The Mind (manas) and the Illusory Projection of the Afflicted (klista) Individual Self (atman), in Vijnanavada Buddhism

Author(s): Ovidiu Cristian Nedu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2013

According to Vijnanavada, the idealist school of Buddhism, individual being represents an erroneous limited projection of the universal consciousness, of the storehouse consciousness (alayavijnana). The sphere of human experience does not represent a mere type of experience among many others, but a specific one which represents a “deviation” from the authentic reality. The function of projecting the individual, when looked upon from the perspective of the universal level of the storehouse consciousness, is described as the “appropriation” (upadana) of an individual identity by the universal consciousness; when it is looked upon from the perspective of the individual himself, the function of projecting and maintaining individuality is described as “mind” (manas). In Vijnanavada, the mind represents that function of consciousness which, appropriating a determined sphere of experience as its own identity, gives birth to the individual being. As the mind represents the very condition through which the person is projected, the personal experience automatically includes the activity of the mind. At its level, the experience of the ego is still conceptually undetermined, irrational, unconscious, instinctual, subliminal and it manifests as irrational instincts or natural urges. Only at the level of the mental consciousness, the ego, the individual self, is rationally, conceptually depicted, acquiring a clearly determined conceptual identity. When a certain series of factors is ascribed the status of “individual self” (atman), of “person” (pudgala), the entity thus created is nothing else but an ontological fiction. The consciousness affected by the error (viparyasa) of the individual self projects itself within a sphere of ontological illusion, a sphere wrongly identified as reality. What is truly real, i.e. the ultimate reality (dharmadhatu) and the conditional flow (pratityasamutpada) of an ideatic nature, gets out of comprehension when the person, the individual self are considered as real and the whole experience starts to be structured according to the tendencies induced by the individual identity. The activity of the mind creates the “fundamental error” (viparyasamula), the “fundamental ignorance”, its veiling activity which engenders that background ignorance affecting the human being during all his experiences. The attitude of the subject towards those components of the experience that have been assumed as his own self changes and becomes one of “elevation” (unnati), of “pride” (mana). The attitude meant by these terms is that of a special importance paid to certain components of experience, due to the new status that has been ascribed to them. He is no longer indifferent to the transformations of the experience, which are no longer mere experiences, but appear as alterations of his own nature. This way, the subject undergoes affliction (klesa), gets entrapped in his own experience.

Rabindranath Tagore on a comparative study of religions

Author(s): Asha Mukherjee / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2014

The study of religion describes, analyses and compares how certain human beings do in fact express their faith in terms of particular scriptures, religious figures, sacred rituals, community solidarity, etc. It also demonstrates how all these explicitly religious phenomena may relate to other aspects of people’s lives. It also aspires to address the questions in a manner that is evenhanded, objective and based on evidence that may be checked by any competent inquirer, and non-committal on claims to divine revelation and authority. It is in principle comparative, not in a judgmental evaluative sense, but in terms of describing and analysing comparable elements and or phenomena from various religious traditions, using the same criteria in each case. The paper begins with a brief report on the study of religion in the context of India and presents in detail Rabindranath Tagore’s (1861–1941) views on the need, an objective and philosophy behind the comparative study of religion. As Tagore observes, when studying religion one usually chooses between two alternative approaches: to do research on the secret text or to study the rituals. Tagore accepts none of them fully. Instead, Tagore suggests rediscovering how human aspiration for transcendence works in practice, how it sustains the individual — often marginalised by the power of institutionalised religion — and society, and how it generates new cultural forms. For Tagore, the essence of religion lies in the will to transcend the limit of the self-cantered being towards an ideal of perfection — which he calls divinity of Man. His understanding of the “religion of Man”, as he puts it, is discussed in the major part of the paper.

Sprawozdanie z V konferencji naukowej „Myśl i kultura buddyjska” (Jano wiec, 24–26 września 2014)

Author(s): Agnieszka ROSTALSKA / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2014

Skeptical Political Mimesis: Sanjay Kak’s “Series on Indian Democracy” and the Voice of Documentary

Author(s): Max Kramer / Language(s): English Issue: 09/2016

In this paper I analyse documentary filmmaker Sanjay Kak’smodes of address in his most recent three films which are often knownas the “Series on Indian Democracy”. I will argue that he uses a “skepticalpolitical mimetic” voice that articulates a politics of affect distancedby a skeptical ethics of representation via formalist devices. I am particularlyinterested in the way this voice is intersecting with empiricalaudiences and the imagination of publics.

GANDHI DARSHAN: A PANACEA TO THE EVIL OF POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN INDIA

Author(s): Shiladitya Chakraborty / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

Corruption is the greatest pitfall of Indian democracy; it gradually erodes the faith of the Indian citizens in parliamentary democracy. Another disconcerting trend is the crim-inalization of politics which has emerged as a natural corollary to political corruption. The failure to deal with political corruption and criminalization has led to the deprava-tion of political morality in India. It is against this backdrop that the article would exam-ine the issues of political corruption and criminalization of politics in India. The article would end by providing the “Gandhian” solution to this problem.

BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY OF THE GLOBAL MIND FOR SUSTAINABLE PEACE

Author(s): Juichiro Tanabe / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2017

While violence and conflict are the main problems that must be tackled for a peace-ful world, they are caused and sustained through our own thoughts. Though external causes must not be ignored, the most fundamental problem is an epistemological one—our way of knowing and understanding the world. Since its beginning, Buddhism has deepened its analysis of the dynamics of the human mind, both as a root cause of suffer-ing and as a source of harmony. This paper explores how Buddhism's analysis of the human mind can be applied to conflict dynamics, conflict resolution, and building a sustainable peace.

Otkriće drugoga (Razgovor s Radom Iveković)

Author(s): Radmila Gikić Petrović,Rada Iveković / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 286/1982

Interview with Rada Iveković

Zvona osluškuje drugi

Author(s): Radmila Gikić Petrović,Dušan Pajin / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 290/1983

Interview of Dušan Pajin by Radmila Gikić

Budistički agnosticizam

Author(s): Nebojša Vasić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 1/2017

Buddhistic agnosticism in its original teaching denies the relevance of the existence of universal truths which are insignificant to the fundamental – eschatological goal; release from suffering. The eightfold buddhistic path is not related to transcendence, while the Buddhist “noble silence” reveals itself in the sense of renouncing the need to find the ultimate refuge in the transcendence, ultimately in the meaning of existence or the salvation of suffering. Buddhistic apathetic agnosticism is not seen in the idea of otherworldliness as an essential basis for its learning and the acceptance of the fourfold noble truths. Postmodernism in its attempt to abolish the universalities forgets that it is possible only with universality to abolish universalities – which is an immanent paradoxical position.

Revolucionarni potencijal i aktualnost pojedinih buddhističkih koncepata

Author(s): Boris Kvaternik / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 1/2018

Buddhizam i marksizam su, u globalu i u svojoj cjelovitosti i doslovnosti, dva nepomirljiva svjetonazora. Ipak, te dvije ideologijske pozicije nisu nepremostivo odvojene na svim razinama i po svim važnijim doktrinarnim pitanjima, usprkos tome što je danas popularno tvrditi suprotno.

Sadržaj, metoda i intencija prikaza Buddhina učenja u terminima kanonske abhidharme

Author(s): Goran Kardaš / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 01/149/2018

The paper explores the type of discourse of the so-called canonical Abhidharma as the earliest systematic presentation of Buddha’s teaching. Certain located canonical sūtras (Buddha’s discourses) might served as a doctrinal starting point for constructing the system of Abhidharma as well as its methodology of presentation that could be rooted in Buddha’s differentiation between direct (nītattha) and indirect (neyyattha) types of discourse. In continuation of the article, we proceed to analyze content and method of presentation of the canonical Abhidharma within the Theravāda Buddhist school as it was carried out in two of their classical works: Dhammasaṃgani and Abhidhammatthasangaha. In these works, an analysis of reality as primary psycho-physical data (dharmas) is carried out consistently. It is furthermore shown that such an analysis of reality avoids an ontological question about the existential status of dharmas that, on the contrary, should be understood as the phenomenological description of elementary psycho-physical functions that shape experience or ‘types’ of consciousness (citta). The article concludes with the elaboration of possible reasons (intentions) for constructing the system of canonical Abhidharma.

Vivekananda’ Perspective of Universal Religion: Introspection

Author(s): Rina Avinash Pitale Puradkar / Language(s): English Issue: 10/2018

Religion is deeply rooted in man and his blood since many centuries ago. Still, it has been dominating man and his way of thinking and behaviour. Within the framework of human rights, religion is considered an inherent and individual right of the man. Therefore, religion is a very personal matter in man and his life. Within the Eastern Philosophical traditions, we can find a great thinker and the religious man who was not limited to the East and the one who spread that new ideal of the religion to the Western world. He is Swami Vivekananda. He was born in 1863 and expired in 1902. Within that short period, he did excellent contribution to the tradition of the Vedantic religion. To him, Religion is not just a talk and doctrines or theories, nor is it sectarianism Religion cannot live in sects and societies. It is a relationship between the soul and God. He explains that religion does not consist of erecting temples or building churches or attending public worship. As well as it cannot find in the books or in words or in lectures or in organizations. Religion consists of realization. Religion does not consist in subscribing to a particular creed or faith but in spiritual realization. Therefore, spiritual realization is religion. He said “I shall try to bring before you the Hindu theory that religions do not come from without, but from within. It is my belief that religious thought is in man’s very constitution, so much so that it is impossible for him to give up religion until he can give up his mind and body until he can give up his thought and life.” Religion is inseparable with a man and his life. Another thing is that it is within the man. Each and every one should understand God within their soul through self-realization. Religion is the manifestation of the divinity already within man. Therefore, it is not necessary to have doctrines or dogmas and intellectual argumentation. It is a realization in the heart of our hearts. It is touching God; it is feeling God and realizing that I am a spirit in relation to the universal spirit and all its great manifestations. In a simple manner, his way of understanding of religion is that man must realize God, feel God, see God, and talk to God. That is the religion. To him, material prosperity and wealth is not an important thing. However, the wealth of the spiritual thought is needed for the human progress. All the religions of the world together constitute one whole. For him, there existed only one Eternal Religion of which all other religions were only variations. Each religion has a special bent, a unique trait, some good points and this uniqueness is not the different buildings, languages, rituals, books etc employed in various religions, but the internal soul of every religion. Every religion has a soul behind it, and that soul may differ from the soul of another religion. Thus, all these religions are different forces in the economy of God, working for the good of mankind. All the religions of the world together constitute one whole. All religions are valid means to the same end. It is not necessary to change the viewpoint of one’s own religion. To enrich one’s life, one can accept some of the good points from another religion. Man and his true nature are already divine. But that divinity is hidden. Therefore, the realization of that divinity should be the purpose of life; that is the religion. It is the harmony of all religions so that it is one of best solutions for the prevalent religious conflicts in the world. This research paper will analyze Swami Vivekananda’s concept of universal religion and its implications on the prevalent religious conflicts in the world. In addition, the paper will try to investigate his views on the nature of a postmodern world where we can say ‘is there need for universal religion?’

CONCEPTUALIZAREA ABUZIVĂ A FLUXULUI CAUZAL AMORF (PRATīTYASAMUTPĀDA, PARATANTRASVABHĀVA), ÎN BUDHISMUL YOGĀCĀRA

Author(s): Ovidiu Cristian Nedu / Language(s): Romanian,Moldavian Issue: 2/2019

The article deals with the relationshipbetween the two levels of phenomenal existence accepted by Yogācāra Buddhism: theconceptual and linguistic sphere, specific to human experience, and the all-encompassingconditional flow. Unlike other early tenets of Mahāyāna, Yogācāra has a „softer”approach to reality, considering the conditional flow as real, as a natural adjunct of theultimate reality (parini􀊘pannasvabhāva). Devoid of any objective reality is only thelevel of conceptual constructs, which refer to nothing at all, neither to the absolutereality nor to the conditional flow. They simply make up a world of their own, stirredby the Karmic energy; within this purely subjective constructed world, the entire humandrama takes place. All the painful features of human life have nothing to do withanything existing outside of the individual subject but are simply fanciful creations ofhuman mind. The objectively existing conditional flow is not only devoid of anyexistentialistic characteristic but lacks any determination whatsoever, being simply anamorphous stream of momentary apparitions, where nothing ever acquires any determinedidentity, as a particular „entity” (bhāva).The voidness (śūnyatā) of Yogācāra Buddhism is „softer” than in other schoolsof Mahāyāna, being rather a „relational” void. It is not equated with nothingness butonly with the absence of the claimed constructed characteristics from the realconditional flow.

The Image of Philosophy in Indian Culture: Etymology and Untranslatability of Terms

Author(s): Hanna Hnatovska / Language(s): English Issue: 13/2020

The article is devoted to the analysis of etymology and semantic connotations of Sanskrit terms: anviksiki, darsana, vidya, tarkavidya, tarka, tattvajnana, jnana, tattvavidya, tattva, tarkikatva, indriyasaṅga for the purpose of disclosing the complete image of the philosophy in the Indian culture. The author abandoned the most popular approach in the scientific literature, which is to clarify the philosophical content of the creative achievements of Indian thinkers by defining one term as close as possible to the meaning of the “Western” concept of philosophy. The article recognizes that each of the chosen terms is untranslatable, and the specificity of their meanings creates and explains the integrity of the general image of philosophy in Indian culture. The importance of the etymology in explaining the meanings of the vocabulary of Indian philosophy and in identifying common and distinct terms that are used for consideration has been demonstrated. The article reveals the connection between the meaning of “philosophy” and “science” and “logic” in Indian culture. It clarifies which terms are the key ones and which are marginal to the history of Indian philosophical thought.

Buda’nın Ateş Vaazı Adlı Konuşması Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme

Author(s): Necati Sümer / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 2/2020

Buddhism is a belief system that emerged as a reaction to Hinduism. Buddha is the founder of this religion. Buddhism has been mostly shaped around via Buddha’s life and views. In particular, the Buddha's sermons are one of the most important factor in the sense of spreading of this religion. In this context, the Fire Sermon has an important place among Buddhists. Identified with the symbol of fire, this sermon is a breaking threshold for Buddhism. After this sermon, hundreds of monks follow Buddha's path. The sermon, which has a generally religious and philosophical content, invites monks to salvation. Through this sermon, Buddha tells his followers about his life adventure and the results he has achieved. The Sermon of Fire, which gives comprehensive information about the faith life of Buddhism, reveals the reasons why man is wrong in this world. He talks about desire, passion, and hatred that cause suffering. The sermon, which states that the reincarnation process is wearing out, proposes Nirvana as a way of salvation for the monks. Buddha reaches Nirvana under the Bodhi tree. Here he matures and discovers the truth. The Buddha suggests that his followers mature through this sermon. In this context, first a short history of Buddhism and then the life of Buddha was included in this study. Thus, the process and grounds of the Fire Sermon were discussed. Finally, it was revealed what and how this sermon told and what messages it gave.

Does Profit Still Matter? The Implementation of Buddhist Ideas to Contemporary Business: Theory and Practice

Author(s): Magdalena Tusińska / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

The subject matter of this paper is Buddhist economics in theory and practice. The goal is to point out the main concepts of Buddhist economics, which is different from Western mainstream economics, and then explain how applying Buddhist teachings to business can possibly improve societal well-being and the condition of the natural environment. The main contribution of the article is twofold. Firstly, it aims to plumb the literature to identify characteristics of Buddhist economics, which is a relatively new field. Secondly, it compares Buddhist enterprises to relatively well-known social enterprises, showing the main differences between them. “Buddhist ideas in practice” are illustrated by examples of such companies as Benefit System or Patagonia. The main conclusion is that money and wealth are allowed in Buddhism, but religion reminds people not to become attached to their possessions and to share them with others. Examples described in the paper lead to an awareness that economic activity can be a means to a noble life. New criteria of assessment of business success including social engagement and care for the environment should be created. Thus, deep institutional changes which redefine the roles and duties of business would be required. The paper is based on literature, documents and online sources. The research methods used are the critique of literature covering the subject matter, comparative analysis and elements of case studies.

ESKİ UYGURCA BUDİST METİNLERDE “SONSUZ” KAVRAM ALANI

Author(s): Arda Karadavut / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 75/2022

As humans are finite beings, they have sought to understand and find the infinite throughout history. Theologians, philosophers, physicists, logicians, and mathematicians among those of other disciplines have all emphasized and tried to explain the notion of infinity in different ways. Ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander was one of the first Westerners to delve into this topic. Indian holy books serve as the first Eastern examples. In Buddhism, the concept colti nayuta literally meaning too many to count expresses infinity. One particular manuscript, the Surya Prajnapti, divides numbers into those that are countable, uncountable, and infinite. Several Old Uyghur translations of Buddhist texts contain many a word that loosely describes infinity. This study will explore that, and examine how the Uyghurs used to perceive infinity by examining between language and thought.

SHAKTI AND LAKSHMI PRINCIPLES. EMPOWERING WOMEN IN INDIAN TRADITION

Author(s): Cleopatra David / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

The Indian traditions offer a very specific place in the society to women, and the religious practices give them certain responsibilities. Religion and common life are practically inseparable and the role models offered by the Hindu pantheon and sacred texts are to be reflected in the day to day activity. Shakti is the wife of Lord Sadashiva and the Mother of the Universe, while Lakshmi is the wife of Lord Vishnu, whose main characteristic is to bring prosperity. This article is approaching the role women play from the position of the Hindu tradition, overviewing Puranic and epic texts.

Philosophy of Grammar in Ancient India: Reinterpreting the Gārgya Controversy in Nirukta 1.12–1.14

Author(s): Paolo Visigalli / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

This paper offers a systematic reinterpretation of the Gārgya controversy, a remarkable episode in the history of early India’s reflections on language. Recorded in Yāska’s Nirukta, this controversy centers on the issue whether all or only certain nouns are ‘born from’ (i.e., derived from) verbs. While Śākaṭāyana and the etymologists, including Yāska, believe that all nouns are derivable, Gārgya and the grammarians maintain that only morphologically regular nouns are derivable. This paper examines the arguments developed in this controversy and argues that Yāska’s belief that all nouns are derivable is not only a linguistic axiom but also reflects non-linguistic concerns pertaining to the raison d’être assigned to the discipline of etymology and to the belief that the Veda transcends history.

The Austerity in Japanese Spaces

Author(s): Irina-Ana Drobot / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

The purpose of this paper is to look at austerity present in Japanese culture spaces, such as Japanese gardens, Japanese interior design, which is minimalist, Japanese haiku poems settings, and their connection with Buddhist philosophy. The Japanese do not seem keen on accumulating objects. Instead, they prefer to keep their space minimal. The emptiness in Japanese Buddhist philosophy appears in interior design and garden design. Moreover, the Japanese focus more on their surroundings, for instance on contemplating the seasons and on their awareness of the changing seasons. Buddhist temples allow a large view of the landscape. Meanwhile, the interior design remains minimalist, and it also allows the inhabitant to be surrounded by empty space. The Japanese are not so much focused on accumulating objects during their lifetime as Westerners are. What could be such reasons? Why is their focus on the aesthetics of the surroundings? What could this tell us about Japanese culture that makes it unique?