Buddhaghosa on Mind, Intention and Agency - Buddhist Philosophy Book for Meditation & Mindfulness Practice | Perfect for Students & Spiritual Seekers
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SKU:14862636
Product Description
Scholars have long been intrigued by the Buddha's defining action (karma) as intention. This book explores systematically how intention and agency were interpreted in all genres of early Theravada thought. It offers a philosophical exploration of intention and motivation as they are investigated in Buddhist moral psychology. At stake is how we understand karma, the nature of moral experience, and the possibilities for freedom. In contrast to many studies that assimilate Buddhist moral thinking to Western theories of ethics, the book attends to distinctively Buddhist ways of systematizing and theorizing their own categories. Arguing that meaning is a product of the explanatory systems used to explore it, the book pays particular attention to genre and to the 5th-century commentator Buddhaghosa's guidance on how to read Buddhist texts. The book treats all branches of the Pali canon (the Tipitaka, that is, the Suttas, the Abhidhamma, and the Vinaya), as well as narrative sources (the Dhammapada and the Jataka commentaries). In this sense it offers a comprehensive treatment of intention in the canonical Theravada sources. But the book goes further than this by focusing explicitly on the body of commentarial thought represented by Buddhaghosa. His work is at the center of the book's investigations, both insofar as he offers interpretative strategies for reading canonical texts, but also as he advances particular understandings of agency and moral psychology. The book offers the first book-length study devoted to Buddhaghosa's thought on ethics
Customer Reviews
Cetana, intention is the core of this book, as perhaps it needs to be the core of our spiritual path. The author follows the teachings of Buddhaghosa, roughly translated "the voice of the Buddha" in defining cetana as the forerunner of all things, an essential element in our individual karma (Accepting movement of the mind with varying degrees of intention as the definition of karma). Intention is the doorway to our actions, physical, mental and verbal. It is a very important concept if you are to develop the wisdom necessary to personal awakening. The author does the subject justice.Doing justice to this book in a short review seems an impossible task and so here's just a taste of the author's approach by listing the chapter headings. Keep in mind each topic is covered in studied detail: Constructing Experience ...... The work of Intention .... Culpability and Disciplinary Culture .... Making Actions Intelligible.... One additional comment here: The last chapter is filled with delightful ancient stories to illustrate the understanding of intention and mind. It's like saving the cherry on top for last.It goes without saying that when you spend 237 pages on one subject you have an exhaustive study. This is not a book for someone with just a passing interest in Buddhism or the ethics of intention, but it certainly deserves a place in the library of a serious practitioner of Buddhism and the devoted seeker from any spiritual background. It's that kind of book you can finish reading and turn right around and read from the first page and still gain new understanding. Here's a great gift for friends with a serious spiritual practice who are open to a Buddhist solution.
