From Reductionism to Creativity

by GUENTHER, HERBERT V.

• ISBN13: 9781570626418
• ISBN10: 1570626413
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-05-01
• Publisher: Shambhala

Summary

Writing in the language of the new sciences, Herbert Guenther traces the evolution of Buddhist views on cognition and points to their relevance in the contemporary world. The history of Buddhist thought is a unique example of the interplay between reductionism and creativity, between conservatism and innovation, and it is the author's purpose to examine the interaction between these complementary movements. Of decisive importance in this context is the idea of "mind," which Buddhism recognized early on as a process rather than a thing. This recognition marked the transition from structure-oriented thinking to a vigorous process-oriented thinking, which climaxed in the holistic movement known as rDzogs-chen. Based on original texts in the Pali, Tibetan, and Sanskrit languages, the book develops the Buddhist ideas out of the context in which they originated.

Author Biography

Herbert V. Guenther is Professor Emeritus of Far Eastern Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. Among his many published works are his translation of The Life and Teaching of Naropa and The Dawn of Tantra.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Acknowledgments	xv
Introduction	1	(8)
Abhidharma: Its Scope and Meaning	9	(6)
The Meaning of the Term Abhidharma	9	(4)
The Meaning of the Term Buddha	13	(2)
The Operational System ``Mind''	15	(26)
The Importance of a Healthy Attitude	15	(8)
A Structural Model of ``Mind''	23	(11)
``Mind'' as a Self-Structuring Process	34	(7)
The Contextualized System ``Mind''	41	(11)
Sociocultural Operators	41	(11)
Pollutants and Quasi Pollutants	52	(10)
Pollutants	52	(6)
The Quasi Pollutants	58	(3)
Summary	61	(1)
Concentration, Contemplation, Meditation: preliminaries on the way of growing up	62	(33)
Objectivistic-Reductionistic Concentration	66	(15)
Mentalistic-Creative Contemplation	81	(8)
Holistic Imparting of Meaning	89	(6)
The Way: the earlier view I	95	(11)
Introductory Remarks	95	(2)
The Theravada Conception of the Way	97	(9)
The Way: the earlier view II	106	(20)
The Sravaka and Pratyekabuddha Ways	106	(1)
The Sravaka Conception of the Way	106	(16)
The Pratyekabuddha Conception of the Way	122	(4)
The Way: the later view I	126	(25)
The Bodhisattva Way I: Prelude	126	(1)
The Meaning of the Terms Bodhisattva and Bodhicitta	126	(2)
rigs/khams	128	(4)
de-bzhin/bde-bar gshegs-pa'i snying-po	132	(4)
The Activation of Bodhicitta	136	(9)
Ethics and Sociocultural Levels	145	(6)
The Way: the later view II	151	(33)
The Bodhisattva Way II: The Exact Itinerary	151	(1)
The Build-up Phase	151	(10)
The Probability of a Breakthrough	161	(4)
The Way of Seeing	165	(7)
The Way of Cultivating What Has Been Seen	172	(2)
The Way of No More Learning	174	(10)
RDzogs-chen: supercompleteness I	184	(11)
Introductory Remarks	184	(4)
The rDzogs-chen Program	188	(7)
RDzogs-chen: supercompleteness II	195	(11)
The Homologous Evolution of Man and God/Teacher	195	(1)
The Evolution of the God/Teacher Idea	195	(4)
The Evolution of Man as the Holomovement's Errancy Mode	199	(7)
RDzogs-chen: supercompleteness III	206	(17)
Ontological Difference and Coordinated Hierarchy	206	(1)
The Ontological Difference	206	(9)
Coordinated Hierarchy	215	(8)
RDzogs-chen: supercompleteness IV	223	(22)
The Role of Fluctuations in an Individual's Psychic Evolution	223	(1)
The Homology of Mentation Pollutants and Originary-Awareness Modes	223	(12)
The Dynamics of Self-Organization: Obscuration and Clearing	235	(10)
Epilogue	245	(4)
Notes	249	(35)
References	284	(7)
Indexes	291
Technical Terms	291
Subjects	300