Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1994. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 468-482).

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: Bryan Cuevas, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Religion. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 9, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 230 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1986. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [615]-629.

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union, 1979. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-136).

From the fall of Phnom Penh, to the hyper-Marxist Khmer Rouge, to the decades-long civil war and reconstruction of the country following Vietnam's invasion in 1979, Cambodia has seen a cultural upheaval that brought with it the destruction of institutions and ways of life that have been slow to recover. This two site study examines the reconstruction of one those institutions, the Buddhist monastery, in Prey Thom commune in the southwestern province of Kampot. The loss of traditions, texts, and clergy has meant that the centre of village life -- the local temple -- has had to regain many of those aspects that defined it throughout the centuries. Two of these, the power the monastery commanded in the eyes of locals and the monastic identity which defined how that power was expressed, have historically been vital to the monastery's existence and allowed for temples to be the epicentre of villages, defining individuals' lives and the agrarian economy they depended on. The monastery's reconstruction has also meant that the reliance on local folk and Hindu beliefs continued, and in some instances, grew in prominence in the absence of a viable and competent cadre of Buddhist monks. As the monastery continues to regain its former stature, how this affects merit-making traditions and the local economies which rely on them in many ways reflects the importance of local temples from village to village. While monastic schooling has proved to be important in recreating a knowledgeable cadre, how this affects local attitudes regarding the status of monks is further shaped by those outside of the monastery who either purposely or unknowingly determine local perceptions of it. The future of the monastery will depend on how it can maintain a degree of separation from these larger entities while continuing to serve in the time-honoured roles that sustain villages and the traditions they have historically relied upon.

My thesis brings into conversation, Buddhist spiritual teachings with the medieval contemplative Christian understanding and modern ontological thoughts, to investigate the dynamic characteristics of spiritual transformation. The thesis explores the following questions: Is there a spiritual journey? To what extent the journey itself is the transforming energy? To whom is transformation happening? How do we become the truth uncovered? Have we always been living in a ‘plenum’ with respect to the Buddha nature teaching? Is the Buddha and his teachings revolutionary agents of continuous transformation. Does the spiritual path focus on the cultivation of a Nirvanic-mind only, what about the body? My conversations revealed the following: That it is possible to become aware that conditioned thoughts are thinking the person. That it is possible for the conditioned (klesha) mind to become aware of its own Nirvanic mind-nature. A deluded mind uncovers its own wisdom nature by practising an unconstructed knowing. Thus, the enlightened mind perfects ‘objectless awareness’ and encounters reality as wisdom itself. The transformative power of failure is a yoga and as such it is perfected in the Bodhisattva vow to save all beings. Central to sustaining the spiritual path is to have a question such as ‘Is what I am doing what God is doing’. Life and the spiritual path are unpredictable; the unpredictable challenges the mind’s tendencies to conceptualize experience. The body holds the unpredictable energy of the disowned, which relates to as ‘flashing’ energies in the body. Transformation is the recognition of the first pure moment of awareness which also recognizes that goodness is at the heart of all things. The liberating doctrine is that everything is open (empty) and unbounded thus all matter is redemptive and as such we are always in the realm of truth.

The concern of this investigation is to explore a range of contemporary experiences of the Buddhist Meditation Practice of three South Africans of Western origin and to understand what factors were involved in their meditation practice. The number of people practising Buddhist Meditation in this country is gradually increasing and retreat centres for the meditation practice are emerging at various places in this country. A wide range of experiences accompany the meditation practice but very little research has been done amongst adults to study this phenomenon. Initially, in this study, the researcher practised Buddhist Meditation by participating in a meditation programme at the Buddhist Retreat in Ixopo in KwaZulu-Natal, for twenty-one days, to familiarize herself with the experiential knowledge of Buddhist Meditation. This was done by the researcher compiling a detailed diary of the meditative experiences and various themes were drawn from it. The data collected was compared and validated with contemporary research findings on Buddhist Meditation. This data was then used to formulate some of the questions for the semi-structured interviews that were conducted subsequently. Three adult subjects of Western origin, one male and two females were interviewed. Each subject had been meditating for an average period of ten years and can therefore be regarded as long-term meditators. They had practised Buddhist meditation in groups at various retreat centres around the country and also individually at home. The average age of the subjects was forty-five years, with the youngest subject being forty years old and the oldest being fifty-three years old. All three subjects were professional people employed at a university in South Africa and all were able to articulate their meditative experiences very well. Since the research project involved the study and exploration of the human experience related to Buddhist Meditation, it was more appropriate to use the phenomenological case-study approach rather than a measurement orientated procedure. The descriptive, phenomenological perspective is more appropriate for the elucidation of the data collected. It gives greater and clearer meaning to the human experience of meditation that is being investigated. The results of the study can best be summarised by stating that all three subjects undertook the Buddhist Meditation Practice because of their awareness of an existential conflict in their lives. Another reason for practising meditation was for personal development. The study also shows that a variety of effects of the meditation practice was experienced by the subjects. These included experiencing feelings of calmness, peace and relaxation, transformation of consciousness, heightened or increased awareness of certain external and internal stimuli, conscious of the changing nature of experience and experiences of objective consciousness.

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