Consciousness has been a key idea in my thinking for a long time; in academia, it became the locus for the investigation and conceptualization of deeper intuitions that I may have cultivated even as a child.I began my studies at the university in the midst of a fiery search for answers to the big questions of life.These did not seem to be addressed by my studies in psy chol ogy, with its...
Abstract This article offers a new interpretation of Brahma-vihāra meditation (BVM) in early Buddhism, positioning it between ethical cultivation and development of samādhi ; BVM can thereby perfect ethical practice by creating a comprehensive meditative state that is thoroughly ethical. The fact that the radically ethical states of mind of BVM are sometimes included in the path to liberation,...
This chapter offers a new scientific engagement with the idea of religious truth, suggesting that it is the prerogative of the scholar of religion to take emic ideas seriously and to be open to the possibility that religions access a true level of reality. So long as we deny any truth to religion, we are not scientific and only confirm our own assumptions. The approach suggested here emerges...
A cornerstone of Buddhist philosophy, the doctrine of the four noble truths maintains that life is replete with suffering, desire is the cause of suffering, nirvana is the end of suffering, and the way to nirvana is the eightfold noble path. Although the attribution of this seminal doctrine to the historical Buddha is ubiquitous, Rethinking the Buddha demonstrates through a careful examination...