From Zen to Phenomenology

From Zen to Phenomenology
Author: Algis Mickunas
Publisher: Nova Science Publishers
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2018
Genre: Phenomenology
ISBN: 9781536132328

The encounter between Japan and the West posed a question as to whether there can be any mutual understanding between such seemingly different civilizations. Japanese intellectuals came to Europe to study Western thinking and found that the prevalent positivism and pragmatism were inadequate, and turned to phenomenology as a way of dealing with awareness, unavailable in other Western philosophical trends. Japanese opened a "dialogue" with such thinkers as Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger; this text is an explication of this "dialogue"..From Zen to Phenomenology opens the essential dimensions of transcendental phenomenology and the way of Zen in order to disclose the conjunction between these two "schools" of awareness. The research offered in the text traces the origins of Zen to the Buddhist Nagarjuna, presenting his arguments that all explanatory claims of awareness are "empty". In Zen, the phenomenon of emptiness is a "place holder" depicted as basho where anything can appear without obstructions. The task, in the text, is to show how such a "place" can be reached by excluding claims by some Japanese and Western scholars as to the "aims" of Zen. The introduction of "aims" is equally an obstruction and must be avoided, just as an attachment to a specific Zen "school" is to be discarded.Phenomenological analyses of time awareness show the presence of a domain which is composed of flux and permanence such that both aspects are given as empty "place holders" for any possible reality of any culture. The awareness of these aspects is neither one nor the other, and hence can appear through both as "primal" symbols fluctuating one through the other. If we say that everything changes, we encounter the permanence of this claim, and if we say that everything is permanent, we encounter an effort to maintain such permanence - both disclosing a "movement" between them, comprising a "place" for any understanding of a world explicated in any culture. This is the domain where Zen and transcendental phenomenology find their "groundless ground". (Nova)

Merleau-Ponty and Buddhism

Merleau-Ponty and Buddhism
Author: Jin Y. Park
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2009-08-13
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0739140779

Merleau-Ponty and Buddhism explores a new mode of philosophizing through a comparative study of Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology and philosophies of major Buddhist thinkers such as Nagarjuna, Chinul, Dogen, Shinran, and Nishida Kitaro. Challenging the dualistic paradigm of existing philosophical traditions, Merleau-Ponty proposes a philosophy in which the traditional opposites are encountered through mutual penetration. Likewise, a Buddhist worldview is articulated in the theory of dependent co-arising, or the middle path, which comprehends the world and beings in the third space, where the subject and the object, or eternalism and annihilation, exist independent of one another. The thirteen essays in this volume explore this third space in their discussions of Merleau-Ponty's concepts of the intentional arc, the flesh of the world, and the chiasm of visibility in connection with the Buddhist doctrine of no-self and the five aggregates, the Tiantai Buddhist concept of threefold truth, Zen Buddhist huatou meditation, the invocation of the Amida Buddha in True Pure Land Buddhism, and Nishida's concept of basho.

Introduction to Phenomenology

Introduction to Phenomenology
Author: Dermot Moran
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 589
Release: 2002-06-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1134671067

Introduction to Phenomenology is an outstanding and comprehensive guide to phenomenology. Dermot Moran lucidly examines the contributions of phenomenology's nine seminal thinkers: Brentano, Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer, Arendt, Levinas, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty and Derrida. Written in a clear and engaging style, Introduction to Phenomenology charts the course of the phenomenological movement from its origins in Husserl to its transformation by Derrida. It describes the thought of Heidegger and Sartre, phenomonology's most famous thinkers, and introduces and assesses the distinctive use of phenomonology by some of its lesser known exponents, such as Levinas, Arendt and Gadamer. Throughout the book, the enormous influence of phenomenology on the course of twentieth-century philosophy is thoroughly explored. This is an indispensible introduction for all unfamiliar with this much talked about but little understood school of thought. Technical terms are explained throughout and jargon is avoided. Introduction to Phenomenology will be of interest to all students seeking a reliable introduction to a key movement in European thought.

Buddhist Phenomenology

Buddhist Phenomenology
Author: Dan Lusthaus
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 634
Release: 2014-02-04
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1317973429

A richly complex study of the Yogacara tradition of Buddhism, divided into five parts: the first on Buddhism and phenomenology, the second on the four basic models of Indian Buddhist thought, the third on karma, meditation and epistemology, the fourth on the Trimsika and its translations, and finally the fifth on the Ch'eng Wei-shih Lun and Yogacara in China.

Intercultural Phenomenology

Intercultural Phenomenology
Author: Yuko Ishihara
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2023-12-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1350298301

Intercultural Phenomenology explores the nature of reality by engaging in a cross-cultural dialogue between two of the most influential philosophical traditions of the 20th century. Drawing on ideas from phenomenology, Japanese philosophy and Zen Buddhism, it follows the philosophers who changed their perception of the world by choosing to suspend judgement. Guided by this philosophical method known as the “epoché”, or suspension of judgment in ancient Greek, it is an introduction to the philosophy and practice of letting objects in the world speak for themselves. Inspired by Nishida Kitaro's insight that true reality is beyond the subject-object duality, the book uses a series of examples and exercises to explore the background to Husserl's idea of the phenomenological epoché, Hans-Georg Gadamer's emphasis on play in human understanding and the haiku poet Matsuo Basho's call for a new level of freedom. This practice-oriented approach moves beyond the traditional East-West divide. It connects various traditions, old and new, contemplative and theoretical, and explains why Japanese philosophy and phenomenology can enrich the quality of our lived experience.

Beyond Personal Identity

Beyond Personal Identity
Author: Gereon Kopf
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1136603034

Applies Dogen Kigen's religious philosophy and the philosophy of Nishida Kitaro to the philosophical problem of personal identity, probing the applicability of the concept of non-self to the philosophical problems of selfhood, otherness, and temporality which culminate in the conundrum of personal identity.

Zen and the Art of Postmodern Philosophy

Zen and the Art of Postmodern Philosophy
Author: Carl Olson
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2000-08-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0791492214

This book examines and compares the philosophical positions of various postmodern thinkers and Zen Buddhist philosophers on: language and play; modes of thinking; skepticism and doubt; self and other; time and death; nihilism and metaphysics; and the conception of the end of philosophy. The Zen thinkers dealt with are Dogen and Nishitani, and the Western thinkers are Derrida, Lacan, Heidegger, Lyotard, Foucault, Deleuze and Guatarri, Kristeva, and Levinas. Although each share similar notions concerning the shortcomings of representational thinking, major differences still exist. By clarifying these differences, Olson counters the tendency to overtly assert or covertly imply that postmodern and Zen philosophies are moving in the same direction. Some postmodern thinkers and Zen Buddhist philosophers share common philosophical ground with regard to a mutual philosophical attack and attempt to overcome the perceived shortcomings of the representational mode of thinking that conceives of the mind like a mirror and assumes a correspondence between appearance and reality that is supported by a metaphysical structure.

Light of Zen in the West

Light of Zen in the West
Author: Graham Rooth
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2004-07-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1782847340

Includes works such as "Buddha and the Intuition of the Universal" and "Techniques of Timeless Realization". This book invites us to make our own journey toward spiritual transformation and the intuitive understanding of universal truths.

Zen Training

Zen Training
Author: Katsuki Sekida
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2005-09-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 083482583X

This pioneering guide to zazen—Zen-style seated meditation—provides practical instructions on how to begin or elevate your practice and progress along the Zen path Zen Training is a comprehensive handbook for zazen, seated meditation practice, and an authoritative presentation of the Zen path. The book marked a turning point in Zen literature in its critical reevaluation of the enlightenment experience, which the author believes has often been emphasized at the expense of other important aspects of Zen training. In addition, Zen Training goes beyond the first flashes of enlightenment to explore how one lives as well as trains in Zen. The author also draws many significant parallels between Zen and Western philosophy and psychology, comparing traditional Zen concepts with the theories of being and cognition of such thinkers as Heidegger and Husserl.