Fondé en 1955 par un fonctionnaire bengali, Ananda Marga, « la voie de la félicité », est une secte hindoue qui s’est donné un mode d’organisation à échelle planétaire et s’implique dans des activités missionnaires dans un grand nombre de pays. Dans le paysage religieux de l’Inde contemporaine, elle se distingue par les violences dont ses disciples ont été accusés. L’enquête ethnographique menée en son sein, l’analyse de sa littérature interne et le recueil de témoignages d’anciens disciples montrent que ces violences s’expliquent par les aspirations politiques de son fondateur et de ses membres ainsi que par l’instabilité de son assise économique. Mais pas uniquement. Elles visent également une mutation radicale de la personne du disciple et une transformation profonde la société, deux processus intimement liés. En se soumettant volontairement à des violences psychologiques et physiques, le disciple entend se soustraire aux limitations de l’existence ordinaire. S’il se libère ainsi du monde, c’est pour mieux agir dans le monde au service exclusif de son Gourou et de sa mission. Dotés d’une telle finalité, les actes de violence extrême apparaissent comme les expressions d’une ardeur dévotionnelle poussée à son paroxysme. Cette conception singulière de l’ascétisme prend source dans la culture tantrique bengalie, laquelle tient la force pour une manifestation de l’Énergie divine (śakti) et le Maître pour une divinité incarnée / Founded in 1955 by a Bengali civil servant, Ananda Marga, the "way of bliss", is a Hindu sect with worldwide organization and involved in missionary activities in a great number of countries. In the religious landscape of contemporary India, it is distinctively characterized by the violence for which its followers have been accused. The ethnographical research carried out among this sect, combined with the analysis of its internal literature and the collection of testimonies of former disciples shows that this violence can be explained by the political aspirations of its founder and its members as well as by instability of its economic base. But it can also be explained by two interrelated processes: the profound change in the person of the disciples and a radical transformation of the society. By submitting himself voluntarily to psychological and physical violence, a disciple tries to go over the limitations of ordinary existence. However, he frees himself from this world so that he can be in exclusive service to his Guru and his mission in this world. With such a purpose, acts of extreme violence appear as expressions of devotional fervour pushed to its climax. The source of this peculiar conception of asceticism can be traced in Bengali tantric culture, for which the force represents a manifestation of divine energy (śakti) and the Guru represents an incarnate deity

L'acédie alliée à la mélancolie nous permet de rendre compte de la totalité de la nature humaine, en tant qu'elle est composée d'une âme, d'un esprit et d'un corps. Ces deux pathologies distinctes autant par leur inscription dans un temps et un espace particuliers et déterminés, ainsi que par les dimensions de l'être humain auxquelles elles s'attaqueront se verront ici rapprochées de sorte à faire émerger un paradigme qui fera de la folie pathologique un moyen d'accès au divin. La mélancolie, de par son bagage grec antique qui faisait d'elle l'apanage des hommes de génie, contaminera au XIIIe siècle l'acédie au point que celle-ci ne sera plus envisagée sous la perspective d'une passion, d'un vice - le plus redoutable de tous – mais une grâce, cherchée et convoitée par les saints hommes de cette époque, selon Guillaume d’Auvergne. Pour ce faire, l'acédie se révélera être une pathologie de la volonté en tant que celle-ci se voit éteinte, asphyxiée devant un idéal inaccessible qui épuiserait en elle tout dynamisme, idéal de l'impassibilité que l'on retrouve sous les traits de l'ange chez les Pères du désert et celui de la performance que l'on retrouve sous les traits du surhomme à notre époque, deux modèles qui se voient être pervertis dès leur conception et dévoilés comme tel par l'acédie. D'une maladie mortelle, celle qui vient autant emporter le corps de l'ascète que la vie de son âme, se révèle protéger l'individu d'un mal encore plus redoutable, celui de l'orgueil, en venant par la même occasion préserver la puissance de la volonté de l'individu en celle de Dieu par le truchement d'une grâce divine. Eau de mort pour le commun des mortels, elle devient eau de vie, porteuse d'une grâce efficace, pour les fous de Dieu dont la folie n'a d'égale que leur amour ; l'acédie devenant par là-même la maladie de l'amour fou de Dieu. / Acedia combined with melancholy allows us to account for the totality of human nature, insasmuch as it is composed of a soul, a spirit and a body. These two distinct pathologies, as much by their inscription in a particular and determined time and space, as by the dimensions of the human being that they will attack, will be brought together here in such a way as to bring forth a paradigm that will make pathological madness a means of accessing to the divine. Melancholy, by its ancient Greek heritage, which made it the prerogative of men of genius, will contaminate acedia in the thirteenth century to the point that it will no longer be considered from the perspective of a passion, a vice – the most awe-inspiring of all – but a grace, sought for and coveted by the holy men of that time, according to William of Auvergne. For this to happen, acedia will prove to be a pathology of the will inasmuch as it is extinct, asphyxiated in the face of an inaccessible ideal that would exhaust all dynamism, ideal of the impassibility that we find under the features of the angel of the Desert Fathers and that of the performance that we find under the features of the übermensch in our time, two models that become perverted from the time they were conceived and unveiled as such by the acedia. From a mortal disease, the one that takes away both the body of the ascetic and the life of his soul, is revealed to protect the individual from an even more dangerous evil, that of pride, by coming at the same time to preserve the power of the individual's will in that of God through the means of divine grace. Water of death for the common man, it becomes water of life, bearer of an efficacious grace for the fools of God, whose madness is matched only by their love ; acedia thereby becoming the disease of God's love.

Orientador: Neri de Barros Almeida / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T10:56:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Figuinha_MatheusCoutinho_M.pdf: 975708 bytes, checksum: f5787277caf3073a576ca6e917624299 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Este é um estudo da relação entre ascetismo e poder episcopal no caso de santo Agostinho. Tal relação é avaliada no contexto da controvérsia donatista, que tanto preocupou o bispo católico de Hipona durante longos anos, especialmente ao longo da primeira década do século V. Num primeiro momento, procuro levantar os problemas e as dificuldades que a controvérsia apresentava ao seu episcopado, bem como suas possibilidades de ação. Em seguida, analiso como o emprego de valores ascéticos na organização da Igreja católica e a mobilização de ascetas e monges durante sua campanha anti-donatista criaram novas tendências de expressão do poder episcopal. Por fim, considero seus esforços de desenvolver um modelo mais organizado de monasticismo, centrado na autoridade episcopal, a fim de eliminar as tensões entre ele e os monges ao seu redor / Abstract: This is a study about the relationship between asceticism and episcopal power in the case of Saint Augustine. That relationship is evaluated in the context of the Donatist controversy, which so much concerned the Catholic bishop of Hippo during long years, especially through the first decade of the fifth century. Firstly, I try to point out the problems and difficulties that the controversy presented to his episcopate, as well as his possibilities of action. Then, I analyze how the use of ascetic values in the organization of the Catholic Church and the engagement of ascetics and monks during his anti-Donatist campaign created new tendencies of expression of the episcopal power. Finally, I consider his efforts to develop a more organized model of monasticism, centered on the episcopal authority, in order to eliminate the tensions between him and the monks / Mestrado / Historia Cultural / Mestre em História

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:14:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE_RAFAEL SADDI TEIXEIRA.pdf: 1283059 bytes, checksum: cd291bfc824c58e59c8ee08e1c66dbf8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-11-13 / The goal of this thesis is to understand the imagined and subjective meaning of the action of the cuban revolutionary of the 26th July movement during insurrection rebellion (fight ou dispute)(1952 to 1958). Our hypothesis is that this social action was marked by political revolutionary asceticism, that is, by one kind of action in that the agent feels as an instrument of pure and noble values of the revolutionary cause. The ascetic revolutionary is quite different from the pragmatic revolutionary since its action is not faced as a rational way to reach the aim systematically desired. On the contrary, its action is, mainly, a task to be accomplished. We analyzed, from this point, the revolutionary sacrifice as a way of bringing back to the corrupted world the pure and noble values and we noticed how the ideal of the body was presented in the discourses of the Cuban rebellions. / O objetivo de nossa tese é compreender o sentido imaginado e subjetivo da ação do revolucionário cubano do Movimento 26 de Julho durante o período de luta insurrecional (1952 a 1958). Nossa hipótese é que esta ação social esteve marcada pelo ascetismo político revolucionário, isto é, por um tipo de ação em que o agente se sente um instrumento dos valores puros e nobres da causa revolucionária. O revolucionário asceta se distancia do revolucionário pragmático na medida em que sua ação não é encarada como um meio racional para se alcançar o fim sistematicamente almejado. Pelo contrário, sua ação é, sobretudo, um cumprimento do dever. Analisamos, a partir disto, o sacrifício revolucionário como uma forma de trazer os valores puros e nobres de volta ao mundo corrompido e percebemos o modo como o ideal de corpo esteve presente nos discursos dos rebeldes cubanos.

Cette étude se propose de rendre compte du conflit qui opposa Plotin aux Gnostiques. Uneintroduction met en scène les protagonistes et décrit les circonstances de leur l’affrontement.Une première partie étudie la forme de cette polémique exceptionnelle dans les traités dePlotin, la rapproche de celle des hérésiologues chrétiens à l’encontre de ces mêmesGnostiques et fait l’hypothèse qu’elle ne fut pas ignorée de Plotin. Les parties suivantesprésentent la philosophie de Plotin pour l’opposer à la doctrine gnostique dans les domainescosmologique, théologique et anthropologique. Elles présentent et étudient, en chacun de cesdomaines, les critiques de fond que Plotin adresse aux thèses de l’adversaire, lui reprochant deméconnaître la nature des réalités dont il traite, de tenir des discours dépourvus de logique, dene proposer aucune méthode pour réaliser ses objectifs (le salut). Les critiques de Plotin àl’encontre des Gnostiques constituent une défense du platonisme et de la philosophie elle-même,ainsi que de toutes les valeurs sur lesquelles se fonde toute la pensée de Plotin. / This study accounts for the conflict between Plotinus and the Gnostics. The introductionportrays the protagonists, and describes the circumstances of their confrontation. The first partstudies the form of this exceptional controversy in the treaties of Plotinus, draws a parallelwith the controversy between the Christian Heresiologists and the Gnostics, and hypothesizesthat the later was not unknown to Plotinus. The subsequent parts explain the philosophy ofPlotinus and contrast it with the Gnostic doctrine in the cosmological, theological andanthropological domains. They present and analyse, in each of these areas, the fundamentalcritiques that Plotinus addresses to his opponents, accusing them of misunderstanding thenature of the realities that they deal with, of making speeches devoid of logic, and ofproposing no method to achieve their aims (salvation). The critiques of Plotinus against theGnostics constitute a defense of Platonism and of philosophy itself, and also of all the valuesthat underlie the thought of Plotinus.

This thesis examines Nietzsche’s relationship to Socrates through his positive philosophy of education, arguing that the latter is crucial to resolving the apparent contradictions of the former. While there is a good deal of literature dealing with Nietzsche’s criticisms of the educational system of his day, there is relatively little on his own account of what education should be. I point out that the Greek conception of agon (roughly “contest” in English), is central to Nietzsche’s understanding of education, and informs his ideal of the student-mentor relationship. This is the model on which, I contend, Nietzsche’s relation to Socrates needs to be interpreted. Such an interpretation helps to make sense of, and reconcile, the divergent pictures of Socrates Nietzsche presents in his texts, which are sometimes admiring and imitative, sometimes hostile and contemptuous, and have led to conflicting interpretations within the scholarship on this subject. My analysis aims to shed new light on both the figure of Nietzsche’s Socrates, and Nietzsche’s philosophy of education, by relating these to one another.

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In this Master’s thesis, I attempt to illuminate the historical relationship between Classical Indian medical practice and Buddhist monastic law codes, vinaya, in India around the turn of the Common Era. Popular scholarly conceptions of this relationship contend that the adoption of the Indian medical tradition into the Buddhist monastic institution is directly traceable to the Pāli canon. The Mūlasarvastivāda-vinaya (MSV) does not appear to take issue with physicians or medical knowledge, yet the condemnation of physicians in ancient Indian literature strongly suggests that the relationship between monks and medicine is more complex than the Pāli canon illustrates. Similar to other vinaya traditions, the MSV includes detailed information about permitted medicaments, as well as allowances for monastics to provide medical care to other monastics and even, in particular cases, the laity. I argue that the incentives for monastics to maintain a positive relationship with the medical world were driven by the economic benefits of monastic medical knowledge, as well as associations with wealthy physicians. Using a variety of extant Sanskrit materials, as well as epigraphic evidence, I aim to present a nuanced picture of the history of the relationship between Indian Buddhist monasticism and medicine around the turn of the Common Era. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Le présent mémoire propose une réflexion quant à la construction de l’identité religieuse des ascètes occidentaux en Inde. Basé sur une enquête de terrain, il expose l’aspect transformationnel de la construction de soi de mes répondants pour ensuite examiner la négociation de cette nouvelle identité religieuse dans l’interaction. Plus largement, cette recherche offre des avenues pertinentes pour penser les mobilités religieuses contemporaines et le phénomène de conversion. Un ascète occidental m’a confié sur le terrain : « On n’est pas devenus sādhu, on était faits sādhu. » Il faisait alors référence à ses saṃskāra, soit les traces issues de ses vies antérieures, comme élément fondateur de son parcours. Cette affirmation reflète précisément l’orientation de la présente recherche qui insiste sur la perspective et la subjectivité des acteurs en tenant compte leur lecture de leur trajectoire religieuse et leur propre vision de l’ascétisme hindou. Je souhaite en effet combiner la pertinence de la tradition anthropologique qui insiste sur l’analyse des dynamiques sociales et culturelles à une perspective phénoménologique, soit une analyse de l’expérience religieuse telle que perçue par les sujets étudiés. Dans les paramètres de cette recherche, je chercherai à appréhender comment mes répondants vivent et négocient la recomposition de leur système de sens (Mary & Piault 1998; 8) en analysant la formation de l’identité religieuse individuelle et collective. Parce qu’un affranchissement total des repères initiaux est peu probable, la construction identitaire des ascètes occidentaux se doit d’être comprise en tant que processus incessant d’hybridation (Bhabha & Rutherford 2006). Mes répondants cherchent à négocier et à légitimer cette identité hybride à l’intersection d’espaces culturels en apparente contradiction : modernité occidentale et ascétisme hindou. Référant d’abord à la notion de saṃskāra pour justifier et interpréter leurs choix, ils cherchent ensuite à valider leurs pratiques ascétiques dans l’interaction avec les pairs. Délimitant des catégories d’inclusion et d’exclusion, les ascètes occidentaux établissent un cadre autoréférentiel de reconnaissance qui s’appuie sur leur perception d’un ascète « authentique. » Un espace de légitimité est donc formé, leur permettant de se mouvoir dans l’univers ascétique hindou et d’aspirer à l’atteinte de la mokşa. / This study explores the religious identity of Western ascetics in India. Based on a field investigation, it exposes the transformational aspect of my respondents’ self-image, and later examines the negotiation of this new religious identity through interaction. I was told by a Western ascetic: “We did not become sādhu, we were made sādhu.” He was referring to his samskāra—the traces of his past lives—as the primary element of his journey. This statement precisely reflects the angle of this study, which asserts the perspective and subjectivity of these individuals through the comprehension of their religious trajectories. I wish to associate the relevance of anthropological tradition, in relation to social and cultural dynamics, to a phenomenological understanding of the religious experience. Throughout this study, I will aim to understand how my respondents live through and negotiate the reestablishment of their system of meaning (Mary & Piault 1998; 8) by analyzing the individual and collective formation of religious identity. Since it is impossible to completely pinpoint its initial landmarks, the identity transformation of Western ascetics must be understood as an incessant process of hybridization (Bhabha & Rutherford 2006). Affiliated to contradictory beliefs, my respondents are seeking to negotiate and legitimize this hybrid identity through peer interactions. In this respect, the analysis shows that community validation and the quest for recognition are the inherent aspects of the formation of their identity. Bound by inclusion and exclusion, Western ascetics establish self-recognition based on their perception of an “authentic” ascetic. Legitimacy is then created, allowing them to travel through the universe of Hindu asceticism while aspiring to reach mokşa.