A Buddhist History of the West: Studies in Lack
A Buddhist interpretation of Western history that shows civilization shaped by the self's desire for groundedness.

Buddhism teaches that to become happy, greed, ill-will, and delusion must be transformed into their positive counterparts: generosity, compassion, and wisdom. The history of the West, like all histories, has been plagued by the consequences of greed, ill-will, and delusion. A Buddhist History of the West investigates how individuals have tried to ground themselves to make themselves feel more real. To be self-conscious is to experience ungroundedness as a sense of lack, but what is lacking has been understood differently in different historical periods. Author David R. Loy examines how the understanding of lack changes at historical junctures and shows how those junctures were so crucial in the development of the West.

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A Buddhist History of the West: Studies in Lack
A Buddhist interpretation of Western history that shows civilization shaped by the self's desire for groundedness.

Buddhism teaches that to become happy, greed, ill-will, and delusion must be transformed into their positive counterparts: generosity, compassion, and wisdom. The history of the West, like all histories, has been plagued by the consequences of greed, ill-will, and delusion. A Buddhist History of the West investigates how individuals have tried to ground themselves to make themselves feel more real. To be self-conscious is to experience ungroundedness as a sense of lack, but what is lacking has been understood differently in different historical periods. Author David R. Loy examines how the understanding of lack changes at historical junctures and shows how those junctures were so crucial in the development of the West.

34.95 In Stock
A Buddhist History of the West: Studies in Lack

A Buddhist History of the West: Studies in Lack

by David R. Loy
A Buddhist History of the West: Studies in Lack

A Buddhist History of the West: Studies in Lack

by David R. Loy

Paperback(New Edition)

$34.95 
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Overview

A Buddhist interpretation of Western history that shows civilization shaped by the self's desire for groundedness.

Buddhism teaches that to become happy, greed, ill-will, and delusion must be transformed into their positive counterparts: generosity, compassion, and wisdom. The history of the West, like all histories, has been plagued by the consequences of greed, ill-will, and delusion. A Buddhist History of the West investigates how individuals have tried to ground themselves to make themselves feel more real. To be self-conscious is to experience ungroundedness as a sense of lack, but what is lacking has been understood differently in different historical periods. Author David R. Loy examines how the understanding of lack changes at historical junctures and shows how those junctures were so crucial in the development of the West.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780791452608
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Publication date: 01/31/2002
Series: SUNY series in Religious Studies
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

David R. Loy is Professor in the Faculty of International Studies at Bunkyo University, Japan. He is the author of Lack and Transcendence: The Problem of Death and Life in Psychotherapy, Existentialism, and Buddhism and Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Toward a Buddhist Perspective

1. The Lack of Freedom

2. The Lack of Progress

3. The Renaissance of Lack

4. The Lack of Modernity

5. The Lack of Civil Society

6. Preparing for Something That Never Happens

7. The Religion of the Market

Afterword: The Future of Lack

Notes


Bibliography


Index

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