Meditation Transcending Signs: Seven Concepts for a Buddhist Psychosemiotics
Philosophies January 12, 2026 DOI: 10.3390/philosophies11010007 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism Meditation |
| Keywords | Cognition Constitution Theme computing Immanence Biosemiotics Epistemology Cognitive science Vocabulary Structuring Transcendence philosophy Order exchange |
| Key points | Argues that in Pāli Buddhist texts, language and semiosis are central to the structuring of cognitive processes and the constitution of a shared yet partly subjective world. |
Abstract
This paper aims to provide an in-depth and detailed overview of the relationship between language and cognition in Pāli Buddhist texts. These reflections will touch on several fundamental themes, such as the role of signs in structuring cognitive processes and semiosis as a force linked to the proliferation of concepts and percepts, whose organization underlies the constitution of a shared and partly subjective “world”. The paper will engage with linguistics, semiotics, and biosemiotics in order to acquire a vocabulary capable of better understanding the Buddhist reflections on these issues, and, where possible, it will also offer a genealogical inquiry that explains why the theme of language takes on the pivotal role it holds in Pāli Buddhism.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience | 1995 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 9
- An Anthropological Outline of the Sutta Nipāta: The Contemplative Experience in Early Buddhist Poetry Religions January 29, 2023
- Language and Consciousness in Early Buddhist Thought: On the Early Reflections on the Theme of Language and the Perception of Reality in the Pāli Canon Philosophies April 25, 2025
- Beyond semiosis: early Buddhist phenomenology and theory of consciousness Cogent Arts and Humanities July 16, 2025
- Who Identifies with the Aggregates? Philosophical Implications of the Selected Khandha Passages in the Nikāyas Journal of Indian Philosophy September 9, 2023
- Semiosis and nāmarūpa: Exploring the Early Buddhist Theory of Signs Through Cognitive Semiotics Philosophies August 27, 2025
and 4 more in the library