Contexts and Dialogue: Yogacara Buddhism and Modern Psychology on the Subliminal Mind

Are there Buddhist conceptions of the unconscious? If so, are they more Freudian, Jungian, or something else? If not, can Buddhist conceptions be reconciled with the Freudian, Jungian, or other models? These are some of the questions that have motivated modern scholarship to approach ālayavijñāna, t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jiang, Tao (Author)
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: Honolulu University of Hawaii Press [2006]
Series:Monographs of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy
Subjects:
Online Access:DE-1043
DE-1046
DE-858
DE-859
DE-860
DE-739
DE-473
URL des Erstveröffentlichers
Summary:Are there Buddhist conceptions of the unconscious? If so, are they more Freudian, Jungian, or something else? If not, can Buddhist conceptions be reconciled with the Freudian, Jungian, or other models? These are some of the questions that have motivated modern scholarship to approach ālayavijñāna, the storehouse consciousness, formulated in Yogācāra Buddhism as a subliminal reservoir of tendencies, habits, and future possibilities.Tao Jiang argues convincingly that such questions are inherently problematic because they frame their interpretations of the Buddhist notion largely in terms of responses to modern psychology. He proposes that, if we are to understand ālayavijñāna properly and compare it with the unconscious responsibly, we need to change the way the questions are posed so that ālayavijñāna and the unconscious can first be understood within their own contexts and then recontextualized within a dialogical setting. In so doing, certain paradigmatic assumptions embedded in the original frameworks of Buddhist and modern psychological theories are exposed. Jiang brings together Xuan Zang's ālayavijñāna and Freud's and Jung's unconscious to focus on what the differences are in the thematic concerns of the three theories, why such differences exist in terms of their objectives, and how their methods of theorization contribute to these differences.Contexts and Dialogue puts forth a fascinating, erudite, and carefully argued presentation of the subliminal mind. It proposes a new paradigm in comparative philosophy that examines the what, why, and how in navigating the similarities and differences of philosophical systems through contextualization and recontextualization
Item Description:Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Jul 2021)
Physical Description:1 online resource (272 pages)
ISBN:9780824861988
DOI:10.1515/9780824861988

There is no print copy available.

Interlibrary loan Place Request Caution: Not in THWS collection! Get full text