The Body: Toward an Eastern Mind-Body TheoryThis book explores mind-body philosophy from an Asian perspective. It sheds new light on a problem central in modern Western thought. Yuasa shows that Eastern philosophy has generally formulated its view of mind-body unity as an achievement a state to be acquired--rather than as essential or innate. Depending on the individual's own developmental state, the mind-body connection can vary from near dissociation to almost perfect integration. Whereas Western mind-body theories have typically asked what the mind-body is, Yuasa asks how the mind-body relation varies on a spectrum from the psychotic to the yogi, from the debilitated to the athletic, from the awkward novice to the master musician. Yuasa first examines various Asian texts dealing with Buddhist meditation, kundalini yoga, acupuncture, ethics, and epistemology, developing a concept of the "dark consciousness" (not identical with the psychoanalytic unconscious) as a vehicle for explaining their basic view. He shows that the mind-body image found in those texts has a striking correlation to themes in contemporary French phenomenology, Jungian psychoanalysis, psychomatic medicine, and neurophysiology. The book clears the ground for a provocative meeting between East and West, establishing a philosophical region on which science and religion can be mutually illuminating. |
Contents
IV | 31 |
V | 37 |
VI | 41 |
VII | 46 |
VIII | 49 |
IX | 50 |
X | 52 |
XI | 56 |
XXXVI | 136 |
XXXVII | 143 |
XXXVIII | 148 |
XXXIX | 153 |
XL | 157 |
XLI | 161 |
XLII | 162 |
XLIII | 165 |
XII | 60 |
XIII | 63 |
XIV | 65 |
XV | 72 |
XVI | 75 |
XVII | 76 |
XVIII | 81 |
XIX | 85 |
XX | 89 |
XXI | 93 |
XXII | 98 |
XXIII | 99 |
XXV | 101 |
XXVI | 104 |
XXVII | 107 |
XXVIII | 111 |
XXIX | 114 |
XXX | 118 |
XXXI | 122 |
XXXII | 125 |
XXXIII | 126 |
XXXIV | 130 |
XXXV | 133 |
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Common terms and phrases
acting intuition active attitude autonomic nerves base structure basho vis-à-vis being-in-the-world Bergson bodhisattva bodily scheme body-mind body's bright consciousness Buddha cerebral cortex Chinese conditioned reflex contemporary contrast cortex dark consciousness depth psychology Descartes developed dharma dimension Dōgen Eastern thought emotions Esoteric Buddhism everyday example existence external world function fundamental grasp Heidegger Indian intellectual internal perception Japan Japanese Japanese Buddhism Jung Kūkai life-space Mahāvairocana mandala means medicine memory Merleau-Ponty metaphysics mind and body mind-body relation mind-body theory mode modern motor nature nervous system Nishida object one's ordinary experience organs passive perience phenomena phenomenology physiological practice precepts psychosomatic relationship religious Saichō samādhi satori seated meditation secular self-consciousness self's sensations sense sensory sensory-motor circuit Shōbōgenzō somatic somatic nervous system spatial standpoint sūtras Taoism tathāgata teachings theoretical thinking tion Tokyo tradition transcendent unconscious understanding vinaya waka Watsuji WATSUJI Tetsuro Western philosophy Yoga Yuasa
Popular passages
Page 18 - What is the relationship between the mind-body?" In other words, in the East one starts from the experiential assumption that the mind-body modality changes through the training of the mind and body by means of cultivation (shugyo) or training (keiko). Only after assuming this experiential ground does one ask what the mind-body relation is. That is, the mindbody issue is not simply a theoretical speculation but it is originally a practical, lived experience (taiken*), involving the mustering of one's...
Page 26 - ... Eastern theories. To put it simply, true knowledge cannot be obtained simply by means of theoretical thinking, but only through "bodily recognition or realization" (tainin or taitoku), that is, through the utilization of one's total mind and body. Simply stated, this is to "learn with the body
Page 4 - ... should be analyzed. For the modern Western tradition, a mind-body theory is primarily concerned with the empirically observable correlations between mental and somatic phenomena. In the Japanese tradition, however, the mindbody theories generally focus on how a disciplined practice allows one to attain body-mind unity.