Contemplative Science and Secular Ethics
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2016, Vol 7, Issue 8
Abstract
This article argues that the emerging project of contemplative science will be best served if it is informed by two perspectives. First, attention should be paid not only to non-analytical and/or mindfulness-based practices, but to a fuller range of contemplative practices, including analytical styles of meditation. Second, the issue of ethics must be addressed as a framework within which to understand contemplative practice: both theoretically in order to understand better the practices themselves and the traditions they come from, and practically in order to understand the ways in which contemplative practices are deployed in contemporary societies. The Tibetan Buddhist Lojong (blo sbyong) tradition and secularized practices derived from it, which are now an area of study in contemplative science, are examined as a kind of case study in order to make these two points and illustrate their importance and relevance for the future of this emerging field.
Authors and Affiliations
Brendan Ozawa-de Silva
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP25595
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7080098
- Views 347
- Downloads 6
From the Renaissance to the Modern World—Introduction
On November 11 and 12, 2011, a symposium held at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill honored John M. Headley, Emeritus Professor of History. The organizers, Professor Melissa Bullard—Headley’s colleague in...
Bringing the Congregations Back in: Religious Markets, Congregational Density, and American Religious Participation
We draw on the organizational ecology tradition to frame the relationship between the religious environment of a community and local religious participation. Prior research linking religious environments to religious p...
On Dealing with Destructive Emotions through the “Path of Self-Liberation”
In the majority of Buddhist systems and traditions, destructive emotions— hatred, craving and delusion—are considered as the main obstacle to enlightenment and dealt with as such through various methods of counteractin...
William Apess, Pequot Pastor: A Native American Revisioning of Christian Nationalism in the Early Republic
Pequot Native and Methodist Minister William Apess has received growing recognition among historians as a unique voice for Native Americans—and minorities in general—during the early Republic. This essay began by inqui...
Addiction: Alcohol and Substance Abuse in Judaism
This article outlines a history of rulings and beliefs about addiction in Judaism, covering alcohol and substance use and addiction, in the context of a brief account of the development of the status of addiction. It e...