The Buddhist Unconscious

From Buddha-Nature
No edit summary
No edit summary
 
(2 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Book
{{Book
|BookPerson={{Book-person
|PersonPage=Waldron, W.
|PersonName=William S. Waldron
}}
|FullTextRead=No
|FullTextRead=No
|BookToc=**{{i|''Preface''|xi}}
|BookToc=**{{i|''Preface''|xi}}
Line 68: Line 64:
*{{i|'''2. looking beyond'''|158}}
*{{i|'''2. looking beyond'''|158}}
*{{i|''The predispositions of speech, self-view, and the life-constituents''|159}}
*{{i|''The predispositions of speech, self-view, and the life-constituents''|159}}
*{{i|''Common experience, common embodiment: language, the ālaya-vijñana, and "the arising of the world"''|160}}<br><br>
*{{i|''Common experience, common embodiment: language, the ālaya-vijñana, and "the arising<br>of the world"''|160}}<br><br>


*{{i|'''PART III<br>Appendices'''|171}}<br><br>
*{{i|'''PART III<br>Appendices'''|171}}<br><br>
*{{i|Appendix I The series of dependent arising: affliction, action, and their<br>results|173}}
*{{i|Appendix I The series of dependent arising: affliction, action, and their<br>results|173}}
*{{i|Appendix II Index of related controversies|175}}
*{{i|Appendix II Index of related controversies|175}}
*{{i|Appendix III Translation: the ''Pravṛtti'' and ''Nivṛtti Portions'' of the ''Viniścayasaṃgrahaṇī'' of the ''Yogācārabhūmi''|178}}<br><br>
*{{i|Appendix III Translation: the ''Pravṛtti'' and ''Nivṛtti Portions'' of the<br>''Viniścayasaṃgrahaṇī'' of the ''Yogācārabhūmi''|178}}<br><br>
**{{i|''Notes''|190}}
**{{i|''Notes''|190}}
**{{i|''Bibliography of works cited''|247}}
**{{i|''Bibliography of works cited''|247}}

Latest revision as of 17:58, 18 September 2020

The Buddhist Unconscious
Book
Book

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. (Source: Routledge)

Citation Waldron, William S. The Buddhist Unconscious: The Ālaya-Vijñāna in the Context of Indian Buddhist Thought. Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. http://abhidharma.ru/A/Raznoe/0061.pdf.