The Indian Renouncer and Postmodern Poison

The Indian Renouncer and Postmodern Poison PDF Author: Carl Olson
Publisher: Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 414

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Book Description
In his essay on the pharmacy of Plato, Jacques Derrida discusses the ambivalence associated with the notion of pharmakon (drug, medicine, or poison) and its ability to either cure or destroy. By allowing the Indian renouncer and selected postmodern thinkers to share the medicine of each party in a cross-cultural exchange of ideas, this work will attempt to cure one's understanding about the several roles played by the renouncer as a stranger, hero figure, androgynous being, and victim of self-sacrificial violence. The Indian Renouncer and Postmodern Poison includes a look at the possibility of the renouncer assuming the roles of a masochistic or narcissistic figure. By examining the renouncer's way of life and the variety of roles that he can play, this work demonstrates how the renouncer transforms himself into a symbol of difference. Throughout this study, the theoretical work of selected postmodern thinkers (e.g., Derrida, Kristeva, Levinas, Deleuze, Bataille, Blanchot, and Foucault) are used to raise new questions about the Indian renouncer.

The Indian Renouncer and Postmodern Poison

The Indian Renouncer and Postmodern Poison PDF Author: Carl Olson
Publisher: Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 414

Get Book Here

Book Description
In his essay on the pharmacy of Plato, Jacques Derrida discusses the ambivalence associated with the notion of pharmakon (drug, medicine, or poison) and its ability to either cure or destroy. By allowing the Indian renouncer and selected postmodern thinkers to share the medicine of each party in a cross-cultural exchange of ideas, this work will attempt to cure one's understanding about the several roles played by the renouncer as a stranger, hero figure, androgynous being, and victim of self-sacrificial violence. The Indian Renouncer and Postmodern Poison includes a look at the possibility of the renouncer assuming the roles of a masochistic or narcissistic figure. By examining the renouncer's way of life and the variety of roles that he can play, this work demonstrates how the renouncer transforms himself into a symbol of difference. Throughout this study, the theoretical work of selected postmodern thinkers (e.g., Derrida, Kristeva, Levinas, Deleuze, Bataille, Blanchot, and Foucault) are used to raise new questions about the Indian renouncer.

Indian Asceticism

Indian Asceticism PDF Author: Carl Olson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190266406
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Throughout the history of Indian religions, the ascetic figure is most closely identified with power. A by-product of the ascetic path, power is displayed in the ability to fly, walk on water or through dense objects, read minds, discern the former lives of others, see into the future, harm others, or simply levitate one's body. These tales give rise to questions about how power and violence are related to the phenomenon of play. Indian Asceticism focuses on the powers exhibited by ascetics of India from ancient to modern time. Carl Olson discusses the erotic, the demonic, the comic, and the miraculous forms of play and their connections to power and violence. He focuses on Hinduism, but evidence is also presented from Buddhism and Jainism, suggesting that the subject matter of this book pervades India's major indigenous religious traditions. The book includes a look at the extent to which findings in cognitive science can add to our understanding of these various powers; Olson argues that violence is built into the practice of the ascetic. Indian Asceticism culminates with an attempt to rethink the nature of power in a way that does justice to the literary evidence from Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain sources.

The Ethics of Sankara and Santideva

The Ethics of Sankara and Santideva PDF Author: Warren Lee Todd
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317033698
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
Exploring the philosophical concerns of the nature of self, this book draws from two of the most influential Indian masters, Śaṅkara and Śāntideva. Todd demonstrates that an ethics of altruism is still possible within a metaphysics which assumes there to be no independent self. A new ethical model based on the notions of ’flickering consciousness’ and ’constructive altruism’ is proposed. By comparing the metaphysics and ethics of Śaṅkara and Śāntideva, Todd shows that the methodologies and aims of these Buddhist and Hindu masters trace remarkably similar cross-cutting paths. Treating Buddhism and Hinduism with equal respect, this book compares and reinterprets the Indian material so as to engage with contemporary Western debates on self and to show that Indian philosophy is indeed a philosophy of dialogue.

Indian Philosophers and Postmodern Thinkers

Indian Philosophers and Postmodern Thinkers PDF Author: Carl Olson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
This work presents a dialogue between classical and contemporary Indian and postmodern thinkers. Juxtaposing the diverse perspectives of Indian philosophers and philosophies, including Buddhism, Sankara, and Radhakrishnan, and western postmodern thinkers such as Lacan and Derrida, Olson addresses topics such as desire, suffering, the self, and identity.

Zen and the Art of Postmodern Philosophy

Zen and the Art of Postmodern Philosophy PDF Author: Carl Olson
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791446546
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Carl Olson is Professor of Religious Studies at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. His previous books include The Indian Renouncer and Postmodern Poison: A Cross-Cultural Encounter and The Theology and Philosophy of Eliade: A Search for the Centre.

India

India PDF Author: John N. Mayor
Publisher: Nova Publishers
ISBN: 9781590332993
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
India, long known for its huge population, religious conflicts and its status as not-quite best friend ally of the United States has moved from the backwaters of world attention to centre stage. Afghanistan and Pakistan with whom India is in almost conflict, are neighbours. India has developed a nuclear capability which also has a way of grabbing attention. This book discusses current issues and historical background and provides a thorough index important to a better understanding of this diverse country.

The Daśanāmī-Saṃnyāsīs

The Daśanāmī-Saṃnyāsīs PDF Author: Matthew Clark
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047410025
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
This book provides an account of the organisation, practices and history of the Daśanāmī-Saṃnyāsīs, one of the largest sects of sādhu-s (‘holy men’) in South Asia, founded, according to tradtion, by the legendary philosopher Śaṅkarācārya.

Hindu Primary Sources

Hindu Primary Sources PDF Author: Carl Olson
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813540704
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 594

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Book Description
Bringing together texts from a variety of sectarian traditions, this reader provides the broadest selection of primary source Hindu literature available to date. The volume is divided into two major parts. The first section presents selections that explore major themes in classical Sanskrit traditions, including those in the Vedic, Upanisadic, and Dharma literatures, as well as the classical philosophical-religious schools. The second part includes selections that highlight the sectarian and devotional movements related to major deities such as Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna, Rama, Sant, Tantra, and the goddess figures. In addition to a general introductory chapter on Indian literature, each major section is introduced by an essay that places the selections within the context of Hindu history. This comprehensive reader stands on its own as an indispensable anthology of original textual sources for courses in Hinduism, while also serving as a companion volume to the text The Many Colors of Hinduism: A Thematic-Historical Introduction.

Reality, Religion, and Passion

Reality, Religion, and Passion PDF Author: Jessica Frazier
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739124390
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
The problem of radical doubt has threatened the commitment to ultimate truth in many cultures and periods. In Reality, Religion, and Passion, Jessica Frazier compares two thinkers who sought to restore philosophy's passion for truth in cultures threatened by the dispassion of radical doubt. In these complementary but divergent philosophies from Europe and India, each grounded in a transcendental metaphysics that sees consciousness as the basis of reality, two different ethics of vitality and passion take shape. Frazier shows how Heidegger's heir, Hans-Georg Gadamer, uses metaphysical insights borrowed from Plato, Aristotle, Hegel, and Heidegger as the ground for an ethics of "play" which casts a uniquely positive light on the finitude and flux of the postmodern world-view. Complementing this continental European position, the work of Rupa Gosvami, a poet-theologian of early modern India develops a similar analysis of phenomenal reality into a philosophy not of play, but of passion. From Gadamer's philosophers and poets, to Gosvami's amorous goddess Radha, both visions see salvation in a renewed passion for truth. This journey toward a viable philosophy of life touches on a range of debates in Western philosophy and Indian religion, including the nature of philosophical and religious truths, the perceived goals of philosophy, the history of emotion in reason and religion, and the development of phenomenological accounts of subjectivity. It establishes a model for comparative philosophical methodology, and aims to contribute to a multicultural history of religious and philosophical reasoning. Above all, this book addresses Badiou's challenge to rediscover "the passion of the real" and Heidegger's injunction to all thinkers to "seek the word that is able to call one to faith."

The Different Paths of Buddhism

The Different Paths of Buddhism PDF Author: Carl Olson
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813537789
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
For centuries, Buddhist teachers and laypeople have used stories, symbols, cultural metaphors, and anecdotes to teach and express their religious views. In this introductory textbook, Carl Olson draws on these narrative traditions to detail the development of Buddhism from the life of the historical Buddha to the present. By organizing the text according to the structure of Buddhist thought and teaching, Olson avoids imposing a Western perspective that traditional texts commonly bring to the subject. The book offers a comprehensive introduction to the main branches of the Buddhist tradition in both the Mahayana and Theravada schools, including the Madhyamika school, the Yogacara school, Pure Land devotionalism, Tibetan Tantric Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, and village folk Buddhist traditions. Chapters explore the life and teachings of the Buddha in historical context, the early development and institutionalization of Buddhism, its geographic spread across Asia and eventually to the United States, philosophy and ethics, the relationship between monks and laity, political and ethical implications, the role of women in the Buddhist tradition, and contemporary reinterpretations of Buddhism. Drawn from decades of classroom experience, this creative and ambitious text combines expert scholarship and engaging stories that offer a much-needed perspective to the existing literature on the topic.