The Odyssey of the Buddhist Mind

by Xiaolian Liu
The Odyssey of the Buddhist Mind
Author: Xiaolian Liu
Publisher:
Total Pages: 344
Release: 1994
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:
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Xiaolian Liu presents the first and only major study on the achievement of the novel in the context of both Western and Chinese allegorical traditions. This groundbreaking book provides a comparative study of the nature and various aspects of allegory as illustrated through the analysis of The Later Journey to the West, a seventeenth-century Chinese allegorical novel. The author also examines the theme, structure and characterization of the novel and their allegorical meanings. Contents: Introduction: A Chinese Allegorical Novel; The Hero's Quest: The Basic Allegory; The Pilgrims' Progress: Meaning of the Allegorical Journey; Symbolic Images and Actions: Representations of Allegorical Characters; Hou Xiyou ji in the Context of Western and Chinese Allegorical Traditions; Appendix I; A Synopsis of Hou Xiyou ji; Appendix II: The Problem of Authorship of Hou Xiyou ji; Selected Bibliography; Index.

Mind Beyond Brain

by David E. Presti
Mind Beyond Brain
Author: David E. Presti
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2018-10-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0231548397
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Among the most profound questions we confront are the nature of what and who we are as conscious beings, and how the human mind relates to the rest of what we consider reality. For millennia, philosophers, scientists, and religious thinkers have attempted answers, perhaps none more meaningful today than those offered by neuroscience and by Buddhism. The encounter between these two worldviews has spurred ongoing conversations about what science and Buddhism can teach each other about mind and reality. In Mind Beyond Brain, the neuroscientist David E. Presti, with the assistance of other distinguished researchers, explores how evidence for anomalous phenomena—such as near-death experiences, apparent memories of past lives, apparitions, experiences associated with death, and other so-called psi or paranormal phenomena, including telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition—can influence the Buddhism-science conversation. Presti describes the extensive but frequently unacknowledged history of scientific investigation into these phenomena, demonstrating its relevance to questions about consciousness and reality. The new perspectives opened up, if we are willing to take evidence of such often off-limits topics seriously, offer significant challenges to dominant explanatory paradigms and raise the prospect that we may be poised for truly revolutionary developments in the scientific investigation of mind. Mind Beyond Brain represents the next level in the science and Buddhism dialogue.

The Bodhisattva's Brain

by Owen Flanagan
The Bodhisattva's Brain
Author: Owen Flanagan
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2011-08-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 026229723X
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This fascinating introduction to the intersection between religion, neuroscience, and moral philosophy asks: Can there be a Buddhism without karma, nirvana, and reincarnation that is compatible with the rest of knowledge? If we are material beings living in a material world—and all the scientific evidence suggests that we are—then we must find existential meaning, if there is such a thing, in this physical world. We must cast our lot with the natural rather than the supernatural. Many Westerners with spiritual (but not religious) inclinations are attracted to Buddhism—almost as a kind of moral-mental hygiene. But, as Owen Flanagan points out in The Bodhisattva's Brain, Buddhism is hardly naturalistic. In The Bodhisattva's Brain, Flanagan argues that it is possible to discover in Buddhism a rich, empirically responsible philosophy that could point us to one path of human flourishing. Some claim that neuroscience is in the process of validating Buddhism empirically, but Flanagan'’ naturalized Buddhism does not reduce itself to a brain scan showing happiness patterns. “Buddhism naturalized,” as Flanagan constructs it, offers instead a fully naturalistic and comprehensive philosophy, compatible with the rest of knowledge—a way of conceiving of the human predicament, of thinking about meaning for finite material beings living in a material world.

The Odyssey of the Buddhist Mind

by Xiaolian Liu
The Odyssey of the Buddhist Mind
Author: Xiaolian Liu
Publisher:
Total Pages: 344
Release: 1994
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:
GET BOOK

Xiaolian Liu presents the first and only major study on the achievement of the novel in the context of both Western and Chinese allegorical traditions. This groundbreaking book provides a comparative study of the nature and various aspects of allegory as illustrated through the analysis of The Later Journey to the West, a seventeenth-century Chinese allegorical novel. The author also examines the theme, structure and characterization of the novel and their allegorical meanings. Contents: Introduction: A Chinese Allegorical Novel; The Hero's Quest: The Basic Allegory; The Pilgrims' Progress: Meaning of the Allegorical Journey; Symbolic Images and Actions: Representations of Allegorical Characters; Hou Xiyou ji in the Context of Western and Chinese Allegorical Traditions; Appendix I; A Synopsis of Hou Xiyou ji; Appendix II: The Problem of Authorship of Hou Xiyou ji; Selected Bibliography; Index.

Quiet Mind, The

by John E. Coleman
Quiet Mind, The
Author: John E. Coleman
Publisher: Pariyatti Publishing
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2012-11-01
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1938754220
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A fascinating, engaging, and unique memoir, this story covers John Coleman’s life after his cover is blown as a CIA agent in Asia in the late 1950s, leading him to embark on a vigorous pursuit of spiritual truth. In his travels through India, Burma, Japan, and Thailand, he encounters luminous teachers such as Krishnamurti, Maharishi, and D.T. Suzuki. Ultimately, his search for peace of mind and liberating insights comes to fruition in Yangon—also known as Rangoon—under the tutelage of the great Vipassana meditation master Sayagyi U Ba Khin.

Foundational Concepts in Neuroscience: A Brain-Mind Odyssey (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology)

by David E. Presti
Foundational Concepts in Neuroscience: A Brain-Mind Odyssey (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology)
Author: David E. Presti
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2015-12-14
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0393709612
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Key concepts in neuroscience presented for the non-medical reader. A fresh take on contemporary brain science, this book presents neuroscience—the scientific study of brain, mind, and behavior—in easy-to-understand ways with a focus on concepts of interest to all science readers. Rigorous and detailed enough to use as a textbook in a university or community college class, it is at the same time meant for any and all readers, clinicians and non-clinicians alike, interested in learning about the foundations of contemporary brain science. From molecules and cells to mind and consciousness, the known and the mysterious are presented in the context of the history of modern biology and with an eye toward better appreciating the beauty and growing public presence of brain science.

American Buddhism

by Christopher Queen
American Buddhism
Author: Christopher Queen
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2013-10-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1136830332
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This is the first scholarly treatment of the emergence of American Buddhist Studies as a significant research field. Until now, few investigators have turned their attention to the interpretive challenge posed by the presence of all the traditional lineages of Asian Buddhism in a consciously multicultural society. Nor have scholars considered the place of their own contributions as writers, teachers, and practising Buddhists in this unfolding saga. In thirteen chapters and a critical introduction to the field, the book treats issues such as Asian American Buddhist identity, the new Buddhism, Buddhism and American culture, and the scholar's place in American Buddhist Studies. The volume offers complete lists of dissertations and theses on American Buddhism and North American dissertations and theses on topics related to Buddhism since 1892.

Fictions of Enlightenment

by Qiancheng Li
Fictions of Enlightenment
Author: Qiancheng Li
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2003-12-31
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780824825973
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Fictions of Enlightenment is the first book to examine the fascinating and intricate relationship between Buddhism and the development of Chinese vernacular fiction. Qiancheng Li brings Buddhist models to bear on the vision, structure, and narrative form of three classics of late imperial literature—Journey to the West, Tower of Myriad Mirrors, and Dream of the Red Chamber—arguing that by fashioning their plots after the narratives of certain Mahāyāna sutras, the novelists transformed Buddhist concepts into narrative structures. Within the traditional Chinese novel Li even defines a new genre: the fiction of enlightenment.

The Spiritual Odyssey of Freda Bedi

by Norma Levine
The Spiritual Odyssey of Freda Bedi
Author: Norma Levine
Publisher:
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2018-05-31
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9788878341609
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Freda Bedi had a big heart and a big life. An English head prefect and Oxford graduate, a devoted Indian wife and doting mother of three, a hands on social worker and investigative journalist, a university teacher and Tibetan translator, a Gandhi satyagraha and Buddhist nun: who was Freda Bedi, Gelongma Palmo, affectionately called Mummy-la by all the Tibetans including His Holiness the 16th Karmapa and His Holiness the Dalai Lama? Who was this lady who tread so lightly yet left an indelible footprint, obscured but not forgotten? Fearless even in death, Freda died sitting in meditation with no rigor mortis, her body remaining supple for four days with warmth around the heart. "Mrs. Freda Bedi whom we all lovingly called Mummy was truly a giver of life for thousands of Tibetan refugees. But she was much more. She delved deep into ancient Tibetan wisdom and became a living representative of its value to the rest of the world when it was being destroyed in Tibet. The history of Tibetan Buddhism in the West would not be complete without her." - Ringu Tulku, author of Mind Training, Confusion Arises as Wisdom and Path to Buddhahood "The Spiritual Odyssey of Freda Bedi is a rich intimate journey into the life of an extraordinary pioneer in the dialogue between Tibetan Buddhism and the western world. Her closeness to His Holiness 16th Karmapa was unprecedented, enabling her to move into the inner recesses of his world and to have a lasting impact on the Tibetan refugees. This riveting book shares her journey from England to India, to marriage with a Gandhi activist, motherhood and ultimately a life of deep spiritual realization in the Tibetan tradition as it emerged into view in the 1960s and '70s." - Lama Tsultrim Allione, author of Women of Wisdom and Feeding Your Demons "​This is a beautiful book on Mummy, well written, highly informative. It captures the essence of her life extremely well and tells her story with great sensitivity. Truly a wonderful book and a labour of love. I feel gratitude and admiration. Congratulations!" - Kabir Bedi, Indian film and television actor