÄles starp apziÅas intraversijas pakÄpÄm tantriskajÄ budismÄ un hesihasmÄ, bet
ceturtajÄ ir salÄ«dzinÄtas antropoloÄ£isko un soterioloÄ£isko ideju somÄtiskÄs
konsekvences abÄs tradÄ«cijÄs. ParÄdot kopÄjÄs arhetipiskÄs ideju bÄzes klÄtbÅ«tni
hesihasmÄ un tantriskajÄ budismÄ, promocijas darbs rada pamatu un izejas punktu
citiem pÄtÄ«jumiem, kas bÅ«tu veltÄ«ti Rietumu tradicionÄlÄs reliÄ£iskÄs apziÅas
transformÄcijai un meta-terminoloÄ£ijas izstrÄdÄÅ”anai.The research is dedicated to the comparative analysis of the philosophically religious
ideas and to the attempt to discover the link between the ideas and their empirically
archetypal background. In order to compare the anthropological ideas in Hesychasm
and Tibetan Buddhism and their soteriologically empirical consequences, the
phenomenological method of Mircea Eliade has been employed. Along with the
analysis of the common archetypal base, the clue to differences is looked for. Here the
classification of religions elaborated by Aloysius Pieris has been used. In accordance
with that Buddhism has been qualified as belonging to the gnostic philosophically
religious ideological complex whereas Christianity represents the agapeic one. The
thesis consists of four parts. The first one is dedicated to the definition of religion, to
the search for the appropriate approach and methodology and to the survey of sources.
The comparative analysis of the basic anthropological notions of Hesychasm and
tantric Buddhism is discussed in the second part of the present research. In the third
part the parallels between the stages of the introversion of consciousness in the
mentioned traditions are looked for whereas the forth part is devoted to the somatic
consequences of the soteriological and anthropological ideas. In the present thesis the
universal experientially archetypal basis of both religious traditions has been
discovered becoming a starting point for researches devoted to the transformation of
the Western traditional religious consciousness and to the problems of metaterminology
Impermanence: Exploring continuous change across cultures
Nothing lasts forever. This common experience is the source of much anxiety but also hope. The concept of impermanence or continuous change opens up a range of timely questions and discussions that speak to globally shared experiences of transformation and concerns for the future. Impermanence engages with an emergent body of social theory emphasizing flux and transformation, and brings this into a dialogue with other traditions of thought and practice, notably Buddhism that has sustained a long-lasting and sophisticated meditation on impermanence.
In cases drawn from all over the world, this volume investigates the significance of impermanence in such diverse contexts as social death, atheism, alcoholism, migration, ritual, fashion, oncology, museums, cultural heritage and art. The authors draw on a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, archaeology, art history, Buddhist studies, cultural geography and museology. This volume also includes numerous photographs, artworks and poems that evocatively communicate notions and experiences of impermanence
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