The Buddhist Unconscious - The Alaya-vijnana in the context of Indian Buddhist Thought (Paperback)

This is the story of fifth century CE India, when the Yogacarin Buddhists tested the awareness of unawareness, and became aware of human unawareness to an extraordinary degree. They not only explicitly differentiated this dimension of mental processes from conscious cognitive processes, but also offered reasoned arguments on behalf of this dimension of mind. This is the concept of the 'Buddhist unconscious', which arose just as philosophical discourse in other circles was fiercely debating the limits of conscious awareness, and these ideas in turn had developed as a systematisation of teachings from the Buddha himself. For us in the twenty-first century, these teachings connect in fascinating ways to the Western conceptions of the 'cognitive unconscious' which have been elaborated in the work of Jung and Freud. This important study reveals how the Buddhist unconscious illuminates and draws out aspects of current western thinking on the unconscious mind. One of the most intriguing connections is the idea that there is in fact no substantial 'self' underlying all mental activity; 'the thoughts themselves are the thinker'. William S. Waldron considers the implications of this radical notion, which, despite only recently gaining plausibility, was in fact first posited 2,500 years ago.

General

Imprint:	Routledge
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Series:	Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism
Release date:	April 2006
First published:	2003
Authors:	William S. Waldron
Dimensions:	234 x 156 x 21mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	272
ISBN-13:	978-0-415-40607-9
Categories:	Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Non-Western philosophy > Oriental & Indian philosophy Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Philosophy of mind Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Non-Christian religions > Religions of Indic & Oriental origin > Buddhism > General Books > Philosophy > Non-Western philosophy > Oriental & Indian philosophy Books > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Philosophy of mind Books > Religion & Spirituality > Non-Christian religions > Religions of Indic & Oriental origin > Buddhism > General Promotions
LSN:	0-415-40607-2
Barcode:	9780415406079

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