Contexts And Dialogue: Yogacara Buddhism And Modern Psychology On The Subliminal Mind (monographs Of The Society For Asian & Comparative Philosophy)
by Tao Jiang /
2006 / English / PDF
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Are there Buddhist conceptions of the unconscious? If so, are they
more Freudian, Jungian, or something else? If not, can Buddhist
conceptions be reconciled with the Freudian, Jungian, or other
models? These are some of the questions that have motivated modern
scholarship to approach alayavijnana, the storehouse consciousness,
formulated in Yogacara Buddhism as a subliminal reservoir of
tendencies, habits, and future possibilities. Tao Jiang argues
convincingly that such questions are inherently problematic because
they frame their interpretations of the Buddhist notion largely in
terms of responses to modern psychology. He proposes that, if we
are to understand alayavijnana properly and compare it with the
unconscious responsibly, we need to change the way the questions
are posed so that alayavijnana and the unconscious can first be
understood within their own contexts and then recontextualized
within a dialogical setting. In so doing, certain paradigmatic
assumptions embedded in the original frameworks of Buddhist and
modern psychological theories are exposed. Jiang brings together
Xuan Zang's alayavijnana and Freud's and Jung's unconscious to
focus on what the differences are in the thematic concerns of the
three theories, why such differences exist in terms of their
objectives, and how their methods of theorization contribute to
these differences. "Contexts and Dialogue" puts forth a
fascinating, erudite, and carefully argued presentation of the
subliminal mind. It proposes a new paradigm in comparative
philosophy that examines the what, why, and how in navigating the
similarities and differences of philosophical systems through
contextualization and recontextualization.
Are there Buddhist conceptions of the unconscious? If so, are they
more Freudian, Jungian, or something else? If not, can Buddhist
conceptions be reconciled with the Freudian, Jungian, or other
models? These are some of the questions that have motivated modern
scholarship to approach alayavijnana, the storehouse consciousness,
formulated in Yogacara Buddhism as a subliminal reservoir of
tendencies, habits, and future possibilities. Tao Jiang argues
convincingly that such questions are inherently problematic because
they frame their interpretations of the Buddhist notion largely in
terms of responses to modern psychology. He proposes that, if we
are to understand alayavijnana properly and compare it with the
unconscious responsibly, we need to change the way the questions
are posed so that alayavijnana and the unconscious can first be
understood within their own contexts and then recontextualized
within a dialogical setting. In so doing, certain paradigmatic
assumptions embedded in the original frameworks of Buddhist and
modern psychological theories are exposed. Jiang brings together
Xuan Zang's alayavijnana and Freud's and Jung's unconscious to
focus on what the differences are in the thematic concerns of the
three theories, why such differences exist in terms of their
objectives, and how their methods of theorization contribute to
these differences. "Contexts and Dialogue" puts forth a
fascinating, erudite, and carefully argued presentation of the
subliminal mind. It proposes a new paradigm in comparative
philosophy that examines the what, why, and how in navigating the
similarities and differences of philosophical systems through
contextualization and recontextualization.
