Ovidiu Nedu
University of Bucharest, Department Of Theoretical Philosophy And Logic, Graduate Student
- Philosophy Of Religion, Religious Naturalism, Rationalism (Religion), Buddhism, Liberal Christianity, Hinduism, and 28 morePrehistoric Spirituality, Religious Syncretism, Theology, Postmodernism, History of Christianity, Schleiermacher, Religious Studies, Neurosciences & Behavioral Sciences: evolutionary psychology, biological bases of cognition and perception, religion, Buddhist Philosophy, Yogacara, Mahayana, New Religious Movements, Prajnaparamita, Madhyamika Philosophy, Vasubandhu, Process Theology, Evolutionary Psychology, Transpersonal Psychology, Jungian psychology, Sanskrit, Religion, Indian Philosophy, Vedanta, Yogacara Buddhism, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Brahmanism, Buddhist Studies, and Monismedit
Research Interests: Psychology, Personality Psychology, Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Social Identity, and 15 moreSocial and Cultural Anthropology, Ecological Anthropology, Personal Relationships, Consciousness, Personal Identity, Naturalism, Free Will, Anthropology of Consciousness, Body and Personal Identity, Free Will and Moral Responsibility, Naturalism (Philosophy), Antropologie, Between Biology and Politics, Consciousness and Creativity, and Antropologie socială și culturală
Pan-sacralitatea naturalistă și „garantarea” destinului ultim „Șomajul” soteriologic al religiilor „Compulsiunea religioasă” a psihologiei umane Abordarea cognitivă a dilemelor religioase și concluzia agnostică Arta de a dibui... more
Pan-sacralitatea naturalistă și „garantarea” destinului ultim
„Șomajul” soteriologic al religiilor
„Compulsiunea religioasă” a psihologiei umane
Abordarea cognitivă a dilemelor religioase și concluzia agnostică
Arta de a dibui direcții pe bâjbâite
Relaxarea ca „religie”
Mintea cea „păcătoasă” și masochismul valorilor
Hilara fantomă îngrozită de moarte
Depersonalizarea experienței
„Venerarea” a ceea ce este
Epoche-ul religios și „știința lejerității”
„Șomajul” soteriologic al religiilor
„Compulsiunea religioasă” a psihologiei umane
Abordarea cognitivă a dilemelor religioase și concluzia agnostică
Arta de a dibui direcții pe bâjbâite
Relaxarea ca „religie”
Mintea cea „păcătoasă” și masochismul valorilor
Hilara fantomă îngrozită de moarte
Depersonalizarea experienței
„Venerarea” a ceea ce este
Epoche-ul religios și „știința lejerității”
Research Interests: Religion, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy Of Religion, Human Values, Mindfulness, and 15 morePersonal Development, Well-Being, Contemporary Religion, Agnosticism, Faith, Personal Identity, Anthropology of Death, Happiness and Well Being, Religious Studies, Wellness, Moral Skepticism, Salvation, Religious Naturalism, Religious Psychology, and Depersonalization
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Concepția tradițională: individul ca subiect ultim al demersului spiritual Indiferența Universului față de viețile individuale Caracterul conflictual al vieții globale și imposibilitatea „dragostei” universale Ce contează, individualul... more
Concepția tradițională: individul ca subiect ultim al demersului spiritual
Indiferența Universului față de viețile individuale
Caracterul conflictual al vieții globale și imposibilitatea „dragostei” universale
Ce contează, individualul sau colectivul?
O spiritualitate „colectivă”
Fantezia „sacralității” vieții individuale
Indiferența Universului față de viețile individuale
Caracterul conflictual al vieții globale și imposibilitatea „dragostei” universale
Ce contează, individualul sau colectivul?
O spiritualitate „colectivă”
Fantezia „sacralității” vieții individuale
Research Interests: Meaning of Life, Religious Social Activism, Sacred (Religion), Naturalism, Pantheism, and 15 moreHolism, Cosmos, Pessimism, Natural Religion, Spirituality, holistic, Religious Naturalism, Cosmos and life evolution, Religion and Social Theory, Spirituality In Social Work, Spirituality and Social Work, Panteism, Cosmic Nature Spirituality, Religion and Natural Disasters, Evolutionary Spirituality, and Animal and spirituality
I.CARACTERUL DESCHIS, NON-DOGMATIC AL PERSPECTIVEI RAȚIONAL-SCIENTISTE ASUPRA UNIVERSULUI I.1.Raționalitatea lumii și caracterul „deschis” al scientismului I.2.Științele incipiente și corelațiile empirice I.3.Nebuloasa pretențiilor... more
I.CARACTERUL DESCHIS, NON-DOGMATIC AL PERSPECTIVEI RAȚIONAL-SCIENTISTE ASUPRA UNIVERSULUI
I.1.Raționalitatea lumii și caracterul „deschis” al scientismului
I.2.Științele incipiente și corelațiile empirice
I.3.Nebuloasa pretențiilor cognitive umane
I.4.Desprinderea unor științe din zona „religiosului”
II.ASTROLOGIA: FUNCȚIONAREA SINCRONICĂ A MECANISMULUI UMAN ȘI A MECANISMULUI COSMIC
II.1.Presupozițiile astrologiei: umanitatea ca sistem și funcționarea sa în sincron cu anumite sisteme cosmice
II.2.Legiferarea/reglementarea experiențelor și valorilor umane
II.3. Alte demersuri de „scientizare” secvențială a vieții psihice și sociale
II.4.Corelația uman-cosmic și incapacitatea științei actuale de a explicita acest raport
II.5.Astrologia și perspectiva „cosmică” asupra omului
I.1.Raționalitatea lumii și caracterul „deschis” al scientismului
I.2.Științele incipiente și corelațiile empirice
I.3.Nebuloasa pretențiilor cognitive umane
I.4.Desprinderea unor științe din zona „religiosului”
II.ASTROLOGIA: FUNCȚIONAREA SINCRONICĂ A MECANISMULUI UMAN ȘI A MECANISMULUI COSMIC
II.1.Presupozițiile astrologiei: umanitatea ca sistem și funcționarea sa în sincron cu anumite sisteme cosmice
II.2.Legiferarea/reglementarea experiențelor și valorilor umane
II.3. Alte demersuri de „scientizare” secvențială a vieții psihice și sociale
II.4.Corelația uman-cosmic și incapacitatea științei actuale de a explicita acest raport
II.5.Astrologia și perspectiva „cosmică” asupra omului
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Buddhism, Hinduism, Personality, Metaphysics of Consciousness, Process Theology, and 36 morePersonhood, Alfred North Whitehead, Defining Personhood, Self Consciousness, Consciousness, Process Philosophy, Personal Identity, Process Philosophy (Peirce, Whitehead), Advaita Vedanta, Abortion, Whitehead, Vedanta, Early Mahayana Doctrines, Consciousness Studies, Anatta, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahāyāna, Mahayana, John B. Cobb, Jr., Process Theology, Post-Structuralism and Religion, Unborn child, Mahayana Buddhism, Philsophy of Mind, Metaphysics and Personal Identity, Selfhood and Personhood, Ancient Indian Religion, A. N. Whitehead, Anattā, Mahāyāna Buddhist Tradition, John Cobb Jr, Aitareya Upanisad, Upaniṣad, Kausitaki Brahmana Upanishad, Hinayana, Process Philosophy & Theology, Human rights law and the unborn children, and Identity/personality
According to the Idealistic school of Mahayana Buddhism, Yogacara, human existence is not as much the condition of a “being”, of an entity, but a mere experience projected by the cosmic consciousness, by the so-called “store-house... more
According to the Idealistic school of Mahayana Buddhism, Yogacara, human existence is not as much the condition of a “being”, of an entity, but a mere experience projected by the cosmic consciousness, by the so-called “store-house consciousness” (alayavijnana). Nevertheless, human existence has some special features; it doesn’t represent a simple cosmic experience but rather an “alteration” of the normal condition of reality.
The peaceful and homogenous state of reality gets altered when human mind starts developping experiences of self-“elevation” (unnatti), of “pride” (mana) towards what it appropriates as its own identity. The natural calm of reality gets disturbed and the experience projected by the mind becomes an afflicted (klista) one; this is the beginning of suffering (duhkha) and of bondage (samsara).
Thus, the projection of individuality upon the calm cosmic level can be considered as the “fall” of Yogacara Buddhism.
The peaceful and homogenous state of reality gets altered when human mind starts developping experiences of self-“elevation” (unnatti), of “pride” (mana) towards what it appropriates as its own identity. The natural calm of reality gets disturbed and the experience projected by the mind becomes an afflicted (klista) one; this is the beginning of suffering (duhkha) and of bondage (samsara).
Thus, the projection of individuality upon the calm cosmic level can be considered as the “fall” of Yogacara Buddhism.
Research Interests: Philosophy of Mind, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, Metaphysics of Mind, and 15 moreIndian Buddhism, Problem of Evil, Yogacara Buddhism, Conceptions of Individuality and Selfhood, Yogacara, Philosophy of Evil, Indian religions, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Selfhood, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Yogācāra, Budhhism, Selfhood and Personhood, and Ancient Indian Religion
Even if absolutist approaches of time and space, which see these as selfexisting substances, are more agreed by the archaic cosmologies, at times, we can encounter the more philosophical alternative, of considering them in a relativist... more
Even if absolutist approaches of time and space, which see these as selfexisting substances, are more agreed by the archaic cosmologies, at times, we can encounter the more philosophical alternative, of considering them in a relativist way. The article deals with two such approaches. At first, it analyzes the relational time of Buddhism, considered not as a substance but as the serial order of the so-called "moments" (ksana). It also deals with the more complex approach of a realistic school of Brahmanism, Vaiśesika, which includes, among the "substances" (dravya), a relational time (kāla) and a relational space (diś), apart from an absolute space, labelled as "ether" (ākāśa). The ether would be the receptacle where things are located, altogether, while the "space" (diś) or, better said, the directions, account for the spatial order of the objects. Moreover, the school approaches dimension or corporeality in a relativist way, considering them as a numerical issue, as the result of gathering together of the so-called "atoms" (paramānu).
Research Interests: Buddhism, Cosmology (Physics), Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, Space and Place, and 14 moreMetaphysics of Time, History of Atomism, Indian Buddhism, Brahmanism, Vaisesika, Cosmology, Vaiśeṣika, Ancient atomism, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahayana, Classical Indian Philosophy, Mahayana Buddhism, Nyaya Vaisesika, and Atoms
According to Yogācāra, the Idealistic stream of Mahāyāna Buddhism, personhood is not based on an entity but rather on a fictious projection. This illusory identity is experienced by the mind (manas); in Yogācāra philosophical jargon,... more
According to Yogācāra, the Idealistic stream of Mahāyāna Buddhism, personhood is not based on an entity but rather on a fictious projection. This illusory identity is experienced by the mind (manas); in Yogācāra philosophical jargon, “mind” refers to that function of consciousness through which some experiences are appropriated (upā-dā) and turned into a self (ātman).
All the subsequent individual experiences of the “individual being” take place within the frame of this illusion projected by the mind. The limitations each individual being experience are explained by Yogācāra Buddhism through the fact that the person is always “wrapped” in the illusion of individuality projected by the mind. The mind becomes the root of all evil, the primary origin of bondage. The entire soteriological effort of Yogācāra will be directed towards the annihilation of this “mind”.
Keywords: Buddhism, Vijñnavda, Yogācāra, personal identity, mind (manas), illusion, self-limitation.
All the subsequent individual experiences of the “individual being” take place within the frame of this illusion projected by the mind. The limitations each individual being experience are explained by Yogācāra Buddhism through the fact that the person is always “wrapped” in the illusion of individuality projected by the mind. The mind becomes the root of all evil, the primary origin of bondage. The entire soteriological effort of Yogācāra will be directed towards the annihilation of this “mind”.
Keywords: Buddhism, Vijñnavda, Yogācāra, personal identity, mind (manas), illusion, self-limitation.
Research Interests: Buddhism, Self and Identity, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, and 14 morePersonhood, Personal Identity, Indian Buddhism, Personalism, Yogacara Buddhism, Yogacara, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahāyāna, Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism, Philsophy of Mind, Metaphysics and Personal Identity, Yogācāra, Budhism, and Mahāyāna Buddhist Tradition
Buddhism, under all its forms, incriminated the individual condition, the ego, considering it as the main cause for the appearance of suffering (dukha). The denial and the annihilation of the individual self were the main aspects of the... more
Buddhism, under all its forms, incriminated the individual condition, the ego, considering it as the main cause for the appearance of suffering (dukha). The denial and the annihilation of the individual self were the main aspects of the religious path of Buddhism.
Although agreeing to this religious "diagnosis," Buddhist schools diverge on how the liberation from the ego would be achieved. Primary Buddhism, Hīnayāna, due to its humanistic standpoint, that prevented any attempt to look beyond human individuality, sought liberation from the ego by its simple annihilation. Mahāyāna, the newer form of Buddhism, founded on monistic-absolutist metaphysical systems, which accepted the existence of an ultimate reality to which everything would be reduced, urged the liberation from the ego by universalization, by assuming the absolute condition.
In this new metaphysical and religious context, it became necessary to deal with universality, with the cosmic level of reality, a level ignored by primary Buddhism (Hīnayāna). Mahāyāna, however, was faced with the need to discuss universality, and thus new concepts emerge, as tools for dealing with the cosmic level of reality. The "store-house consciousness" (ālayavijñāna), the cosmic consciousness, is one of them. The term appears since quite old texts, such as Lakāvatāra-sūtra or Sadhinirmocana-sūtra, but it gets consecration only in Yogācāra / Vijñānavāda school, in the 4th century. Yogācāra tries to present an idealistic explanation of the whole Universe, which would represent nothing but the experience of a cosmic consciousness, of the "store-house consciousness".
Because the store-house consciousness had such an explanatory role, the authors of Yogācāra formulated a series of arguments for its existence. In general, the arguments start from exposing a problematic situation, structured on the basis of Abhidharma's categorical system. It goes on to say that this model of analysis and explanation is not enough and, as a result, the introduction of a new concept - and thus of a new level of reality - is justified and even necessary.
Although agreeing to this religious "diagnosis," Buddhist schools diverge on how the liberation from the ego would be achieved. Primary Buddhism, Hīnayāna, due to its humanistic standpoint, that prevented any attempt to look beyond human individuality, sought liberation from the ego by its simple annihilation. Mahāyāna, the newer form of Buddhism, founded on monistic-absolutist metaphysical systems, which accepted the existence of an ultimate reality to which everything would be reduced, urged the liberation from the ego by universalization, by assuming the absolute condition.
In this new metaphysical and religious context, it became necessary to deal with universality, with the cosmic level of reality, a level ignored by primary Buddhism (Hīnayāna). Mahāyāna, however, was faced with the need to discuss universality, and thus new concepts emerge, as tools for dealing with the cosmic level of reality. The "store-house consciousness" (ālayavijñāna), the cosmic consciousness, is one of them. The term appears since quite old texts, such as Lakāvatāra-sūtra or Sadhinirmocana-sūtra, but it gets consecration only in Yogācāra / Vijñānavāda school, in the 4th century. Yogācāra tries to present an idealistic explanation of the whole Universe, which would represent nothing but the experience of a cosmic consciousness, of the "store-house consciousness".
Because the store-house consciousness had such an explanatory role, the authors of Yogācāra formulated a series of arguments for its existence. In general, the arguments start from exposing a problematic situation, structured on the basis of Abhidharma's categorical system. It goes on to say that this model of analysis and explanation is not enough and, as a result, the introduction of a new concept - and thus of a new level of reality - is justified and even necessary.
Research Interests: Buddhism, Indian Buddhism, Individualism, Theravada Buddhism, Yogacara Buddhism, and 15 moreHolism, Yogacara, study of Madyamaka and Yogacara Traditions, Study of Madyaka and Yogacara Traditions, Cosmos, Indian religions, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahāyāna, Mahayana Buddhism, Madhyamaka and Yogacara Buddhism, Yogācāra, Alayavijnana, Ancient Indian Religion, Mahāyāna Buddhist Tradition, and Hinayana
Unlike other streams of Buddhism, Yogācāra is more tolerant with the cosmic manifestation, considering it as real and not necessarily evil. Evil, affliction and bondage start when the holistic "eco-logical" level is broken and individual... more
Unlike other streams of Buddhism, Yogācāra is more tolerant with the cosmic manifestation, considering it as real and not necessarily evil. Evil, affliction and bondage start when the holistic "eco-logical" level is broken and individual beings start rising and imposing themselves. The root of all evil in the Universe is the attitude of "elevated state of [self]-consciousness" (cittonnati), the "pride that I am" (asmimāna), the "raising of the individual self above the others" (ātmānam………… unnamayati anyebhyo 'dhikaṃ). Though without any explicit ecological statement, Yogācāra Buddhism, as early as in the IVth century AD, starts denouncing the self-centered attitude of any being, considering it not only as a cause of breaking the cosmic "calmness" but even as the "root of all [individual] affliction" (mūlakleśa), the main cause of all bondage.
Research Interests: Individuality, Theory of Mind, Religion and Ecology, Ecology, Personal Identity, and 15 moreYogacara Buddhism, Holism, Yogacara, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahāyāna, Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism, Ecological Spirituality, Egocentrism, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Yogācāra, Ancient Indian Religion, Budhism, and Mahāyāna Buddhist Tradition
After being engendered through the appropriating activity (upadana) of the mind (manas), applied to the universal experience of the storehouse consciousness (alayavijñana), the individual experience is constituted through the conjoint... more
After being engendered through the appropriating activity (upadana) of the mind (manas), applied to the universal experience of the storehouse consciousness (alayavijñana), the individual experience is constituted through the conjoint activity of the six "operational consciousnesses" (pravrtti vijñana): the five sensory consciousnesses and the mental consciousness (manovijñana). The brute sensory experience is projected by the five sensory consciousnesses, approximating the senses, but being rather some faculties (indriya), capacities, the potentiality of consciousness to engender some specific types of experience. In Yogacara, the sensory experience is totally devoid of concept (vikalpa), presenting itself as an amorphous flow of sensory inputs. Conceptualization is performed by the mental consciousness which, in an illusory manner, projects the categorically discriminated entities onto the sensory flow. Yogacara authors claim that the conceptually determined entities created by the mental consciousness (manovijñana) are purely fictitious, hence the mental consciousness projecting a totally illusory ontological sphere, which broadly comprises all the states of human awareness. Most of the human conscious experiences take place at the level of this conceptual sphere, this meaning that human awareness and the entire human drama involve mainly illusory entities. Therefore, conceptual experience is severely flawed, firstly, because it is produced at the level of the limited individual self (atman), and, secondly, due to its fictitious character (vitatha).
Research Interests: Buddhism, Philosophy of Mind, Indian Philosophy, Idealism, Theory of Mind, and 15 moreConsciousness, Indian Buddhism, Yogacara Buddhism, Yogacara, Phenomenal Consciousness, Indian religions, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahāyāna, Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Yogācāra, Ancient Indian Religion, and Sthiramati
Mahāyāna Buddhism, hostile to any kind of conceptual construction (vikalpa), which is blamed for operating artificial delimitations within a homogenous and amorphous reality, presents its own doctrine not as a “truth” but rather as... more
Mahāyāna Buddhism, hostile to any kind of conceptual construction (vikalpa), which is blamed for operating artificial delimitations within a homogenous and amorphous reality, presents its own doctrine not as a “truth” but rather as psychological “skill-in-means” (upāya), which aims at liberating humans from the illusory reality cast by their own mental discriminations. Thus, doctrine is denied all cognitive value, both in respect to a metaphysical level of reality and in respect to the mere empirical level. Its validity pertains to the psychological efficiency that it could display in the process of “counter-acting/opposing” the errors that ensnare humans. Therefore, the issue of religious truth is transferred from the cognitive sphere to the psychological and existential sphere, its value being of a rather therapeutic type.
The doctrine is considered as an antidote (pratipaksa) which has the sole role of denying the reality of the various mental constructions which create the sphere where the self inflicted human drama takes place. Thus, the doctrine is deprived not only of cognitive value but also of objectivity, its efficiency depending on the existence of some particular errors, of a particular type of bondage. The actual content of a religious teaching does not reflect an „objective truth” but rather a particular kind of error, which is denounced and rejected by the doctrine. Buddhist texts even utterly state that it is not possible to identify an own-meaning of the term „void” (sūnya), the main soteriological concept of Buddhism, which gets a sense only in association with another term, whom it could determine. Thus, religious teachings have more to do with subjective errors than with an objective truth.
Therefore, Buddhism does not hesitate to claim the voidness of its own path („the voidness of voidness” - sūnyatāsūnyatā), which is considered only as a temporary useful tool, which must be itself discarded during the process of liberation. The old school of Buddhism, Hīnayāna, is blamed for having developed an extremely elaborated psychological analysis which turned to be itself an obstacle on the path to liberation; this way, their religion itself opposed the accomplishment of the religious goal.
Mahāyāna Buddhism considers its own doctrine in a relativist, instrumental manner, rather existential and therapeutic than cognitive and metaphysical.
Keywords: Buddhism; Mahāyāna; doctrine; void; pluralism; relativism; non-cognitive religion.
The doctrine is considered as an antidote (pratipaksa) which has the sole role of denying the reality of the various mental constructions which create the sphere where the self inflicted human drama takes place. Thus, the doctrine is deprived not only of cognitive value but also of objectivity, its efficiency depending on the existence of some particular errors, of a particular type of bondage. The actual content of a religious teaching does not reflect an „objective truth” but rather a particular kind of error, which is denounced and rejected by the doctrine. Buddhist texts even utterly state that it is not possible to identify an own-meaning of the term „void” (sūnya), the main soteriological concept of Buddhism, which gets a sense only in association with another term, whom it could determine. Thus, religious teachings have more to do with subjective errors than with an objective truth.
Therefore, Buddhism does not hesitate to claim the voidness of its own path („the voidness of voidness” - sūnyatāsūnyatā), which is considered only as a temporary useful tool, which must be itself discarded during the process of liberation. The old school of Buddhism, Hīnayāna, is blamed for having developed an extremely elaborated psychological analysis which turned to be itself an obstacle on the path to liberation; this way, their religion itself opposed the accomplishment of the religious goal.
Mahāyāna Buddhism considers its own doctrine in a relativist, instrumental manner, rather existential and therapeutic than cognitive and metaphysical.
Keywords: Buddhism; Mahāyāna; doctrine; void; pluralism; relativism; non-cognitive religion.
Research Interests: Religion, Buddhism, Philosophy Of Religion, Buddhist Studies, Religious Pluralism, and 15 moreTruth, Theories of truth (Philosophy), Buddhism especially mahayana Buddhist tradition, Yogacara Buddhism, Buddhist doctrine, Yogacara, Indian religions, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism, Mahayana sutras, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Yogācāra, and Ancient Indian Religion
In Yogācara Buddhism, human being is not a simple occurrence within the Cosmos but rather an important wheel of the Cosmic mechanism. The Universe is driven by the Karmic force which is engendered by human afflicted (klista) experience.... more
In Yogācara Buddhism, human being is not a simple occurrence within the Cosmos but rather an important wheel of the Cosmic mechanism. The Universe is driven by the Karmic force which is engendered by human afflicted (klista) experience. Human condition “fuels” the Universe with Karmic energy, thus maintaining its existence and dynamics.
It is not as much as in the Judeo-Christian tradition, where the Universe exists for the sake of man, but neither as in the rough Materialistic outlooks, where the Universe could have existed devoid of humans, too. In Yogācara, the ultimate subject is the Cosmos and not the individual being; nevertheless, human beings are not mere accidental (āgantuka) apparitions within the Universe, but rather some of its major mechanisms, the ones which propel the Cosmos. Thus, the dependence is mutual: men appear in the Universe but, equally, they maintain into existence the Universe.
The paper deals with the two major functioning mechanisms of the cosmic consciousness (ālayavijñāna), the outflow (nisyanda) and the karmic maturation (vipāka), proving that the outflow can’t provide more than a limited continuity of a particular manifestation. The perpetuity of the cosmic consciousness is possible only through the karmic maturation mechanisms which always involve human affliction and human subjects.
It is not as much as in the Judeo-Christian tradition, where the Universe exists for the sake of man, but neither as in the rough Materialistic outlooks, where the Universe could have existed devoid of humans, too. In Yogācara, the ultimate subject is the Cosmos and not the individual being; nevertheless, human beings are not mere accidental (āgantuka) apparitions within the Universe, but rather some of its major mechanisms, the ones which propel the Cosmos. Thus, the dependence is mutual: men appear in the Universe but, equally, they maintain into existence the Universe.
The paper deals with the two major functioning mechanisms of the cosmic consciousness (ālayavijñāna), the outflow (nisyanda) and the karmic maturation (vipāka), proving that the outflow can’t provide more than a limited continuity of a particular manifestation. The perpetuity of the cosmic consciousness is possible only through the karmic maturation mechanisms which always involve human affliction and human subjects.
Research Interests: Buddhism, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, Indian Buddhism, and 15 moreYogacara Buddhism, Yogacara, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahāyāna, Mahayana, Karma, Classical Indian Philosophy, Mahayana Buddhism, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Alayavijnana, Alaya Vijnana, Mahāyāna Buddhist Tradition, Vijnanavada, and Early Mahāyāna Buddhism
According to Yogācāra Buddhism, all human experiences are "ideation only" (vijñaptimātra); conceptual knowledge also shares this highly subjective character, not being grounded in an objective reality but only in the individual condition... more
According to Yogācāra Buddhism, all human experiences are "ideation only" (vijñaptimātra); conceptual knowledge also shares this highly subjective character, not being grounded in an objective reality but only in the individual condition of the knowing subject. More exactly, Yogācāra considers that all conceptual knowledge arises out of the "imprints of linguistic constructions" (abhilāpavāsanā), which are nothing but subjective inclinations of the person. In spite of taking such an extremely subjective position, Yogācāra can also claim the existence and validity of a kind of "truth". This truth is not grounded in any subjective reality that the statements would depict but consists of the simple tuning of the subjective representations of human subjects. Truth is nothing but a commonly shared experience, not referring to anything objectively existing, but being caused by a similarity of the internal conditions of the subjects. Therefore, truth is a kind of "common" dream, illusion, stirred by the so-called "common" a) Karma, shared by more individuals.This kind of truth is a mere phenomenological or even psychological issue, being devoid of any cognitive value. It is all about experiences and their synchronicity and never about anything existing objectively.
Research Interests: Buddhism, Indian Philosophy, Idealism, Buddhism especially mahayana Buddhist tradition, Yogacara Buddhism, and 12 moreYogacara, Solipsism, Theory of Knowledge, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahāyāna, Mahayana, Karma, Classical Indian Philosophy, Mahayana Buddhism, Yogācāra, Ancient Indian Religion, and Mahāyāna Buddhist Tradition
The article deals with the relationship between the two levels of phenomenal existence accepted by Yogācāra Buddhism: the conceptual and linguistic sphere, specific to human experience, and the all-encompassing conditional flow. Unlike... more
The article deals with the relationship between the two levels of phenomenal existence accepted by Yogācāra Buddhism: the conceptual and linguistic sphere, specific to human experience, and the all-encompassing conditional 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 the ultimate reality (pariniā). Devoid of any objective reality is only the level of conceptual constructs, which refer to nothing at all, neither to the absolute reality nor to the conditional flow. They simply make up a world of their own, stirred by the Karmic energy; within this purely subjective constructed world, the entire human drama takes place. All the painful features of human life have nothing to do with anything existing outside of the individual subject but are simply fanciful creations of human mind. The objectively existing conditional flow is not only devoid of any existentialistic characteristic but lacks any determination whatsoever, being simply an amorphous stream of momentary apparitions, where nothing ever acquires any determined identity, as a particular „entity” (bhāva).
The voidness (śūā) of Yogācāra Buddhism is „softer” than in other schools of Mahāyāna, being rather a „relational” void. It is not equated with nothingness but only with the absence of the claimed constructed characteristics from the real conditional flow.
Keywords: Buddhism, Mahāyāna, Yogācāra, conceptual construction (parikalpa), conditional flow (paratantra), relational voidness.
The voidness (śūā) of Yogācāra Buddhism is „softer” than in other schools of Mahāyāna, being rather a „relational” void. It is not equated with nothingness but only with the absence of the claimed constructed characteristics from the real conditional flow.
Keywords: Buddhism, Mahāyāna, Yogācāra, conceptual construction (parikalpa), conditional flow (paratantra), relational voidness.
Research Interests: Buddhism, Indian Philosophy, Category Theory, Categorization, Nominalism, and 15 moreYogacara Buddhism, Yogacara, Philosophy of Language and Mind, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahāyāna, Mahayana, Emptiness, Classical Indian Philosophy, Mahayana Buddhism, Dependent Origination, Madhyamaka and Yogacara Buddhism, Yogācāra, Pratītyasamutpāda, Śūnyatā, and Early Mahāyāna Buddhism
The article deals with the relationship between the two levels of phenomenal existence accepted by Yogācāra Buddhism: the conceptual and linguistic sphere, specific to human experience, and the all-encompassing conditional flow. Unlike... more
The article deals with the relationship between the two levels of phenomenal existence accepted by Yogācāra Buddhism: the conceptual and linguistic sphere, specific to human experience, and the all-encompassing conditional 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 the ultimate reality (parinispannasvabhava). Devoid of any objective reality is only the level of conceptual constructs, which refer to nothing at all, neither to the absolute reality nor to the conditional flow. They simply make up a world of their own, stirred by the Karmic energy; within this purely subjective constructed world, the entire human drama takes place. All the painful features of human life have nothing to do with anything existing outside of the individual subject but are simply fanciful creations of human mind. The objectively existing conditional flow is not only devoid of any existentialistic characteristic but lacks any determination whatsoever, being simply an amorphous stream of momentary apparitions, where nothing ever acquires any determined identity, as a particular " entity " (bhava). The voidness (sunyata) of Yogācāra Buddhism is " softer " than in other schools of Mahāyāna, being rather a " relational " void. It is not equated with nothingness but only with the absence of the claimed constructed characteristics from the real conditional flow.
Research Interests: Philosophy Of Language, Indian Philosophy, Yogacara Buddhism, Yogacara, Indian Philosophy and Religion, and 15 moreMahāyāna, Mahayana, Emptiness, Classical Indian Philosophy, Mahayana Buddhism, Dependent Origination, Madhyamaka and Yogacara Buddhism, Yogācāra, Pratītyasamutpāda, Śūnyatā, Sunyata, Early Mahāyāna Buddhism, Buddhist emptiness theory, pratitya samutpada, and emptiness (sūnyatā)
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... more
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. The mind is the one that, in a non-deliberate, non-conceptual manner, appropriates the person, the individual self; nevertheless, at its level, the experience of the ego is still conceptually undetermined, irrational, unconscious, instinctual, subliminal. The attachment to ego, as it is experimented at the level of the mind, 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” (viparysamula), the “fundamental ignorance”, its veiling activity which engenders that background ignorance affecting the human being during all his experiences. The absence of the absolute knowledge in case of the human beings is explained precisely by the fact that their experience is constituted on the basis of the experience of the mind.
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. Once his own nature has been identified within the fleeting experience, this experience stops being only experience and illusorily becomes his own nature. 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. The anxiety and the suffering that characterize human existence are due to this erroneous identification of the human nature with the illusory identity appropriated by the mind.
Keywords: Buddhism, Vijnanavada, mind, manas, individual self, atman, affliction, klesa
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. The mind is the one that, in a non-deliberate, non-conceptual manner, appropriates the person, the individual self; nevertheless, at its level, the experience of the ego is still conceptually undetermined, irrational, unconscious, instinctual, subliminal. The attachment to ego, as it is experimented at the level of the mind, 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” (viparysamula), the “fundamental ignorance”, its veiling activity which engenders that background ignorance affecting the human being during all his experiences. The absence of the absolute knowledge in case of the human beings is explained precisely by the fact that their experience is constituted on the basis of the experience of the mind.
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. Once his own nature has been identified within the fleeting experience, this experience stops being only experience and illusorily becomes his own nature. 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. The anxiety and the suffering that characterize human existence are due to this erroneous identification of the human nature with the illusory identity appropriated by the mind.
Keywords: Buddhism, Vijnanavada, mind, manas, individual self, atman, affliction, klesa
Research Interests: Buddhism, Self and Identity, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Personality, and 22 moreBuddhist Studies, Idealism, Personhood, Personal Identity, Indian Buddhism, Buddhism especially mahayana Buddhist tradition, Yogacara Buddhism, Yogacara, study of Madyamaka and Yogacara Traditions, Indian religions, Mahāyāna, Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Madhyamaka and Yogacara Buddhism, Yogācāra, Mahāyāna Buddhist Tradition, Buddhist Idealism, Sthiramati, Vijnanavada, and Filosofie Indiana
After being engendered through the appropriating activity (upadana) of the mind (manas), applied to the universal experience of the storehouse consciousness (alayavijnana), the individual experience is constituted through the conjoint... more
After being engendered through the appropriating activity (upadana) of the mind (manas), applied to the universal experience of the storehouse consciousness (alayavijnana), the individual experience is constituted through the conjoint activity of the six “operational consciousnesses” (pravrtti vijnana): the five sensory consciousnesses and the mental consciousness (manovijnana). The brute sensory experience is projected by the five sensory consciousnesses, approximating the senses, but being rather some faculties (indriya), capacities, the potentiality of consciousness to engender some specific types of experience. In Vijnanavada, the sensory experience is totally devoid of concept (vikalpa), presenting itself as an amorphous flow of sensory inputs. Conceptualization is performed by the mental consciousness which, in an illusory manner, projects the categorically discriminated entities onto the sensory flow. Vijnanavada authors claim that the conceptually determined entities created by the mental consciousness (manovijnana) are purely fictitious, hence the mental consciousness projecting a totally illusory ontological sphere, which broadly comprises all the states of human awareness. Most of the human conscious experiences take place at the level of this conceptual sphere, this meaning that human awareness and the entire human drama involve mainly illusory entities.
Therefore, conceptual experience is severely flawed, firstly, because it is produced at the level of the limited individual self (atman), and, secondly, due to its fictitious character (vitatha).
Keywords: Buddhism, Vijñanavada, mental consciousness, manovijnana, operational consciousness, pravrtti vijnana, perception, concept, category.
Therefore, conceptual experience is severely flawed, firstly, because it is produced at the level of the limited individual self (atman), and, secondly, due to its fictitious character (vitatha).
Keywords: Buddhism, Vijñanavada, mental consciousness, manovijnana, operational consciousness, pravrtti vijnana, perception, concept, category.
Research Interests: Buddhism, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, Idealism, and 20 morePersonal Identity, Indian Buddhism, Buddhism especially mahayana Buddhist tradition, Yogacara Buddhism, Yogacara, Identity, Gender and Personhood, study of Madyamaka and Yogacara Traditions, Indian religions, Mahāyāna, Mahayana, Awareness, Mahayana Buddhism, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Madhyamaka and Yogacara Buddhism, Mahāyāna Buddhist Tradition, Tsongkhapa, Sthiramati, Vijnanavada, and Filosofie Indiana
At least in its mystical traditions, Indian philosophy tends to " look down " at human condition, considering it either illusory (māyā) either " accidental " (āgantuka) and seeing its suppression as the soteriological goal. The present... more
At least in its mystical traditions, Indian philosophy tends to " look down " at human condition, considering it either illusory (māyā) either " accidental " (āgantuka) and seeing its suppression as the soteriological goal. The present paper tries to " redeem " human experience showing how, in Yogācāra Buddhism, it represents the condition for the perpetuity of the cosmic manifestation. Human drama, through the karmic impressions it lives within the cosmic consciousness (ālayavijñāna), represents the condition for the perpetuity of the Universe. The existence of the cosmic manifestation is thus somehow subordinated to human affliction. Yogācāra Buddhism distinguishes two major types of " obstructions " (āvaraa) specific to human condition: the obstructions of the afflictions kleśāvaraa) and the obstructions of the knowable (jñeyāvaraa). Both of them are necessarily involved in the production of new karmic impressions, hence the faults of human beings representing conditions for the continuity of the universal manifestation. The second part of the paper discusses the two major processes undergone by the cosmic consciousness, the outflow (niyanda) and
Research Interests: Buddhism, Buddhist Philosophy, Chinese Buddhism, Buddhist Studies, Idealism, and 26 moreIndian Buddhism, Yogacara Buddhism, Yogacara, Study of Madyaka and Yogacara Traditions, Indian religions, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahāyāna, Mahayana, Karma, Karmic, Mahayana Buddhism, Budhist Philosophy, Vasubandhu, Madhyamaka and Yogacara Buddhism, Yogācāra, Alaya Vijnana, History of Buddhists, Budhism, Mahāyāna Buddhist Tradition, Buddhist Idealism, Sthiramati, Vijnanavada, Buddhist History of Ideas, Chinese Yogācāra, East Asian Yogacara Buddhism, and Old and New Yogacara
Vijñānavāda Buddhism claims all kind of experience, including knowledge, is “mere ideation” (vijñaptimātra), being devoid of any objective counter-part, of any objective value. The experience of knowledge is determined solely by the... more
Vijñānavāda Buddhism claims all kind of experience, including knowledge, is “mere ideation” (vijñaptimātra), being devoid of any objective counter-part, of any objective value. The experience of knowledge is determined solely by the individual predispositions of the knowing subject (his “imprints of the linguistic constructions – abhilāpavāsanā) and not by an alleged “external reality”.
Nevertheless, the school is able to claim the existence of a “truth”, even in the absence of an objective reality that could account for this “truth”. The truth of Vijñānavāda philosophy does not mean, in an Aristotelian or realistic manner, the concordance between subjective representation and objective reality but a mere consonance of the various subjective knowledge experiences. What determines such a truth are the so-called “shared” (sādhāraa) seeds (bīja) of experience, which inflict a certain degree of similarity to the experiences of various individual subjects. Hence, the truth has no cognitive value, being rather a state of Karmic tuning, i.e. the consonance of the experiences engendered by the “shared” part of the Karmic imprints of each individual being.
Nevertheless, the school is able to claim the existence of a “truth”, even in the absence of an objective reality that could account for this “truth”. The truth of Vijñānavāda philosophy does not mean, in an Aristotelian or realistic manner, the concordance between subjective representation and objective reality but a mere consonance of the various subjective knowledge experiences. What determines such a truth are the so-called “shared” (sādhāraa) seeds (bīja) of experience, which inflict a certain degree of similarity to the experiences of various individual subjects. Hence, the truth has no cognitive value, being rather a state of Karmic tuning, i.e. the consonance of the experiences engendered by the “shared” part of the Karmic imprints of each individual being.
Research Interests: Buddhism, Epistemology, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, and 20 morePragmatism (Philosophy), Epistemology, Pragmatism and Practice, Buddhism especially mahayana Buddhist tradition, Yogacara, Early Mahayana Doctrines, Indian religions, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahāyāna, Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism, Mahayana sutras, Early Mahayana sutras, Vasubandhu, Alayavijnana, Alaya Vijnana, Ancient Indian Religion, Mahāyāna Buddhist Tradition, Vijnanavada, Early Mahāyāna Buddhism, and Mahayana Literature
"The article depicts the extreme metaphysical response of early Mahayana Buddhism (the Prajnaparamita corpus), directed towards the very alembicated psychological religion of Hinayana. Claiming to be a path towards the purification... more
"The article depicts the extreme metaphysical response of early Mahayana Buddhism (the Prajnaparamita corpus), directed towards the very alembicated psychological religion of Hinayana. Claiming to be a path towards the purification of the mind, through its very complicated analysis of the psychological mechanisms, Hinayana was jeopardizing the ideal it preached. Discarding this kind of religious approach, for regaining the purity of consciousness, early Mahayana proposed a direct path, that doesn’t require the complicated psychological stages of Abhidharma, but consists simply in the direct comprehension of the ultimate condition of everything. The gradual psychological path of Hinayana is substituted by a metaphysical loop that heads directly to the ultimate reality. In a sheer manner, Prajnaparamita proclaims the voidness (sunyata) of the entire experience and the merging of all manifestations into their „substratum” (dharmadhatu).
Keywords: Hinayana, Mahayana, Prajñaparamita, psychological analysis, metaphysics, voidness, ultimate reality "
Keywords: Hinayana, Mahayana, Prajñaparamita, psychological analysis, metaphysics, voidness, ultimate reality "
Research Interests: Buddhism, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, Absolutism, and 11 moreMonism, Early Mahayana Doctrines, Filosofie, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism, Prajnaparamita, Ancient Indian Religion, Buddhist Metaphysics and Ethics, Hinayana, and Criticism of Hinayana
"The Discrimination between Middle and Extremes is one of the major Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, usually ascribed to the Vijñānavāda tradition, but having the particularity that the passing from the Prajñāpāramitā tradition to the classical... more
"The Discrimination between Middle and Extremes is one of the
major Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, usually ascribed to the Vijñānavāda tradition, but having the particularity that the passing from the Prajñāpāramitā tradition to the classical Vijñānavāda can be easily traced within the text.
The first of the five chapters of the book deals with metaphysical matters. It exposes the theory of the three levels of reality (the ultimate reality – parinispanna svabhāva, the conditional emanation – paratantra svabhāva and the illusory conceptual level – parikalpita svabhāva), featuring each of these levels as
a particular condition of consciousness. In its second part, the text aproaches one of the classical issues in Indian metaphysics, namely the way it is possible to defend the absolutely pure and blissful character of the ultimate reality in face of
the threat represented by its association with the worldly defilements. The solution found by the Vijñānavāda authors ascribes only an accidental character
(āgantuka) to the defilements, while the purity is said to be essential (svābhāvika). Several verses delineate the features of the ultimate reality, thus linking the text to the Prajñāpāramitā tradition.
Keywords: emptiness, fulfilled own-being, construction of that which was not, interdependent own-being, affliction, constructed own-being"
major Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, usually ascribed to the Vijñānavāda tradition, but having the particularity that the passing from the Prajñāpāramitā tradition to the classical Vijñānavāda can be easily traced within the text.
The first of the five chapters of the book deals with metaphysical matters. It exposes the theory of the three levels of reality (the ultimate reality – parinispanna svabhāva, the conditional emanation – paratantra svabhāva and the illusory conceptual level – parikalpita svabhāva), featuring each of these levels as
a particular condition of consciousness. In its second part, the text aproaches one of the classical issues in Indian metaphysics, namely the way it is possible to defend the absolutely pure and blissful character of the ultimate reality in face of
the threat represented by its association with the worldly defilements. The solution found by the Vijñānavāda authors ascribes only an accidental character
(āgantuka) to the defilements, while the purity is said to be essential (svābhāvika). Several verses delineate the features of the ultimate reality, thus linking the text to the Prajñāpāramitā tradition.
Keywords: emptiness, fulfilled own-being, construction of that which was not, interdependent own-being, affliction, constructed own-being"
Research Interests:
The Discrimination between Middle and Extremes is one of the major Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, usually ascribed to the Vijñānavāda tradition. The second chapter deals with soteriological matters, being an analytical exposition of the path.... more
The Discrimination between Middle and Extremes is one of the major Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, usually ascribed to the Vijñānavāda tradition.
The second chapter deals with soteriological matters, being an analytical exposition of the path. The chapter shows the blending of Mahāyāna’s ontology
with the Abhidharmic phenomenological analysis, which is one of the definitory features of Vijñānavāda. It has a high level of technicality, being tributary to the very alambicated phenomenological classifications of the Abhidharmic masters.
Equally technical is the third chapter, dealing with different perspectives of considering the reality. It approaches a metaphysical issue, the reality (a properly Mahāyānist issue), by making use of some specifically Hīnayānist systems of
categories.
Keywords: obstructions, obstructions of the afflictions, obstructions of the knowable, afflictions, reality, self, object.
The second chapter deals with soteriological matters, being an analytical exposition of the path. The chapter shows the blending of Mahāyāna’s ontology
with the Abhidharmic phenomenological analysis, which is one of the definitory features of Vijñānavāda. It has a high level of technicality, being tributary to the very alambicated phenomenological classifications of the Abhidharmic masters.
Equally technical is the third chapter, dealing with different perspectives of considering the reality. It approaches a metaphysical issue, the reality (a properly Mahāyānist issue), by making use of some specifically Hīnayānist systems of
categories.
Keywords: obstructions, obstructions of the afflictions, obstructions of the knowable, afflictions, reality, self, object.
Research Interests:
The article consists of the last two chapters of The Discrimination between Middle and Extremes (Madhyāntavibhāga), of Asanga, one of the main texts of the Vijñānavāda school of Buddhism. The fourth chapter discusses on the application... more
The article consists of the last two chapters of The
Discrimination between Middle and Extremes (Madhyāntavibhāga), of Asanga, one of the main texts of the Vijñānavāda school of Buddhism. The fourth chapter discusses on the application of the antidotes (pratipakṣa), namely on the ways the various types of defilements entrapping a human being in the world are removed. Just like chapter II, this part is highly technical, making plenty of use of the alembicated phenomenological typologies of Abhidharma. It describes the
psychological cleansing of the individual, hence being a phenomenological analysis done in a specific Abhidharma terminology. The fifth chapter deals with a topic frequently encountered in the texts of Mahāyāna: the superiority of the
path exhorted by them, against the psychological path of Hīnayāna. The path of Mahāyāna is an absolute, an „unsurpassable” (ānuttarya) path, since it consists in
the highest realization, the dissolution of the individual in the ultimate reality.
Hence it goes much further than the path preached by Hīnayāna, consisting in a gradual psychological purification of the individual, until he reaches a rather negative condition, a condition devoid of any kind of experience and suffering.
Keywords: antidotes (pratipakṣa) adverse factors (vipakṣa), Abhidharma,
Mahāyāna, Hīnayāna, ultimate reality, transcendent insight (prajñā).
Discrimination between Middle and Extremes (Madhyāntavibhāga), of Asanga, one of the main texts of the Vijñānavāda school of Buddhism. The fourth chapter discusses on the application of the antidotes (pratipakṣa), namely on the ways the various types of defilements entrapping a human being in the world are removed. Just like chapter II, this part is highly technical, making plenty of use of the alembicated phenomenological typologies of Abhidharma. It describes the
psychological cleansing of the individual, hence being a phenomenological analysis done in a specific Abhidharma terminology. The fifth chapter deals with a topic frequently encountered in the texts of Mahāyāna: the superiority of the
path exhorted by them, against the psychological path of Hīnayāna. The path of Mahāyāna is an absolute, an „unsurpassable” (ānuttarya) path, since it consists in
the highest realization, the dissolution of the individual in the ultimate reality.
Hence it goes much further than the path preached by Hīnayāna, consisting in a gradual psychological purification of the individual, until he reaches a rather negative condition, a condition devoid of any kind of experience and suffering.
Keywords: antidotes (pratipakṣa) adverse factors (vipakṣa), Abhidharma,
Mahāyāna, Hīnayāna, ultimate reality, transcendent insight (prajñā).
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Vijnaptimatratasiddhi is probably the most famous of Vasubandhu’s writings and it consists of two treatises: Vimsikakarika and Trimsikakarika. The first of them is rather an apologetical text, mainly interested in exposing and refuting... more
Vijnaptimatratasiddhi is probably the most famous of Vasubandhu’s writings and it consists of two treatises: Vimsikakarika and Trimsikakarika. The first of them is rather an apologetical text, mainly interested in exposing and refuting the objections brought to Idealism. Trimsikakarika (The treatise in 30 verses) represents the assertive presentation of the Idealist doctrine done by Vasubandhu. After having rejected the major objections brought to Idealism in Vimsikakarika, in this text he exposes his own doctrine.
The outline of Vijnanavada doctrine presented here represents the classical form of this philosophy, the text being a landmark for the history of Buddhist Idealism.
Very briefly, the text depicts the eight types of consciousness of which Vijnanavada avails for the idealist explanation of the entire existence: the storehouse consciousness (alayavijnana), the “mind” (manas), the mental consciousness (manovijnana) and the five sensorial consciousnesses. Then, Vasubandhu presents the metaphysical and soteriological implications of the statute of “ideation” (vijñapti), bringing to the fore the vacuity, the absence of own-being involved by such a condition. This statement bears important soteriological consequences, since it abolishes the objective reality of bondage. The final part of the text points to the fact that the idealist doctrine preached by Vijñanavada is nothing more than a deconstructive “skill-in-means” which, eventually, should be itself discarded in order to reach the condition of untainted purity of the Absolute. Only at the moment the Vijñanavada practitioner liberates himself even from his own religion he reaches the final goal of his spiritual path.
Vijnaptimatratasiddhi este poate cea mai celebră dintre scrierile lui Vasubandhu şi constă din două tratate: Vimsikakarika şi Trimsikakarika. Primul dintre cele două tratate este mai degrabă interesat în a expune şi a contracara obiecţiile ce i se aduc doctrinei idealiste. Trimsikakarika (Tratatul în 30 de versete) constituie expunerea asertivă a doctrinei idealiste, efectuată de Vasubandhu. După ce în tratatul precedent a respins principalele obiecţii ce se aduc idealismului, în această scriere Vasubandhu îşi expune propria sa doctrină.
Expunerea din acest text constituie forma clasică a filosofiei Vijnanavada, lucrarea constituind un punct de referinţă pentru istoria doctrinei idealiste a budhismului.
Foarte pe scurt, textul expune cele opt ipostaze ale conştiinţei care dau seama de interpretarea idealistă a întregii existenţe: conştiinţa-depozit (alayavijnana), mintea (manas), conştiinţa mentală (manovijnana) şi cele cinci conştiinţe senzoriale. Odată ce această expunere a fost încheiată Vasubandhu trece la prezentarea implicaţiilor metafizic-soteriologice ale condiţiei de „ideaţie” (vijñapti), evidenţiind vacuitatea, lipsa de substanţialitate, presupusă de acest statut, poziţie ce are importante consecinţe în plan soteriologic întrucât dizolvă realitatea obiectivă a înlănţuirii. Ultima parte a scrierii evidenţiază faptul că doctrina idealistă propovăduită de şcoala Vijnanavada nu reprezintă decât o strategie deconstructivă care, în ultimă instanţă, trebuie ea însăşi abandonată, pentru a se accede la starea de puritate desăvârşită a absolutului. Abia odată cu eliberarea chiar şi de religia sa, practicantul căii acestei şcoli budhiste ajunge la punctul final al demersului său.
The outline of Vijnanavada doctrine presented here represents the classical form of this philosophy, the text being a landmark for the history of Buddhist Idealism.
Very briefly, the text depicts the eight types of consciousness of which Vijnanavada avails for the idealist explanation of the entire existence: the storehouse consciousness (alayavijnana), the “mind” (manas), the mental consciousness (manovijnana) and the five sensorial consciousnesses. Then, Vasubandhu presents the metaphysical and soteriological implications of the statute of “ideation” (vijñapti), bringing to the fore the vacuity, the absence of own-being involved by such a condition. This statement bears important soteriological consequences, since it abolishes the objective reality of bondage. The final part of the text points to the fact that the idealist doctrine preached by Vijñanavada is nothing more than a deconstructive “skill-in-means” which, eventually, should be itself discarded in order to reach the condition of untainted purity of the Absolute. Only at the moment the Vijñanavada practitioner liberates himself even from his own religion he reaches the final goal of his spiritual path.
Vijnaptimatratasiddhi este poate cea mai celebră dintre scrierile lui Vasubandhu şi constă din două tratate: Vimsikakarika şi Trimsikakarika. Primul dintre cele două tratate este mai degrabă interesat în a expune şi a contracara obiecţiile ce i se aduc doctrinei idealiste. Trimsikakarika (Tratatul în 30 de versete) constituie expunerea asertivă a doctrinei idealiste, efectuată de Vasubandhu. După ce în tratatul precedent a respins principalele obiecţii ce se aduc idealismului, în această scriere Vasubandhu îşi expune propria sa doctrină.
Expunerea din acest text constituie forma clasică a filosofiei Vijnanavada, lucrarea constituind un punct de referinţă pentru istoria doctrinei idealiste a budhismului.
Foarte pe scurt, textul expune cele opt ipostaze ale conştiinţei care dau seama de interpretarea idealistă a întregii existenţe: conştiinţa-depozit (alayavijnana), mintea (manas), conştiinţa mentală (manovijnana) şi cele cinci conştiinţe senzoriale. Odată ce această expunere a fost încheiată Vasubandhu trece la prezentarea implicaţiilor metafizic-soteriologice ale condiţiei de „ideaţie” (vijñapti), evidenţiind vacuitatea, lipsa de substanţialitate, presupusă de acest statut, poziţie ce are importante consecinţe în plan soteriologic întrucât dizolvă realitatea obiectivă a înlănţuirii. Ultima parte a scrierii evidenţiază faptul că doctrina idealistă propovăduită de şcoala Vijnanavada nu reprezintă decât o strategie deconstructivă care, în ultimă instanţă, trebuie ea însăşi abandonată, pentru a se accede la starea de puritate desăvârşită a absolutului. Abia odată cu eliberarea chiar şi de religia sa, practicantul căii acestei şcoli budhiste ajunge la punctul final al demersului său.
Research Interests:
According to some authors, Trisvabhavanirdesa is the last work authored by Vasubandhu (IV-th century AD), one of the founders of Vijnanavada, the idealist school of Mahayana Buddhism. The text briefly depicts the tripartite ontology of... more
According to some authors, Trisvabhavanirdesa is the last work authored by Vasubandhu (IV-th century AD), one of the founders of Vijnanavada, the idealist school of Mahayana Buddhism. The text briefly depicts the tripartite ontology of the school. The doctrine of Vijnanavada is based on the theory of the three own-beings (trisvabhava), which ranks everything on three levels of reality: the absolute reality (parinispanna svabhava – the fulfilled own-being), the non-delimited conditional flow (paratantra svabhava – the interdependent own-being) and the level of categorically structured experience, specific to human beings (parikalpita svabhava – the constructed own-being). Among these, the first two own-beings are real, while the third is unreal, being the object of religious and philosophical criticism.
Keywords: Buddhism, Mahayana, Vijnanavada, Vasubandhu, metaphysics, idealism, own-being (svabhava).
Keywords: Buddhism, Mahayana, Vijnanavada, Vasubandhu, metaphysics, idealism, own-being (svabhava).
Research Interests:
For Advaita Vedānta, the classical philosophy of Brahmanism, both bondage, human drama and liberation, religious practice, are not conditions or processes undergone by some alleged "human beings" but rather conditions, phenomena incurred... more
For Advaita Vedānta, the classical philosophy of Brahmanism, both bondage, human drama and liberation, religious practice, are not conditions or processes undergone by some alleged "human beings" but rather conditions, phenomena incurred to reality itself, to the absolute. A human is not a "being" but an experience of self-allienation undergone by the ultimate reality. The various human conditions are exposed as "shields" that cover and bewilder the absolute reality. Consequently, liberation is nothing else but the dissolution of this obstructing illusion of individuality, its reabsorption into the non-differentiated reality. Mandukya-Upanisad, one of the most important Upanisads, offers the classical formulation of the doctrine regarding the four states of reality, three of them altered (deep sleep, dream and wakefulness), while the fourth one is the pure absolute condition. The author of the text adopted the linguistic realism of the Vedic tradition, which claimed that the structure of the Cosmic manifestation reproduces the linguistic patterns. This outlook allows an analogy between reality and its main states, on one hand, and the word "Aum" (the "name" of the absolute reality) and its composing letters, on the other hand. Kaivalya-Upaniad is a late text, with quite a heterogeneous content; nevertheless, it mainly deals with the ultimate condition (herein named as "kaivalya"-"unicity", "only-ness"), with the processes through which it alienates from itself in the various kinds of human experience and with the means through which it returns to its primordial liberated condition. Throughout the discussion, the text sometimes avails of several theistic symbols, frequently encountered in the Upanisads, and also of some elements of popular or Tantric religiousity, such as sacred formulae, devotional practices, pilgrimages.
Research Interests: Hinduism, Philosophy Of Language, Indian Philosophy, Sanskrit language and literature, Phenomenology, and 15 moreAdvaita Vedanta, Brahmanism, Vedanta, Cosmology, History of Indian Philosophy, Upanishads, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Theism, Classical Indian Philosophy, Mantra, Indian Philosophy of Grammar, Ancient Indian Religion, Upanishadic Concepts, Mandukya, and Ancient Indian culture and religion
The article deals with the way Advaita Vedānta approaches immortality, in opposition to the Judeo-Christian outlook. While Western civilization sees immortality in relation to the human personality and as somehow dedicated to the... more
The article deals with the way Advaita Vedānta approaches immortality, in opposition to the Judeo-Christian outlook. While Western civilization sees immortality in relation to the human personality and as somehow dedicated to the culmination of some higher personal values, Vedānta has a rather cosmic outlook, which only integrates human condition as a mere aspect of it. Eternity characterizes the Cosmic process, in its entirety. Human person and human values only collaterally occur within this process, as ʻstagesʼ of it. Therefore, in Vedānta, values and meanings pertain rather to the Cosmic process of Karmic consumption. The ʻspiritualʼ story is not so much about persons to be ʻsavedʼ and risen to ʻheavenly immortalityʼ but rather about an impersonal energetic process, of Karmic consumption. Spirituality is not mainly focused on issues specific to personal condition, such as taking the right decision, but rather on favouring the optimal deployment of a Cosmic process. It is rather a Cosmic spirituality that a personal one.
Within this context, the article particularly approaches issues such as the foetal condition (important for abortion related discussions), the after-life, the value and the meaning of human life.
Within this context, the article particularly approaches issues such as the foetal condition (important for abortion related discussions), the after-life, the value and the meaning of human life.
Research Interests: Anthropology, Indian Philosophy, Personal Identity, Afterlife studies, Advaita Vedanta, and 15 moreAbortion, Brahmanism, Vedanta, Upanishad, Advaita, Upanishads, Transmigration, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Advaita Vedānta, Foetus, Non-dualism Advaita, Classical Vedantic Schools, Advaita Philosophy, Upaniṣad, and Upaniṣadic philosophy
The existential and religious attitude of classical Brahmanism has always been utterly anti-naturalistic; those philosophers looked down at all human conditions and accomplishments. Consequently, they put forward renunciation, ascesis,... more
The existential and religious attitude of classical Brahmanism has always been utterly anti-naturalistic; those philosophers looked down at all human conditions and accomplishments. Consequently, they put forward renunciation, ascesis, the reabsorption within the ultimate reality which emanated the corrupted multiplicity, as the sole religious ideals. Brahmanical ethics sees renunciation as the highest human goal; this option prevails over any other possible life attitude.
The present article deals with two main classical writings on this topic: Maitreya-Upaniad and Jābāla-Upaniad, both of them being included, by the Brahmanical tradition, among the „Sanyāsa-Upaniads” (Upaniads of renunciation).
Maitreya-Upaniad is a rare and, probably, the shortest version of the classical Maitr-UpaniIt takes a sheer anti-naturalistic stance along with expressing the longing for transcendence. King B¬hadratha, in spite of his royal condition, feels disgusted by whatever means human life and natural conditions and, consequently, decides to give up on everything and to engage on an ascetic path culminating in the ontological regression towards the source of all manifestation. The phases of the regression are depicted in quite an usual way, which mixes Sākhya elements with some concepts whose presence in a Brahmanical writing seems rather weird.
Jābāla-Upaniad is quite a heterogenous text, containing some proto-Tantric elements (mentions of pilgrimage places, interiorization of pilgrimage and of religious tokens, salvific formulae) and, in its second half, stipulations regarding the act of renunciation and the condition of the one who renounces. The text lays stress on the relation between renounciation and moral, social or religious regulations. Renunciation cancels all worldly obligations, all moral imperatives, leaving the one who embraces it in a state of total freedom. The hermit becomes like a „madman”, defying all worldly reasons and all worldly obligations, and freely roaming in a Universe that ceases to bind him in any way.
The present article deals with two main classical writings on this topic: Maitreya-Upaniad and Jābāla-Upaniad, both of them being included, by the Brahmanical tradition, among the „Sanyāsa-Upaniads” (Upaniads of renunciation).
Maitreya-Upaniad is a rare and, probably, the shortest version of the classical Maitr-UpaniIt takes a sheer anti-naturalistic stance along with expressing the longing for transcendence. King B¬hadratha, in spite of his royal condition, feels disgusted by whatever means human life and natural conditions and, consequently, decides to give up on everything and to engage on an ascetic path culminating in the ontological regression towards the source of all manifestation. The phases of the regression are depicted in quite an usual way, which mixes Sākhya elements with some concepts whose presence in a Brahmanical writing seems rather weird.
Jābāla-Upaniad is quite a heterogenous text, containing some proto-Tantric elements (mentions of pilgrimage places, interiorization of pilgrimage and of religious tokens, salvific formulae) and, in its second half, stipulations regarding the act of renunciation and the condition of the one who renounces. The text lays stress on the relation between renounciation and moral, social or religious regulations. Renunciation cancels all worldly obligations, all moral imperatives, leaving the one who embraces it in a state of total freedom. The hermit becomes like a „madman”, defying all worldly reasons and all worldly obligations, and freely roaming in a Universe that ceases to bind him in any way.
Research Interests: Hinduism, Indian Philosophy, Pilgrimage, Sanskrit language and literature, Sanskrit Literature, and 15 moreAdvaita Vedanta, Brahmanism, Vedanta, Upanishad, Upanishads, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Classical Indian Philosophy, Vedas, Mantra, Ascetism, Ancient Indian Religion, Sāṃkhya, Samkhya and Vedanta, Upaniṣad, and Upaniṣadic philosophy
Vajrasucika-Upanisad is a more recent text, belonging to the line of the Sama-Veda. The text demolishes all the religious claims of any phenomenal condition, arguing that spiritual pre-eminence is reached only through the direct... more
Vajrasucika-Upanisad is a more recent text,
belonging to the line of the Sama-Veda.
The text demolishes all the religious claims of any
phenomenal condition, arguing that spiritual pre-eminence is
reached only through the direct realization of the ultimate reality
(Brahman) as own-identity (atman). The last paragraph of the
text offers a presentation of this ultimate reality and of the
condition reached by the one who gets dissolved into it.
Keywords: Indian religion, Brahmanism, Vajrasucika,
Upanisad, caste-system, Brahman, liberated one.
belonging to the line of the Sama-Veda.
The text demolishes all the religious claims of any
phenomenal condition, arguing that spiritual pre-eminence is
reached only through the direct realization of the ultimate reality
(Brahman) as own-identity (atman). The last paragraph of the
text offers a presentation of this ultimate reality and of the
condition reached by the one who gets dissolved into it.
Keywords: Indian religion, Brahmanism, Vajrasucika,
Upanisad, caste-system, Brahman, liberated one.
Research Interests: Religion, Hinduism, Sanskrit language and literature, Sanskrit, Indian Culture, and 23 moreAdvaita Vedanta, Brahmanism, Vedanta, Indian Mythology, Religious Studies, Upanishads, Hindu Studies, Indian religions, Caste, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Translation and the Study of Indian Religions, Caste Systems in India, Ancient India, Indian caste structure and its changing trends, Caste system, Relevance of caste in contemporary indian society, Indian civilization, Priesthood, Brahmana, Non-dualism Advaita, Caste system in India, Ancient Indian Religion, and Upaniṣad
The monist school of Advaita Vedānta, the "official" philosophy of Hinduism, when dealing with the relation between man and Universe, takes a stand totally opposite to the one of the realistic common sense. Man is not just a part of the... more
The monist school of Advaita Vedānta, the "official" philosophy of Hinduism, when dealing with the relation between man and Universe, takes a stand totally opposite to the one of the realistic common sense. Man is not just a part of the Universe, but rather the subject which projects the Universe. The Universe is nothing but illusory experience and it can’t be found anywhere else but in the consciousness of the subject which experiences it.
The manifestation of the Universe starts when consciousness gets, first of all, covered by ignorance and, consequently, loses its self-awareness. Instead of comprehending itself, the consciousness thus affected by ignorance starts projecting some successive layers of illusion which represent the personal identity wrongly assumed by consciousness and the experience of the Universe.
The article deals with the successive steps through which consciousness manifests the Universe. Starting with the causal body (kāraa arīra), where consciousness has been only dulled by ignorance (avidyā, ajñāna), the projection of the Universe takes more and more definite forms. It determines itself as an individual at the level of the subtle body (sūkma arīra), which is the psychic structure of the individual being. In its coarsest forms, it manifests as the gross body (sthūla arīra), the physical Universe, which is only a very dense, compact form of illusion. Materiality is nothing but a particularly opaque form of ignorance.
Thus, the Universe represents a cosmic expansion of the person, the consciousness which goes out of its own nature and, through the intermediary of the psychic structure, projects all forms of "materiality". Man and Universe can never be separated, both being only different layers of the manifestation of consciousness (cit).
Keywords: idealism, Hinduism, Vedānta, consciousness, illusion, microcosme.
The manifestation of the Universe starts when consciousness gets, first of all, covered by ignorance and, consequently, loses its self-awareness. Instead of comprehending itself, the consciousness thus affected by ignorance starts projecting some successive layers of illusion which represent the personal identity wrongly assumed by consciousness and the experience of the Universe.
The article deals with the successive steps through which consciousness manifests the Universe. Starting with the causal body (kāraa arīra), where consciousness has been only dulled by ignorance (avidyā, ajñāna), the projection of the Universe takes more and more definite forms. It determines itself as an individual at the level of the subtle body (sūkma arīra), which is the psychic structure of the individual being. In its coarsest forms, it manifests as the gross body (sthūla arīra), the physical Universe, which is only a very dense, compact form of illusion. Materiality is nothing but a particularly opaque form of ignorance.
Thus, the Universe represents a cosmic expansion of the person, the consciousness which goes out of its own nature and, through the intermediary of the psychic structure, projects all forms of "materiality". Man and Universe can never be separated, both being only different layers of the manifestation of consciousness (cit).
Keywords: idealism, Hinduism, Vedānta, consciousness, illusion, microcosme.
Research Interests: Religion, Hinduism, Indian Philosophy, History of Religion, Idealism, and 16 moreAdvaita Vedanta, Vedanta and Nondualism, Vedanta, Solipsism, Religious Studies, Sankara, Hindutva, Hindu Studies, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Anthopology, Adi Sankaracarya, Microcosms, Philosophies and Religions of India, Microcosmos, Samkhya and Vedanta, and Filosofie Indiana
Abstract-Mundaka-Upanisad is one of the oldest Upanisads and also one of the classical Brahmanic texts dealing with the ultimate reality (Brahman) and its relation to the Universe. Its ontological approach considers the reality as unique,... more
Abstract-Mundaka-Upanisad is one of the oldest Upanisads and also one of the classical Brahmanic texts dealing with the ultimate reality (Brahman) and its relation to the Universe. Its ontological approach considers the reality as unique, as substantial, the dynamic and multiple Universe being a mere emanation of the real. The cosmogonic scheme takes over some Vedic emanationist theories, accounting for the manifestation of the Universe through a mysterious " heating " (tapas) process undergone by reality. Traditionally, Mundaka-Upanisad is included in " Jnāna-Khanda " division of the Upanisads, namely it is considered a text which extols the liberation by knowledge (jñāna). Several scattered verses deal with the Karmic process stirred by desire (kāma) and deed (karman) and the second section of the first chapter engages in a fierce refutation of all human realizations. Human states and accomplishments are blamed for being transitory and for not providing a final realization of human beings. Further, the text extols the renunciation to all worldly affairs and the pursuit of the absolute knowledge as the sole desirable goal of humans. Knowledge of the unique reality is presented as being rather an ontological act, a total dissolution of the individual being into the uniform and universal absolute. It is rather an act of " becoming " than one of " knowing ". The high esteem of knowledge is to be found also as a kind of " cult " of the Veda, inherited from the pan-Indian religious tradition. The text starts with exposing the way Vedic texts are revealed by the divine to humankind and with the lineage of their transmission. Scattered throughout the text, there can be found elements of Pantheism, Idealistic ontology, meditation techniques.
Research Interests: Hinduism, Ritual, History of International Relations, Ritual Theory, Soteriology, and 30 moreAdvaita Vedanta, Vedanta and Nondualism, Monism, Brahmanism, Vedanta, Knowledge, Upanishad, Vedic Ritual, Hindu Mythology, Upanishads, Hindu Studies, Indian religions, VEDA, Vedic Studies, Vedic religion, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Translation and the Study of Indian Religions, Karma, Advaita Vedānta, Yajna, Advaita Philosophy, Ancient Indian Religion, Upanishadic Concepts, Early Indian Religions, Upaniṣad, Upaniṣadic philosophy, Upaniṣads, karman, jnana, and Emanationism
Taittiriya-Upanisad is one of the oldest Upanisads, belonging to the branch of the Black Yajur-Veda. The text interlaces the ancient cosmological and dynamic approach to reality, of Vedic influence, with more recent ontological and... more
Taittiriya-Upanisad is one of the oldest Upanisads, belonging to the branch of the Black Yajur-Veda.
The text interlaces the ancient cosmological and dynamic approach to reality, of Vedic influence, with more recent ontological and substantial approaches. Whether cosmological or ontological, all these approaches reveal the unity of reality (either functional either substantial).
The text takes over an ancient Vedic approach to reality, which considers food (anna) as the very essence of everything and reinterprets it in the new monist metaphysical context, presenting food as the substantiality of everything, as the universal ontological foundation.
Some paragraphs, such as I.iii.1-3, III.x.2-III.x.3, II.viii.1, offer an interesting approach to the ultimate reality; Brahman is presented under a dynamical, functional aspect, as the complementarity of the world processes or as the specific process of the elements of the Universe. Such an approach is rare in the Upanisads, which usually prefer a static, substantial ontology and not one of the process type.
A major contribution of the text is the depiction, in the paragraphs II.i-II.v and III.i-III.vi, of the ultimate reality (Brahman) as bliss (ananda). This could be considered as the “gospel” of Hinduism, bliss being stated as the fundamental condition of reality, the ultimate finality of everything.
The text also exposes a theory which would become classical in later Advaita Vedanta, namely the one regarding the five „sheaths” (kosa) of the reality. The difference between the way Taittiriya-Upanisad depicts reality and the way classical Advaita Vedanta does it lies in the fact that, for Taittiriya, bliss (ananda) is not the most subtle cover of the absolute, but is identical with the ultimate reality itself. Hence, the text is ontologically quite tolerant, avoiding a sheer delimitation between “real” (sat) and “illusory” (māyā), as later Advaita Vedānta would do, but seeing everything as real, in various degrees. Reality is therefore all-encompassing, only that in more or less diluted ways.
Keywords: Indian religion, Brahmanism, monism, unity, process, Taittiriya, Upanisad, bliss, ananda, sheath, kosa, food, anna.
The text interlaces the ancient cosmological and dynamic approach to reality, of Vedic influence, with more recent ontological and substantial approaches. Whether cosmological or ontological, all these approaches reveal the unity of reality (either functional either substantial).
The text takes over an ancient Vedic approach to reality, which considers food (anna) as the very essence of everything and reinterprets it in the new monist metaphysical context, presenting food as the substantiality of everything, as the universal ontological foundation.
Some paragraphs, such as I.iii.1-3, III.x.2-III.x.3, II.viii.1, offer an interesting approach to the ultimate reality; Brahman is presented under a dynamical, functional aspect, as the complementarity of the world processes or as the specific process of the elements of the Universe. Such an approach is rare in the Upanisads, which usually prefer a static, substantial ontology and not one of the process type.
A major contribution of the text is the depiction, in the paragraphs II.i-II.v and III.i-III.vi, of the ultimate reality (Brahman) as bliss (ananda). This could be considered as the “gospel” of Hinduism, bliss being stated as the fundamental condition of reality, the ultimate finality of everything.
The text also exposes a theory which would become classical in later Advaita Vedanta, namely the one regarding the five „sheaths” (kosa) of the reality. The difference between the way Taittiriya-Upanisad depicts reality and the way classical Advaita Vedanta does it lies in the fact that, for Taittiriya, bliss (ananda) is not the most subtle cover of the absolute, but is identical with the ultimate reality itself. Hence, the text is ontologically quite tolerant, avoiding a sheer delimitation between “real” (sat) and “illusory” (māyā), as later Advaita Vedānta would do, but seeing everything as real, in various degrees. Reality is therefore all-encompassing, only that in more or less diluted ways.
Keywords: Indian religion, Brahmanism, monism, unity, process, Taittiriya, Upanisad, bliss, ananda, sheath, kosa, food, anna.
Research Interests: Hinduism, Indian Philosophy, Indian studies, Advaita Vedanta, Vedanta and Nondualism, and 20 moreMonism, Brahmanism, Vedanta, Annales school, Upanishad, Upanishads, Hindu Studies, Indian religions, Vedic Studies, Vedic religion, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Translation and the Study of Indian Religions, Vedas, Taittiriya Samhita, Pranava Veda, Ancient Indian Religion, Upanishadic Concepts, Upaniṣad, Upaniṣadic philosophy, and Taittiriya Brahmana
Kausitaki Brahmana Upanisad is one of the oldest Upanisads, written in prose, but including many quotations from the Vedic literature, which are generally in verses. The text is divided into four chapters. The first one deals with... more
Kausitaki Brahmana Upanisad is one of the oldest Upanisads, written in prose, but including many quotations from the Vedic literature, which are generally in verses. The text is divided into four chapters.
The first one deals with Brahmanic eschatology. It discusses the post-mortem fate of the soul, which can be either Pitryana (“the path of the fathers”), through which the soul continues its transmigration through the Universe, either Devayana (“the path of the gods”). Devayana is followed by those who reached the comprehension of Brahman and hence are liberated from the Universe, at their death returning to their ontological source, Brahman, the absolute reality.
The remaining three chapters expose a vitalist view of the Universe. The essence of the entire Universe is none else but the essence of life, namely breath (prana). The principle of life is the principle of everything; ultimately, everything reduces to life, to breath. Hence, life becomes the absolute reality, the all-encompassing principle.
Keywords: Kausitaki Brahmana Upanisad, Veda, Brahmanism, Indian religion, Sanskrit, vitalism, breath (prana).
The first one deals with Brahmanic eschatology. It discusses the post-mortem fate of the soul, which can be either Pitryana (“the path of the fathers”), through which the soul continues its transmigration through the Universe, either Devayana (“the path of the gods”). Devayana is followed by those who reached the comprehension of Brahman and hence are liberated from the Universe, at their death returning to their ontological source, Brahman, the absolute reality.
The remaining three chapters expose a vitalist view of the Universe. The essence of the entire Universe is none else but the essence of life, namely breath (prana). The principle of life is the principle of everything; ultimately, everything reduces to life, to breath. Hence, life becomes the absolute reality, the all-encompassing principle.
Keywords: Kausitaki Brahmana Upanisad, Veda, Brahmanism, Indian religion, Sanskrit, vitalism, breath (prana).
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Vajrasucika-Upanisad is a more recent text, belonging to the line of the Sama-Veda. The text demolishes all the religious claims of any phenomenal condition, arguing that spiritual pre-eminence is reached only through the direct... more
Vajrasucika-Upanisad is a more recent text, belonging to the line of the Sama-Veda. The text demolishes all the religious claims of any phenomenal condition, arguing that spiritual pre-eminence is reached only through the direct realization of the ultimate reality (Brahman) as own-identity (Atman). The last paragraph of the text offers a presentation of this ultimate reality and of the condition reached by the one who gets dissolved into it.
Keywords: Indian religion, Brahmanism, Vajrasucika, Upanisad, caste-system, Brahman, liberated one.
Keywords: Indian religion, Brahmanism, Vajrasucika, Upanisad, caste-system, Brahman, liberated one.
Research Interests: Hinduism, Indian Philosophy, Indian studies, Caste and Untouchability, Indian Law, and 26 moreAdvaita Vedanta, Brahmanism, Vedanta, Hindu Philosophy, Upanishad, Advaita, Caste and Gender Issues in Indian Culture and Literature, Hindu Mythology, Upanishads, Classical Indology, Hindu Studies, Indology, Caste, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Hindu law, Advaita Vedānta, Non-dualism Advaita, Indology, sanskrit Studies, Indian History, Advaita Philosophy, Indology: Indian Philosophy, Religious Studies /Indology, Varnasrama-Dharma, Upanishadic Concepts, Upaniṣad, Upaniṣadic philosophy, and Upaniṣads
Research Interests: Hinduism, Metaphysics, Indian Philosophy, Yoga, Yoga Philosophy, and 18 moreSanskrit language and literature, Sanskrit, Pantheism, Brahmanism, Upanishad, Upanishads, Shiva, Vedic Studies, Vedic religion, Theism, Siva, Bhakti Traditions, Atman, Rudra, Upaniṣad, Shvetashvatara, Indian Theism, and Svetasvatara
Research Interests: Hinduism, Metaphysics, Ontology, Indian Philosophy, Yoga, and 18 moreAdvaita Vedanta, Monism, Brahmanism, Vedanta, Upanishad, Upanishads, Shiva, Theism, Siva, the sacred text of Hinduism; Upanişad (Isa and Kana Up), Bhagavad Gita, Puranas (Bhagavad and Vishnu), Purusha, Purushasukta, Rudra, Upaniṣad, Shvetashvatara, Filosofie Indiana, Svetasvatara, and Upaniṣadic philosophy
Research Interests:
Under the influence of the rationalist and humanist tendencies of the Enlightenment, Schleiermacher attempted the construction of a new kind of spirituality, based not on a revelation received from above but on the natural human... more
Under the influence of the rationalist and humanist tendencies of the Enlightenment, Schleiermacher attempted the construction of a new kind of spirituality, based not on a revelation received from above but on the natural human experience. Religious affections are considered a natural human experience present, to various degrees, even in the most ordinary states, such as the sensorial interaction with the Universe. Piety is different from knowledge and action and consists in the direct feeling of the intimate connection of the individual being to the Whole, to the Universe. Religious intuition points to the utter dependence of every finite being on the Infinite. Not only human experiences and culture, but the entire Cosmos naturally evolves towards the unity revealed in religion. Religion becomes a human affair, a chapter of anthropology. It is not different from any other humanistic science, being based not on a „God” but on the human experience of that „God” which, in the theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher, coalesces with the Whole, with the Totality.
At its climax, religion will be entirely dissolved in human culture, at a point where humanity will fully appropriate the unitary perspective of religion. Secularity is the ultimate destiny of religion, which tends to lose its separate identity through a total pervasion in the immanence.
Keywords: Friedrich Schleiermacher; Dietrich Bonhoeffer; liberal theology; natural religion; humanism; secularism.
At its climax, religion will be entirely dissolved in human culture, at a point where humanity will fully appropriate the unitary perspective of religion. Secularity is the ultimate destiny of religion, which tends to lose its separate identity through a total pervasion in the immanence.
Keywords: Friedrich Schleiermacher; Dietrich Bonhoeffer; liberal theology; natural religion; humanism; secularism.
Research Interests: Secular Humanism, Secularization, Schleiermacher (Philosophy), Schleiermacher, Humanism, and 15 moreEthics and Religion, Spirituality & Counselling & Psychotherapy, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christian Theology, Secularism, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Liberal protestant theology, Bonhoeffer, Religious Naturalism, Theories of Secularization, Liberal Theology, Bonhoeffer studies, Religious Existentialism, Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and teologie liberală
The article deals with the way a stream of Christian liberal theology approaches the spiritual/religious role of the family. The branch of liberal theology considered is the one started by Friedrich Schleiermacher, the founder of... more
The article deals with the way a stream of Christian liberal theology approaches the spiritual/religious role of the family. The branch of liberal theology considered is the one started by Friedrich Schleiermacher, the founder of Christian liberal thinking. For Schleiermacher, spirituality, including Christian spirituality, means experiencing the dependence of the individual finite being upon the infinity of the Universe. On this background, the family means, both chronologically and phenomenologically, the very first type of religious experience. The child discovers the diversity, the multiplicity of the Universe and experiences his/her dependence and integration within this varied world first of all in his/her pre-reflexive relation with his/her mother. Later on, he/she develops this feeling in relation to the other members of the family. Schleiermacher sees in this natural experience the most basic form of spirituality/religiosity. This initiation will gradually continue, as the child grows and turns into an adult, with experiencing the dependence upon society, upon nature and, in its “deepest” forms, with experiencing his/her dependence on the Whole.
Research Interests: Family, Protestantism, Empathy (Philosophy), Social Theology, Empathy, and 15 moreFamille, Social cohesion, Herméneutique, Religious Communities, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Liberal protestant theology, Natural Religion, Religious Naturalism, Inclusivism, Théologie Libérale, Liberal Theology, Multiplicity In Identity, Liberal Protestantism, Religious Openness, and Bible hermeneutics
Fr. Schleiermacher, the first liberal theologian of the Protestant tradition, considers religion as a natural expression, as the exertion of a natural human capacity. Natural religious life precedes all confessions, which are nothing but... more
Fr. Schleiermacher, the first liberal theologian of the Protestant tradition, considers religion as a natural expression, as the exertion of a natural human capacity. Natural religious life precedes all confessions, which are nothing but cultural frames of the spontaneous religious experience. In this context, Christianity means nothing but a confessional choice, rather preferred by an individual than imposed unto him by theological reasons. Nevertheless, Schleiermacher is highly appreciative of Christianity; he considers it as a superior cultural framing of natural religious experience. Christianity excels and is worthy of being chosen not because of its theological excellence but merely because of its cultural features. In spite of his appreciation for Christian confession, which also represented his personal religious choice, Schleiermacher denies the traditional exclusivist claims of Christianity. For him, Christianity is only to be subjectively preferred but not a confessional compulsion.
Research Interests: Christianity, Religious Pluralism, Ecumenical Theology, Natural Theology, Schleiermacher, and 15 moreHumanism, Ecumenical and Interfaith Dialogue, Religious Studies, Ecumenism, Confession, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Liberal protestant theology, Protestantisme, Liberal Christianity, Etudes religieuse, Théologie Libérale, Liberal Theology, Friederich Schleiermacher, Histoire de la spiritualité chrétienne, and Protestant Theology
For Friedrich Schleiermacher, the founder of the Liberal stream of Protestant theology, religion is a particular and irreducible experience of humans, consisting in the direct intuition of the total dependence of any finite being on the... more
For Friedrich Schleiermacher, the founder of the Liberal stream of Protestant theology, religion is a particular and irreducible experience of humans, consisting in the direct intuition of the total dependence of any finite being on the Whole. As such, religion is different from knowledge. Religious knowledge and doctrines are only subsequent propositional expressions of the religious feeling. Being subsequent to religious experience, doctrines cannot be the foundation of religion but mere rational expressions of it. Religious doctrines are just as valid ways of expressing religion as art. Schleiermacher even claims that art is a more appropriate form of expressing the religious feeling of absolute unity and interdependence than doctrines. All knowledge operates through conceptual division, thus contradicting the unitary and holistic nature of the object religious experience is focused upon. Schleiermacher claims that no particular religious knowledge is required for humans to have religion, not even the very fundamental concept of "God". Whether acknowledged or not, the simple intuition of interdependence, which spontaneously occurs in all humans, is the essence of religious experience. This intuition occurs even when the concept of "God" is missing, no piece of knowledge, whatsoever, being necessary for the apparition of religious experience.
Research Interests: Christianity, Atheism, Theology, Doctrine of God, Epistemology Of Religious Experience, and 15 moreSchleiermacher, Agnosticism, Religious Experience, Philosophy of God, Religious art, Christian Theology, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Liberal protestant theology, Natural Religion, Enlightnement, Liberal Theology, Friederich Schleiermacher, Doctrines, Religious Knowledge, and Christian Atheism
For Fr. Schleiermacher, the founder of the liberal stream of Protestant theology, religion is a natural function of all humans. Being natural and spontaneous, religious life and experiences are prior to any confession. Confessions are... more
For Fr. Schleiermacher, the founder of the liberal stream of Protestant theology, religion is a natural function of all humans. Being natural and spontaneous, religious life and experiences are prior to any confession. Confessions are nothing but cultural codifications of natural religiosity.
Christianity is a mere confessional “option”, as valid as any other confessional choice. Nevertheless, Schleiermacher particularly extols the Christian formulation of religious experience, considering it as a higher form of development of the natural religious conscience. It is only due to this excellency of Christianity that he chose this confession. The traditional Christian exclusivism, which claims validity only for Christianity, is rejected by Schleiermacher, who considers it as an appropriate religious attitude, resulting from a misinterpretation of the religious excellency of this confession.
Keywords: Fr. Schleiermacher; Christianity; Enlightenment; natural religion; Liberal Protestantism; religious pluralism; inclusivism.
Christianity is a mere confessional “option”, as valid as any other confessional choice. Nevertheless, Schleiermacher particularly extols the Christian formulation of religious experience, considering it as a higher form of development of the natural religious conscience. It is only due to this excellency of Christianity that he chose this confession. The traditional Christian exclusivism, which claims validity only for Christianity, is rejected by Schleiermacher, who considers it as an appropriate religious attitude, resulting from a misinterpretation of the religious excellency of this confession.
Keywords: Fr. Schleiermacher; Christianity; Enlightenment; natural religion; Liberal Protestantism; religious pluralism; inclusivism.
Research Interests: Religious Pluralism, Schleiermacher (Philosophy), Schleiermacher, Animism, Monism, and 15 moreConfessionalization, Christian Theology, Ecumenism, Polytheism, Confession, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Monotheism, Liberal protestant theology, Religious Naturalism, Liberal Theology, Friederich Schleiermacher, Religious Exclusivism, Teologie Protestanta, Protestant Theology, and Religious Inclusivism
According to Friedrich Schleiermacher, the founder of the Liberal trend of Christian theology, religiosity means exerting some natural faculties each individual being has. The predisposition towards religion is innate and personal; thus,... more
According to Friedrich Schleiermacher, the founder of the Liberal trend of Christian theology, religiosity means exerting some natural faculties each individual being has. The predisposition towards religion is innate and personal; thus, basically, all religious experiences are established in the individual and not in anything extraneous to him. Religion is, essentially, personal and subjective; only its expression depends on cultural patterns. Religious confessions appear subsequent to the religious experience itself. It is not religious experience that is grounded in confession but vice-versa. Being only a cultural outcome of spontaneous natural religiosity, confession is relative, conditioned by culture and not entitled to any absolutist claim. Religious pluralism simply follows from the plurality of forms human culture takes.
Research Interests: Christianity, Religious Pluralism, Ecumenical Theology, Schleiermacher (Philosophy), Schleiermacher, and 15 moreAnimism, Monism, Christian Theology, Ecumenism, Polytheism, Confession, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Monotheism, Liberal protestant theology, Natural Religion, Religious Naturalism, Interreligious Studies, Liberal Theology, Teologie Protestanta, and Protestant Theology
Research Interests: Atheism, Schleiermacher, History of Atheism, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Social Theology, and 13 moreSecularism, Atheism/Secular Studies, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Liberal protestant theology, Natural Religion, Escathology, Secular theology, Liberal Theology, Transcendence/immanence, Political Escathology, Dientrich Bonhoeffer, Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and teologie liberală
For Friedrich Schleiermacher, the founder of the Christian liberal stream of theology, spirituality doesn’t mean a particular way of being and of knowing but rather an unbound acceptance of the Whole, under its entire diversity.... more
For Friedrich Schleiermacher, the founder of the Christian liberal stream of theology, spirituality doesn’t mean a particular way of being and of knowing but rather an unbound acceptance of the Whole, under its entire diversity. Spirituality doesn’t mean clinging to something and separating from all that oppose that „something” but, on the contrary, means experiencing the absolute dependence of one’s own individual being on anything else from the Universe.
Therefore, spirituality is possible only in a pluralistic approach, that not only respects other religions but also grants them full validity. Spirituality should even be the most all-embracing human experience, in which all cultural manifestations find acceptance. Religious manifestations, under their unbound variety, are experienced as complementarities; in the brotherhood of all that exists, including all religions, is spiritual experience based.
Even if Schleiermacher operates a hierarchical systematization of the religious manifestations, according to this classification, even those standing on the lowest position have spiritual validity, only their way of expressing the spiritual experience being of a lower degree.
The major threat to spirituality is not pluralism, diversity, not even heresy, but the fundamentalist claims, according to which genuine spirituality is confined within the boundaries of one particular religion, the other religions being rejected. Fundamentalism, through its one-sidedness, threatens the very essence of religion, which is embracing the totality.
Religion/spirituality does not mean imposing a particular outlook against all diversity and multiplicity but, on the contrary, means submitting every particular outlook to plurality. Diversity and plurality prevail against any form of one-sidedness.
A restrictive religion, which draws sheer distinctions in the Universe, especially the distinction between “saved” and “lost”, between “spiritual” and “heretical”, is no religion at all but a mere unfortunate cultural attitude.
Keywords: religious pluralism, multiculturalism, inclusivism, fundamentalism, restrictivism, Friedrich Schleiermacher, liberal theology, Christian theology.
Therefore, spirituality is possible only in a pluralistic approach, that not only respects other religions but also grants them full validity. Spirituality should even be the most all-embracing human experience, in which all cultural manifestations find acceptance. Religious manifestations, under their unbound variety, are experienced as complementarities; in the brotherhood of all that exists, including all religions, is spiritual experience based.
Even if Schleiermacher operates a hierarchical systematization of the religious manifestations, according to this classification, even those standing on the lowest position have spiritual validity, only their way of expressing the spiritual experience being of a lower degree.
The major threat to spirituality is not pluralism, diversity, not even heresy, but the fundamentalist claims, according to which genuine spirituality is confined within the boundaries of one particular religion, the other religions being rejected. Fundamentalism, through its one-sidedness, threatens the very essence of religion, which is embracing the totality.
Religion/spirituality does not mean imposing a particular outlook against all diversity and multiplicity but, on the contrary, means submitting every particular outlook to plurality. Diversity and plurality prevail against any form of one-sidedness.
A restrictive religion, which draws sheer distinctions in the Universe, especially the distinction between “saved” and “lost”, between “spiritual” and “heretical”, is no religion at all but a mere unfortunate cultural attitude.
Keywords: religious pluralism, multiculturalism, inclusivism, fundamentalism, restrictivism, Friedrich Schleiermacher, liberal theology, Christian theology.
Research Interests: Multiculturalism, Theology, Religious Pluralism, Schleiermacher (Philosophy), Schleiermacher, and 15 moreChristian Philosophy, Interreligious Dialogue, Religious Toleration, Religious Fundamentalism, Religion and Culture, Christian Theology, Ecumenism, Paganism and Christianism, Religious Diversity, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Migration and religious diversity, Cultural and Religious Diversity, Liberal Protestantism, Protestant Theology, and Religious Inclusivism
Influenced by his Romantic environment, Schleiermacher engaged in an attempt to deny the essentiality of doctrine in religion. Doctrine is no longer considered the divine message through which religion starts, but a secondary product, the... more
Influenced by his Romantic environment, Schleiermacher engaged in an attempt to deny the essentiality of doctrine in religion. Doctrine is no longer considered the divine message through which religion starts, but a secondary product, the verbal formulation, depending on a cultural setting, of religious affections. All doctrine embeds a particular cosmology; the religious element of any doctrine is simply the idea of unity, which is applied to the cosmological representation taken from the cultural environment. Being a human product, religious doctrine, like any other type of human knowledge, is prone to error, permanently under revision. The static view of religious dogma is replaced by a dynamic and fallible one. Schleiermacher rejects all kind of revelation received “from above”, limiting religious knowledge to what is confined within the limits of human religious experience.
Through a scientist and phenomenological critical approach, he dismisses several major traditional Christian doctrines, such as Eschatology, all “sacred history”, many elements of Biblical cosmology, such as the doctrines about angels, devils, Satan or Hell.
Through a scientist and phenomenological critical approach, he dismisses several major traditional Christian doctrines, such as Eschatology, all “sacred history”, many elements of Biblical cosmology, such as the doctrines about angels, devils, Satan or Hell.
Research Interests: Enlightenment, Biblical Studies, Science and Religion, Revelation, Schleiermacher, and 15 moreHumanism, Religious Epistemology, Historical Jesus, Heterodoxy, Scientific study of religion and theology, Scientism, Christian mythology, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Liberal protestant theology, Biblical Cosmology, Escathology, Liberal Theology, Teologie Protestanta, Natural and Special Revelation, and attonement
Research Interests: Revelation, Scriptural Reasoning, Natural Theology, Schleiermacher, Humanism, and 12 moreTheology from Below, Heterodoxy, Christian Theology, Religious production of modernity, Heresy and Orthodoxy, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Liberal protestant theology, Crestinism, Humanistic Religion, Liberal Theology, Fallibilism, and Natural and Special Revelation
At the beginning of the XIX-th century, Fr. Schleiermacher was the first thinker who attempted both to maintain the validity of Christian doctrine and to keep the pace with the modern outlook of the world, as it was shaped by the... more
At the beginning of the XIX-th century, Fr. Schleiermacher was the first thinker who attempted both to maintain the validity of Christian doctrine and to keep the pace with the modern outlook of the world, as it was shaped by the Enlightenment. He engaged in this task by re-interpreting most of the major doctrines and concepts of Christianity, so that they may preserve, at least partly, their implications for human life, but without conflicting the scientific and rationalistic view of the Universe. Traditionally, Christianity based its spirituality on a theistic and transcendental "God"; this assumption was highly problematic for the naturalistic and rationalist outlook of Modernity. In order to preserve the foundation of spirituality, Schleiermacher reinterpreted the concept of divinity, as the Organic Whole, as the interconnected and harmonious Totality. Hence, he succeeded both in discarding the non-natural repellent elements of the concept of "Divine" and in preserving some key imports of this concept, such as unity, universality, harmony, sense. As Totality, immanence becomes the new divine; it is a natural divine but still preserving a degree of concealment, as a result of its magnanimity. In spite of this immanentization of the divine, spiritual endeavors are still justified by the need to cover the gap between the "sinful" limited perspective of a human and the Holistic perspective which reveals the "spiritual" meaning of the Universe. The old ontological dualism between the "fallen" immanence and the "sacred" transcendence is abolished; the identification of the divine within immanence means the predicament of the ultimate divinity of the Universe. "Sinfulness" becomes only a matter of how humans see and experience the natural. Thus, Schleiermacher succeeds in "redeeming" the natural, making it the ultimate foundation of everything, including spirituality. The traditional attributes of God are reinterpreted so that they may not mean anymore personal traits but natural aspects of the Universe. Hence, love, as the ultimate reason for all divine actions, is interpreted as the natural causality that maintains the harmony and the order of the Universe. God's almightiness would mean nothing else that the universality of causal regulation. Creation ceases to be a particular event and is interpreted as an ontological condition of the Universe, namely that of being imbued with the "divine" harmony and unity.
Research Interests: Trinity, Natural Theology, Schleiermacher, Doctrine of Creation, Causality, and 15 morePantheism, Attributes of God, Holism, Divine Providence, Doctrine of the Trinity, Panentheism, Cosmos, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Liberal protestant theology, Natural theology & Theology of nature, Economic Trinity, Enlightnement, Liberal Theology, Protestant Theology, and christian panentheism
Întemeierea umanistă a religiei, la Fr. Schleiermacher
Research Interests: Philosophy Of Religion, Theology, Psychology of Religion, Humanistic psychology, Natural Theology, and 12 morePsychoanalysis and religion, Schleiermacher, Humanism, Religious Studies, Teologie, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Liberal protestant theology, Humanistic Religion, Enlightnement, Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, Teologie Protestanta, and Humanistic Spirituality
Schleiermacher's system of liberal-naturalistic theology considers religious experience as a natural aspect of human life, consisting mainly in an opening of the individual being towards wider and wider levels of being, the highest one... more
Schleiermacher's system of liberal-naturalistic theology considers religious experience as a natural aspect of human life, consisting mainly in an opening of the individual being towards wider and wider levels of being, the highest one being that of the Divine Universality. Therefore, religious experience is to be found, in certain degrees, in every act of opening towards the Universe, starting with the very common and unsophisticated experience of sensory contact. One of the most intense such experience is the opening of the human being towards his fellows, namely the social experience. For Schleiermacher, socializing already represents a form of " religion " , since it involves the individual's stepping out of himself. Even in the most common acts of sharing, such as hospitability, Schleiermacher sees religious behavior. Therefore, Schleiermacher's theology puts forward a kind of " ordinary/common spirituality " , a natural religiosity that characterizes even the most common human experiences. Religion does not involve any supernatural factor or anything higher than human nature. The sacred does not oppose the profane but is simply a particular tendency within the profane namely the tendency of connecting the individual to the universal. Religious gathering is not a mere contingency but it belongs to the very essence of religion. Confessional brotherhood is not much different from any other kind of human gathering, such as family or nation grouping. All these communal entities are based on the inborn human opening towards the others, towards the totality, which only takes a more conscious form in case of religious behavior. Through this approach, Schleiermacher opposes a very frequently met tendency to consider religion as pertaining mainly to the individual subjectivity. To him, religious life is always collective; people are engaged in religious life not as individuals but as communities, as persons bound together through the specific requirements of a confession.
Research Interests: Christianity, Philosophy Of Religion, Theology, History of Christianity, Liberation Theology, and 17 moreNatural Theology, Schleiermacher, Social Theology, Philosopy, Theology, Social Studies, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Liberal protestant theology, 19th Century German Theology, Modern Theology, Social Gospel Theology, Enlightnement, German Protestant Theology, Liberal Theology, Theology of Liberation, German Theology, Modern German Protestantism, Theology of Community, and Modern German Theology
Research Interests: Christianity, Christian Humanism, Enlightenment, Intellectual History of Enlightenment, Schleiermacher, and 13 moreHumanism, Soteriology, German Enlightenment, Philosophy of the Enlightenment, Teologie, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Liberal protestant theology, Salvation, Théologie Libérale, Liberal Theology, Christian Theology/Ethics, Soteriologie, and teologie liberală
Research Interests: Schleiermacher (Philosophy), Schleiermacher, Supernatural, Naturalism, Doctrine of Creation, and 11 moreCreationism, Divine Providence, Miracles, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Liberal protestant theology, Providence, Miracle, Religious Naturalism, Divine action and providence, Liberal Theology, and teologie liberală
Research Interests: Christianity, Theology, History of Christianity, Systematic Theology, Liberation Theology, and 16 moreEnlightenment, Intellectual History of Enlightenment, Schleiermacher, European Enlightenment, Pantheism, German Enlightenment, Philosophy of the Enlightenment, Panentheism, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Skeptical Theism, Theism, Religious Naturalism, Enlightment, Non-Theism, Non – Theistic Religion, and Theology and the Enlightenment
Schleiermacher’s religious naturalism considers religious affections as a spontaneous and ordinary experience of all humans. Confessional identity is only subsequently bestowed to the naturally produced religious experience. Confession... more
Schleiermacher’s religious naturalism considers religious affections as a spontaneous and ordinary experience of all humans. Confessional identity is only subsequently bestowed to the naturally produced religious experience. Confession doesn’t engender religion but it only moulds its expression into a culturally determined pattern; generally, the pattern is given by the outstanding example of a particular religious leader or event. Even if expressed and cultivated according to a common example, religion remains highly particular, its variety going down until the individual level. In most cases, the difference between confessions relies on the differences between their implicit cosmological views. Progress of civilization didn’t really involve a progress of the religious feeling itself, but rather a progress of its manner of expression.
Considered as the feeling of utter dependence of every finite being on the Infinite, religion necessarily embeds an attitude of absolute openness, seeing everything, including all faiths, as complementary within the all-encompassing unity. Hence, religious pluralism is not just a possible view, but it belongs to the very essence of religiosity.
Naturalismul religios al lui Schleiermacher consideră trăirea religioasă drept o experienţă firească, spontană, a tuturor oamenilor. Identitatea confesională este atribuită abia ulterior experienţei religiose ce ia naştere în mod natural. Confesiunea nu dă naştere experienţei religioase, ci doar structurează exprimarea experienţei pre-existente pe baza unor tipare culturale; în general, aceste tipare sunt constituite de exemplul extraordinar al unui anumit lider religios sau al unui eveniment excepţional. Chiar dacă este cultivată şi exprimată în conformitate cu un tipar comun, religia îşi păstrează enorma varietate, care coboară până la nivel individual. În majoritatea cazurilor, diferenţa dintre confesiunile religioase este datorată diferenţelor ce există între sistemele cosmologice înglobate de acestea. Progresul civilizaţiei nu a adus cu sine neapărat şi un progres al religiei înseşi, ci, mai degrabă, un progres în exprimarea religioasă.
Considerată ca simţire a dependenţei absolute a oricărei entităţi finite faţă de Infinit, religia încorporează în mod necesar o atitudine de deschidere nelimitată,prin care toate, inclusiv toate confesiunile, sunt considerate ca găsindu-se într-o relaţie de complementaritate la nivelul unităţii ce înglobează totul. În consecinţă, pluralismul religios nu reprezintă doar un posibil punct de vedere, ci ceva ce ţine de esenţa însăşi a religiei.
Considered as the feeling of utter dependence of every finite being on the Infinite, religion necessarily embeds an attitude of absolute openness, seeing everything, including all faiths, as complementary within the all-encompassing unity. Hence, religious pluralism is not just a possible view, but it belongs to the very essence of religiosity.
Naturalismul religios al lui Schleiermacher consideră trăirea religioasă drept o experienţă firească, spontană, a tuturor oamenilor. Identitatea confesională este atribuită abia ulterior experienţei religiose ce ia naştere în mod natural. Confesiunea nu dă naştere experienţei religioase, ci doar structurează exprimarea experienţei pre-existente pe baza unor tipare culturale; în general, aceste tipare sunt constituite de exemplul extraordinar al unui anumit lider religios sau al unui eveniment excepţional. Chiar dacă este cultivată şi exprimată în conformitate cu un tipar comun, religia îşi păstrează enorma varietate, care coboară până la nivel individual. În majoritatea cazurilor, diferenţa dintre confesiunile religioase este datorată diferenţelor ce există între sistemele cosmologice înglobate de acestea. Progresul civilizaţiei nu a adus cu sine neapărat şi un progres al religiei înseşi, ci, mai degrabă, un progres în exprimarea religioasă.
Considerată ca simţire a dependenţei absolute a oricărei entităţi finite faţă de Infinit, religia încorporează în mod necesar o atitudine de deschidere nelimitată,prin care toate, inclusiv toate confesiunile, sunt considerate ca găsindu-se într-o relaţie de complementaritate la nivelul unităţii ce înglobează totul. În consecinţă, pluralismul religios nu reprezintă doar un posibil punct de vedere, ci ceva ce ţine de esenţa însăşi a religiei.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Hinduism, Indian Philosophy, Yoga Philosophy, Sanskrit language and literature, Sanskrit, and 15 moreAdvaita Vedanta, Vedanta and Nondualism, Brahmanism, Vedanta, Hindu Philosophy, Upanishad, Upanishads, Hindu Studies, Indian religions, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Classical Indian Philosophy, Vedas, Ancient Indian Religion, Vedanta Philosophy, and Samkhya and Vedanta
This volume gathers together six studies published in several journals, between 2013 and 2018, as individual papers. They were not conceived to form a whole but rather as independent articles. Nevertheless, in the present volume, we... more
This volume gathers together six studies published in several journals, between 2013 and 2018, as individual papers. They were not conceived to form a whole but rather as independent articles. Nevertheless, in the present volume, we succeeded in grouping them into two major themes.
The first topic the volume deals with is the apparition of the phenomenon of human individuation within the wide cosmic experience. It is approached by three of the papers. The first one investigates the apparition of the human phenomenon within the cosmic consciousness, apparition which alters the peaceful and neutral character of consciousness. Human states of awareness and their subjective contents are analyzed in the second article, while the third one deals with the relation of reciprocal dependence between the human and the cosmic phenomena.
The second part of the volume is focused on the deconstruction of “knowledge”, as a cognitive issue, and its reinterpretation as a mere subjective experience, as a “whim” of the individual consciousness. Starting with the most basic descriptions and until its higher forms, such as metaphysics and religion, knowledge is considered as a psychological “game”, stirred not by the contact with an objective reality, but by the karmic predispositions of its subject. All cognitive activity, all cognitive categories, including “truth”, are reduced to mere psychological issues, either individual or collective. Even when they are collective, being shared by more individuals controlled by similar karmic tendencies, mental constructions cannot overcome their subjective nature and lack of cognitive value. Truth is rather a matter of “tuning” the mental constructions than one of “knowing” something.
The first topic the volume deals with is the apparition of the phenomenon of human individuation within the wide cosmic experience. It is approached by three of the papers. The first one investigates the apparition of the human phenomenon within the cosmic consciousness, apparition which alters the peaceful and neutral character of consciousness. Human states of awareness and their subjective contents are analyzed in the second article, while the third one deals with the relation of reciprocal dependence between the human and the cosmic phenomena.
The second part of the volume is focused on the deconstruction of “knowledge”, as a cognitive issue, and its reinterpretation as a mere subjective experience, as a “whim” of the individual consciousness. Starting with the most basic descriptions and until its higher forms, such as metaphysics and religion, knowledge is considered as a psychological “game”, stirred not by the contact with an objective reality, but by the karmic predispositions of its subject. All cognitive activity, all cognitive categories, including “truth”, are reduced to mere psychological issues, either individual or collective. Even when they are collective, being shared by more individuals controlled by similar karmic tendencies, mental constructions cannot overcome their subjective nature and lack of cognitive value. Truth is rather a matter of “tuning” the mental constructions than one of “knowing” something.
Research Interests: Buddhism, Philosophy Of Religion, Indian Philosophy, Idealism, Indian Buddhism, and 14 moreBuddhism especially mahayana Buddhist tradition, Yogacara Buddhism, Yogacara, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahāyāna, Mahayana, Classical Indian Philosophy, Mahayana Buddhism, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Madhyamaka and Yogacara Buddhism, Yogācāra, Mahāyāna Buddhist Tradition, and Early Mahāyāna Buddhism
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Religion, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Absolutism, Advaita Vedanta, and 15 moreVedanta and Nondualism, Monism, Brahmanism, Advaita, Indian religions, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Vedas, Advaita Vedānta, Brahman ekamevadvitiyam, Advaita Philosophy, Ancient Indian Religion, Aitareya Upanisad, Upaniṣad, Kausitaki Brahmana Upanishad, and Svetasvatara
Research Interests: Hinduism, Indian Philosophy, Cosmology (Anthropology), Yoga, Sanskrit language and literature, and 23 moreSanskrit, Indian Literature, Soteriology, Advaita Vedanta, Brahmanism, Cosmology, Filosofie, Upanishad, Advaita, Upanishads, Caste and Brahmanism, Indian religions, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Non-dualism Advaita, Atman, Non Duality, Non-dualism, Ancient Indian Religion, Aitareya Upanisad, Kausitaki Brahmana Upanishad, Shvetashvatara, Mandukya, and Mundaka
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Pentru Vijnanavāda, întreaga manifestare a Universului reprezintă un „vis cosmic” ce are drept subiect realitatea ultimă. Afectat de ignoranţă, absolutul se înfăţişează sub forma unei conştiinţe cosmice şi începe a proiecta Universul.... more
Pentru Vijnanavāda, întreaga manifestare a Universului reprezintă un „vis cosmic” ce are drept subiect realitatea ultimă. Afectat de ignoranţă, absolutul se înfăţişează sub forma unei conştiinţe cosmice şi începe a proiecta Universul. Trecând prin mai multe niveluri de determinaţie, în cele din urmă, manifestarea, iniţial unitară, se „sparge” în multiplicitatea fiinţelor, se ipostaziază în nenumărate individualităţi. La acest nivel se produce drama ontologică („căderea”) întrucât aceste ipostaze multiple ale conştiinţei se pierd în iluzia realităţii propriei individualităţi şi, pe baza acestei identităţi asumate în mod eronat, ajung să fie înlănţuite în manifestare.
Eliberarea din drama auto-indusă are loc atunci când conştiinţa înţelege şi realizează în mod direct vacuitatea identităţii individuale şi caracterul beatific al realităţii.
Eliberarea din drama auto-indusă are loc atunci când conştiinţa înţelege şi realizează în mod direct vacuitatea identităţii individuale şi caracterul beatific al realităţii.
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Volumul cuprinde trei dintre cele mai importante scrieri primare ale şcolii: Asanga, Madhyantavibhaga (Discriminarea între mijloc şi extreme) Vasubandhu, Vijnaptimatratasiddhi (Stabilirea existenţei unice a ideaţiilor) Vasubandhu,... more
Volumul cuprinde trei dintre cele mai importante scrieri primare ale şcolii:
Asanga, Madhyantavibhaga (Discriminarea între mijloc şi extreme)
Vasubandhu, Vijnaptimatratasiddhi (Stabilirea existenţei unice a ideaţiilor)
Vasubandhu, Trisvabhavanirdesa (Indicaţiile referitoare la cele trei naturi)
Asanga, Madhyantavibhaga (Discriminarea între mijloc şi extreme)
Vasubandhu, Vijnaptimatratasiddhi (Stabilirea existenţei unice a ideaţiilor)
Vasubandhu, Trisvabhavanirdesa (Indicaţiile referitoare la cele trei naturi)
Research Interests: Buddhism, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, Idealism, and 26 moreSanskrit language and literature, Sanskrit, Buddhist Sanskrit, Yogacara Buddhism, Yogacara, study of Madyamaka and Yogacara Traditions, Indian religions, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Budhist Philosophy, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Yogācāra, Alayavijnana, Alaya Vijnana, Budhism Studies in India, Pali/Sanskrit Literature, Ancient Indian Religion, Budhism, Madhyantavibhaga, Vijnanavada, Budhist Psychology, Trisvabhavanirdesa, Filosofie Indiana, Triṃśikā, and vimsika
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Research Interests: Hinduism, Ontology, Indian Philosophy, Yoga, Yoga Philosophy, and 25 moreSanskrit language and literature, Sanskrit, Advaita Vedanta, Vedanta and Nondualism, Monism, Brahmanism, Vedanta, Filosofie, Upanishad, Advaita, Upanishads, Sankara, Indian religions, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Adi Sankaracarya, Non-dualism Advaita, Non Duality, Non-dualism, Eastern Religions Advaita As Propounded by Sage Adi Shankara of India, Buddhism & Hinduism, Gaudapada, Sadananda, Mandukya, Shankaracarya, and Filosofie Indiana
Research Interests: Hinduism, Metaphysics, Ontology, Indian Philosophy, Yoga, and 17 moreSanskrit language and literature, Sanskrit, Advaita Vedanta, Vedanta and Nondualism, Monism, Brahmanism, Vedanta, Filosofie, Advaita, Sankara, Adi Sankaracarya, Non-dualism Advaita, Non Duality, Non-dualism, Eastern Religions Advaita As Propounded by Sage Adi Shankara of India, Gaudapada, and Sadananda
Studiu introductiv la editia a II-a a lucrarii: Santideva, Bodhicaryavatara. Intrarea pe calea Iluminarii
Research Interests: Buddhism, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, Buddhist Ethics, and 15 moreBuddhism especially mahayana Buddhist tradition, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahayana, Classical Indian Philosophy, Mahayana Buddhism, Madhyamika Buddhism, Mahayana sutras, Budhist Philosophy, Bodhisattva, Madhyamika Philosophy, Budhism, Santideva, Bodhicaryavatara, History of Indian Buddhism, and Bodhicitta
Research Interests: Religion, Anthropology, Philosophy Of Religion, Liberation Theology, Continental Philosophy of Religion (Philosophy), and 19 moreProcess Theology, Science and Religion, Alfred North Whitehead, Process Philosophy, Christology, Doctrine of God, Natural Theology, Process Philosophy (Peirce, Whitehead), Naturalism, Religion and Science, Immanence, Becoming, Christian Approach to Process Philosophy, Natural Religion, Natural theology & Theology of nature, Charles Hartshorne, Process and Reality, Anthropology of Religion, and Hartshorne
Research Interests: Theology, Protestantism, Scriptural Reasoning, 20th Century German Theology, Teologie, and 15 moreChristian Theology, Existentialism, Existentialisme, Liberal protestant theology, Christian existentialism, Christian theology and biblical studies, Emil Brunner, Emil Brunner, Karl Barth, Soren Kierkegaard, Crisis Theology, Christian Theology/Ethics, Teologie Sistematica, Existentialist Theology, Scriptural Authority, Teologie Protestanta, and Teologie Reformata
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Research Interests: Buddhism, Indian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist Studies, Madhyamaka School, and 20 moreAsian Religions, Buddhism especially mahayana Buddhist tradition, Madhyamaka, Filosofie, Indian religions, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism, Madhyamika Buddhism, Mahayana sutras, Zen Buddhist Poetry, Bodhisattva, Madhyamaka and Yogacara Buddhism, In Buddhism general and Madhyamika philosophy in particular, Madhyamika Philosophy, Buddhist Metaphysics and Ethics, Filosofie Indiana, Shantideva, Santideva, and Bodhicaryavatara
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Prezentul articol reprezintă valori carea unui material început cu mai bine de 20 de ani în urmă, mai mult din raţiuni didactice, de practică a limbii hindi. Eram în anul III de facultate, prin 1998, şi, în contextul lipsei resurselor de... more
Prezentul articol reprezintă valori carea unui material început cu mai bine de 20 de ani în urmă, mai mult din raţiuni didactice, de practică a limbii hindi. Eram în anul III de facultate, prin 1998, şi, în contextul lipsei resurselor de pe Internet, singura modalitate de a avea un contact cu scrieri în limba Hindi, în afara textelor explicit didactice din manual, era oferită de cărţile de la biblioteca Ambasadei Indiei din Bucureşti. După câteva încercări mai degrabă uşuate de a citi mici povestioare sau chiar articole din reviste, în cele din urmă, am găsit o carte cu proverbe şi zicători indiene. Mai scurte, unele dintre acestea mi-au fost accesibile şi astfel m-am aplecat pentru ceva vreme asupra volumului. Ceea ce am reuşit să traduc se găseşte în articolul de faţă. După mai bine de 20 de ani, reparcurgerea lor mi-a lăsat, în priul rând, o puternică impresie de "ne-indian". Puţin din conţinutul lor trădează originea lor indiană şi chiar şi acele indicii sunt de natură vestimentară (într-unul din proverbe se face referinţă la sari), faunistică sau botanică. Concepţiile religioase ale Indiei, e ele budhiste, hinduse, musulmane sau de altă natură, sunt aproape absente. Cel mult se face referire, dar mai degrabă cu sarcasm, la practici gen pelerinaje, ascetism. Prea puţin sau chiar deloc din asimilarea relevanţei religioase a acestor practici transpare din proverbele adunate aici. Ceea ce pun ele în evidenţă este mai degrabă o " loso e"a vieţii concrete, a caracterului şi comportamentului umane cotidian. Perspectiva asupra omului nu este tocmai laudativă, cel mai adesea indu-i relevate atât neajunsurile morale cât şi capriciile gândirii. Totuşi, nu este vorba de o critică "ontologică" a naturii umane, realizată în spirit vedāntin, ci, mai degrabă, de una "funcţională". Mai multă decât perspectiva loso că, transpare o anumită "înţelepciune" populară, de factură umanistă. Spre deosebire de speculaţiile elitei loso ce, mentalitatea indiană populară nu pare deloc interesată de găsirea unui eventual "temei" al omului sau al lucrurilor, ci doar de "funcţionarea" acestora, luate ca atare. La nivel popular, perspectiva umanistă prevalează total în faţa celei religioase care, de altfel, e aproape absentă. Surprinzătoare este şi o anumită "universalitate" a acestei " loso i" populare umaniste. Nu doar temele se regăsesc şi în proverbele din alte regiuni dar, mai mult decât atât, putem întâlni unele formulări în moduri aproape identice în spaţiul românesc ("Dumnezeu împarte oamenilor mâncare, dar nu îi şi hrăneşte.", "Departe de ochi, departe de inimă.", "Firul înnodat prea tare se rupe.", "Câinele care latră nu muşcă." etc.). Umanul pare să e mai universal decât religiosul care altminteri ar plasa India şi Europa în registre ideatice destul de diferite.
Research Interests: Hindi Literature, Proverbs, Sayings, Hindi/Urdu, Indian Culture, and 11 moreHindi, Orientalism, Indian folk art and folklore, Indian Folklore, Hindi language and literature; Hindi linguistic and sociolinguistic, Oriental Languages, Indian Society & Culture, Hindi Urdu Language and Literature, Proverbe, Folklore and Indian literature, and indianistica
Research Interests: Theology, Protestantism, Catholic Theology, Christology, Natural Theology, and 20 moreThe Atonement, Soteriology, Teologie, Atonement Theory, Historical Theories of Atonement, Jesus Christ, Universalism, Particularism, Particularism v.s Universalism, Salvation, Atonement theology, Exclusivism, Redemption, Inclusivism, Restrictivism, Escathology, Cristology, Postmortem, Teologie Protestanta, and Teologie Reformata
Research Interests: Christianity, Theology, Biblical Theology, 20th Century German Theology, Teologie, and 11 moreTeologia, Existentialism, Existentialisme, Liberal protestant theology, Christian existentialism, Teologia biblica, Emil Brunner, Emil Brunner, Karl Barth, Soren Kierkegaard, Liberal Theology, Teologie Sistematica, and Teologie Protestanta
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Anthropology, Sex and Gender, Gender and Sexuality, Continental Philosophy, and 22 moreChristology, Revelation, Biblical Theology, Doctrine of God, Natural Theology, Postliberal theology, Karl Barth, Dogmatic theology, Doctrine of Creation, Soteriology, Transcendence, 20th Century German Theology, Agape, Nothingness, Reason and Revelation, Liberal protestant theology, Creation Out of Nothing, nothing, Christian Anthropology, Escathology, Theology of Karl Barth, and Eros and Agape
Research Interests: History, Modern History, Ukrainian Studies, Communism, Ukrainian Politics, and 25 moreUkrainian Nationalism, Ukraine (History), Politics of Ukraine, Ukrainian Church History, Post-Communism, Ukrainian Literature, Ukrainian Foreign Policy, Ukraine, Foreign Policy of Ukraine, Ukrainian History, History of Communism, Russian-Ukrainian Relations, Early modern history Ukrain, Post-Communist Studies, Communist Parties, Modern history of Ukraine, history of USSR, Ukrainian art, Russian and Ukrainian art, Ukrainian diaspora, Early Modern History of Ukraine, Ukrainian Language, Ukraina, History of Ukraine, Communism and national question, and Ukrainian arms industry
Research Interests: History, Modern History, Cultural History, Cultural Studies, Russian Studies, and 51 moreCaricature (Visual Studies), Media Studies, Media and Cultural Studies, Romanian History, Italian Studies, Anarchism, Ukrainian Studies, Ukrainian, Missiology and Mission Theology, Russian intelligentsia, Culture, Russian Orthodox Church, Missionary History, Communism, History of Anarchism, Ukrainian Politics, Ukrainian Nationalism, Russian History, Socialism, Ukraine (History), Politics of Ukraine, Ukrainian Church History, Marriage (History), Transnistria, Ukrainian Literature, Ukraine, Press and media history, Ukrainian History, History of Communism, Russian-Ukrainian Relations, Cossacks, Political Caricature, Ukrainian language education, Railways and trains, Marriage and Family, Press, Odessa, Ukrainian law, Dobrudja, History of Railways, Jews from Odessa, Ukraina, History of Ukraine, Italian Merchants, Eastern Othodox, Odessa University, East Ukrainian National University, Workers Movement, History of Odessa, Ukrainian land law, and Analysis and Auditing: Odessa National University of Economics
Research Interests: Religion, New Religious Movements, Comparative Religion, Sociology of Religion, Philosophy Of Religion, and 26 moreReligious Education, Religion and Politics, Psychology of Religion, Political Religion, Religious Pluralism, Islamic Education, LGBT Issues, Popular Culture and Religious Studies, Religious Conversion, Politics and Religion, Islam, Religious History, Religious Persecution, Religious Fundamentalism, Religious Studies, Minorities, Religious Minorities, Gay marriage, Hindu Muslim relationships, Religion/Spirituality and LGBTI People, Religious Freedom, Legalizing Gay Marriages, Religión y política, Anthropology of Religion, Religious and Political Violence, and Religion and Gay Marriasge
Lucrarea incearca sa expuna o perspectiva extrem de spiritualizata asupra religiei si comunitatilor trace, in general, cu un accent special pus asupra lumii dacice. Aceasta perspectiva isi gaseste justificarea in rolul influent pe care... more
Lucrarea incearca sa expuna o perspectiva extrem de spiritualizata asupra religiei si comunitatilor trace, in general, cu un accent special pus asupra lumii dacice. Aceasta perspectiva isi gaseste justificarea in rolul influent pe care Zalmoxis si cultul sau de mistere l-au avut asupra lumii trace. Zalmoxis este infatisat drept o zeitate solara careia i se atribuie o importanta functie soteriologica, el fiind zeul in al carui paradis vor ajunge, dupa moarte, sufletele celor initiati in misteriile sale.
Research Interests: Mythology And Folklore, Mythology, Asceticism, Greek Religion, Mysteries (Greek Religion), and 48 moreAncient Greek Religion, Mystery cult, Pythagoreanism, Ancient myth and religion, Greek Myth, Pythagoreans, Herodotus, Myth, Dacian civilization, Pythagoras, Dionysus, Immortality, Essenes, Thracian religion, Thracian history and culture, Greek mythology, Apollo, Greek Mythology and Rites, Eleusinian Mysteries, Pythagoras, Ancient Greek Mythology, ILLiad, Dacian Art, Dacians, Orpheus, Hyperborea, Zalmoxis, Dacian Religion, Orpheus / Rhesus / Zalmoxis, Dacia, Thracology, Dionysos, Troya, Preroman Dacia, Bacchus, Ancient Dacian History, Sun cult, Ascetism, Eleusian Mysteries, Celibacy, Katabasis, Thraco-dacian Art, Dacian Civilisation, The Thracian Dacian Language, Solar Cult, Troy Studies, Zamolxianism, Zamolxe, and Sun Gods
Research Interests: Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Mesolithic Archaeology, Mesolithic/Epipalaeolithic Archaeology, Neolithic Archaeology, and 40 moreBronze Age Europe (Archaeology), Prehistoric religion and r ritual a, Prehistoric Settlement, Late Bronze Age archaeology, Neolithic Europe, Paleolithic Europe, Mesolithic Europe, Black Sea region, Mesolithic/Neolithic, Amphorae (Archaeology), Prehistory, Bone Technology (Archaeology), Neolithic, Dacian civilization, Black Sea Region Archaeology, Black Sea, Black Sea ancient history and archaeology, Eneolithic, Cucuteni-Tripolye culture, Dacians, Fossils, Prehistorycal Archaeology, South-Eastern European Chalcolithic, Cucuteni Culture, Roman Amphorae, Ochre, Arheologie, Bronze Age metal hoards, Palaeolithic Europe, Palaeolithic archaeology, Mesolithic archaeology, Prehistoric transitions, Environmental archaeology, Archaeozoology, Pleistocene fauna, Palaeoclimate, Refugia and recolonisation, Spatial analysis, Palaeolithic art and symbolism, Hoarding, Necropolis, cultura Santana de Mures, Prehistoric Religion, Sinope, Black Sea archaeology, Roman tombs and burial customs, Red Ochre, Bone and Antler Artifacts, Roman Archaeology, Cucuteni, Late Paleolithic, and Getic Civilisation
The article continues the publication, for the first time, of a book left in manuscript by the Romanian orientalist Constantin Daniel. The last chapters of the book, included in the article, expose an exaggeratedly spiritual perspective... more
The article continues the publication, for the first time, of a book left in manuscript by the Romanian orientalist Constantin Daniel. The last chapters of the book, included in the article, expose an exaggeratedly spiritual perspective of the Thracian world. This allegedly high spirituality rests on the ascetic cult of a Solar deity, known as Zalmoxis (whose name is interpreted as „the shinning man”, „the man of light”) and being identical with the Greek god Apollo. Constantin Daniel argues for the Uranian features of Zalmoxis, rejecting a traditional interpretation which ascribes him a chtonic character.
The cult of Zalmoxis prompted a moral and even ascetical life among its adepts and it created a community bound by relations of empathy and even brotherhood. The acceptance of Zalmoxis in the Thracian world led to the rejection of Dionysos and of his hedonistic cult, which was standing in opposition with the elevated spirituality of the worshippers of Zalmoxis.
Keywords : Zalmoxis, solar, cult of mysteries, Pitagora, ascetism, sensorial deprivation, immortality
The cult of Zalmoxis prompted a moral and even ascetical life among its adepts and it created a community bound by relations of empathy and even brotherhood. The acceptance of Zalmoxis in the Thracian world led to the rejection of Dionysos and of his hedonistic cult, which was standing in opposition with the elevated spirituality of the worshippers of Zalmoxis.
Keywords : Zalmoxis, solar, cult of mysteries, Pitagora, ascetism, sensorial deprivation, immortality
Research Interests: Mythology And Folklore, Mythology, Asceticism, Aniconism, Greek Religion, and 35 moreMysteries (Greek Religion), Ancient Greek Religion, Mystery cult, Pythagoreanism, Pythagoreans, Herodotus, Dacian civilization, Pythagoras, Dionysus, Immortality, Essenes, Thracian religion, Apollo, Eleusinian Mysteries, Pythagoras, Dacian Art, Dacians, Zalmoxis, Dacian Religion, Dacia, Dionysos, Preroman Dacia, Bacchus, Ancient Dacian History, Sun cult, Dacian Names, Mysteries, Ascetism, Celibacy, Katabasis, Dacian Civilisation, The Thracian Dacian Language, Solar Cult, The Cult of the Sun-god, Zamolxianism, and Zamolxe
The study consists of five chapters from a still unpublished book written by the Romanian orientalist Constantin Daniel. The book deals with the Thracian cult of Zalmoxis, considered as a cult of mysteries, similar to those practiced in... more
The study consists of five chapters from a still unpublished book written by the Romanian orientalist Constantin Daniel. The book deals with the Thracian cult of Zalmoxis, considered as a cult of mysteries, similar to those practiced in the Hellenistic world.
The first five chapters don’t approach directly the topic of the cult of Zalmoxis; they rather deal with the very tight connexions between the Greek and the Thracian cultures. In the author’s view, the Thracian world represented the origin of many of the cultural and religious ideas of the Greeks. Constantin Daniel depicts Troja as a Thracian city and the Greek religious ideals as being inspired by the realities of the religious life of the Thracs. Hence, the Abioii, the Hyperboreans and the Agathyrses (according to C. Daniel, all these people being Thracians) and their communities are put forward as the models that inspired the Greeks in creating their own religious ideals. Later on, the author will avail of this eulogistic perspective upon the Thracian spirituality in order to justify the elevated, highly spiritual character of the cult of Zalmoxis.
The first five chapters don’t approach directly the topic of the cult of Zalmoxis; they rather deal with the very tight connexions between the Greek and the Thracian cultures. In the author’s view, the Thracian world represented the origin of many of the cultural and religious ideas of the Greeks. Constantin Daniel depicts Troja as a Thracian city and the Greek religious ideals as being inspired by the realities of the religious life of the Thracs. Hence, the Abioii, the Hyperboreans and the Agathyrses (according to C. Daniel, all these people being Thracians) and their communities are put forward as the models that inspired the Greeks in creating their own religious ideals. Later on, the author will avail of this eulogistic perspective upon the Thracian spirituality in order to justify the elevated, highly spiritual character of the cult of Zalmoxis.
Research Interests: Mythology And Folklore, Mythology, Mysteries (Greek Religion), Ancient Greek Religion, Ancient myth and religion, and 23 moreThracian History, Dacian civilization, Ancient Thrace, History of ancient Thrace, Thracian religion, Greek mythology, Ancient Mysteries, Ancient Greek Mythology, ILLiad, Dacians, Hyperborea, Zalmoxis, Dacian Religion, Dacia, Troy, Troya, Preroman Dacia, Ancient Dacian History, ancient Greek Mysteries, Ancient Mystery Cults, Troy Studies, Zamolxianism, and Zamolxe
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Research Interests: Indian Philosophy, Ritual, Indian Culture, Mimamsa, Life Rituals (i.e. birth, marriage, death etc.), and 15 moreDharma, Vedic Ritual, Initiation Rituals, Vedic Studies, Indian Philosophy and Religion, Ancient India, Classical Indian Philosophy, Rig Veda, Funeral Rites, Vedas, Marriage Rituals, Indian Society & Culture, Dharmasutras, Classical Indian Thought, and Vedic pre-natal rituals
The criticism that David Hume brings to the rational character of causal knowledge - a basic claim of human knowledge and science - represents a skeptical challenge addressed not only to a single element of knowledge, but to the... more
The criticism that David Hume brings to the rational character of causal knowledge - a basic claim of human knowledge and science - represents a skeptical challenge addressed not only to a single element of knowledge, but to the frequently assumed anthropological presupposition, that man were fundamentally a rational being. Through this approach, a new conception of man is proposed, in which naturalism and instinctuality replace rationality, as defining elements of the human being.
Through his criticism upon causality, Hume proposes a much more modest epistemic and anthropological ideal: the cognitive function of knowledge is replaced by a rather instrumental function, deductive certainty is replaced by inductive probability, the claims of metaphysics to be able to discuss essence, substance or self are simply compromised, human rationality pales in front of instinctivity and naturalism. We cannot rationally understand the dynamics of the universe, we only instinctively anticipate it. The causal relationship does not represent "knowledge" so much, but only the mechanical exercise of a psychological instinct well tuned to reality, which manages to predict, in an irrational way, certain occurrences based on others.
Moreover, David Hume's analysis of causality is relevant from an anthropological point of view. Usually, reason and the ability to rationally understand the world have been identified as the essence of man; by questioning the status and the capacities of reason, Hume attempts a redefinition of human condition. Moreover, the psychological and instinctual standpoint from which Hume attempts the explanation of the causal relationship leads him, finally, to adopt a naturalistic position regarding the human being, which denies the existence of a fundamental differentiation between man and animal. Both human beings and animals use knowledge instrumentally, instinctually, without being able to give it a full rational foundation.
Through his criticism upon causality, Hume proposes a much more modest epistemic and anthropological ideal: the cognitive function of knowledge is replaced by a rather instrumental function, deductive certainty is replaced by inductive probability, the claims of metaphysics to be able to discuss essence, substance or self are simply compromised, human rationality pales in front of instinctivity and naturalism. We cannot rationally understand the dynamics of the universe, we only instinctively anticipate it. The causal relationship does not represent "knowledge" so much, but only the mechanical exercise of a psychological instinct well tuned to reality, which manages to predict, in an irrational way, certain occurrences based on others.
Moreover, David Hume's analysis of causality is relevant from an anthropological point of view. Usually, reason and the ability to rationally understand the world have been identified as the essence of man; by questioning the status and the capacities of reason, Hume attempts a redefinition of human condition. Moreover, the psychological and instinctual standpoint from which Hume attempts the explanation of the causal relationship leads him, finally, to adopt a naturalistic position regarding the human being, which denies the existence of a fundamental differentiation between man and animal. Both human beings and animals use knowledge instrumentally, instinctually, without being able to give it a full rational foundation.
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Research Interests: Philosophy Of Religion, Empiricism, Contemporary Religion, Analytic Philosophy of Religion, Humanism, and 15 moreNaturalism, Religion and Science, Empiricism (Philosophy), Religion and Culture, Teologie, Scientific study of religion and theology, John Hick, Natural Religion, Religious Naturalism, Religie, Escathology, Empirism, Scientific Study of Religion, Empiricial Metaphysics, and filosofia religiei
Research Interests: Philosophy Of Religion, Religious Ethics, Religious Pluralism, Analytic Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Love, and 15 moreReligious Practice, Interreligious Dialogue, Empathy (Philosophy), Philosophy of Religious Pluralism, Empathy, Comparative Religious Ethics, John Hick, Religion and pluralism, Religious Beliefs and Practices, Theology of Religious Pluralism, Interreligious Studies, Interreligious Relations, Philosophy of Religion and ethics, Philosophy of Religion, and Analytical Philosophy of Religion
Research Interests: Philosophy of Mind, Theory of Mind, Phenomenology, Franz Brentano, Edmund Husserl, and 15 moreIntentionality, Husserl, Husserlian phenomenology, Dualism, Fenomenología, Brentano, Cartesian substance dualism, Fenomenologia, Substance Dualism, Cartesian Dualism, External World, Fenomenology Studies, Phenomenal Intentionality, Epoche, and External Objects
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"Under the influence of the rationalist and humanist tendencies of the Enlightenment, Schleiermacher attempted a reconstruction of Christianity, based not on a revelation received from above but on the natural human experience. Religious... more
"Under the influence of the rationalist and humanist tendencies of the Enlightenment, Schleiermacher attempted a reconstruction of Christianity, based not on a revelation received from above but on the natural human experience. Religious affections are considered a natural human experience present, to various degrees, even in the most ordinary states, such as the sensorial interaction with the Universe. Piety is different from knowledge and action and consists in the direct feeling of the intimate connection of the individual being to the Whole, to the Universe. Religious intuition points to the utter dependence of every finite being on the Infinite. Not only human experiences and culture, but the entire Cosmos naturally evolves towards the unity revealed in religion.
At its climax, religion will be entirely dissolved in human culture, at a point where humanity will fully appropriate the unitary perspective of religion. Secularity is the ultimate destiny of religion, which tends to lose its separate identity through a total pervasion in the immanence."
At its climax, religion will be entirely dissolved in human culture, at a point where humanity will fully appropriate the unitary perspective of religion. Secularity is the ultimate destiny of religion, which tends to lose its separate identity through a total pervasion in the immanence."
