Contexts and Dialogue: Yogacara Buddhism and Modern Psychology on the Subliminal Mind (Society for Asian & comparative philosophy monograph) by Tao Jiang

by Tao Jiang

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 Yogâcâra 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.

Genres: Buddhism, Philosophy, Psychology, China, Psychoanalysis

Unknown Binding

First published November 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jessica Zu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most eloquently written book on comparative studies of Buddhism and psycho-analysis. On one hand, it succinctly summarizes the intellectual history of Yocacara and demonstrates to us it is truly a philosophy of the mind in every modern sense that we can think of. On the other hand, it also reveals to us one has to understand it in its own terms by walking us through its development from earlier Buddhist thought.
I'm surprised that not many more people are interested in this subject while claiming merging East with West and declaring Buddhism as the religion of science.

[Kelvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written piece which about the comparative study among the concept of unconscious mind under the framework of Xuan Zang, Freud and Jung.