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Zen Buddhism has followed an extremely tortuous route, both geographically and philosophically, in its development from its Buddhist roots in India, centuries before the birth of Christ, to its present internationally important state of development in the world today. Buddhism, containing the embryo of the yet unborn sect of Zen, moved from India to China during the Sixth Century A. D. Zen came into its om as a Buddhist sect during the renaissance Chinese culture in the 7'ang Dynasty (approximately Seventh through Ninth Centuries, A. D.). The great Japanese Zen master, Dogen, initiated Zen as a movement in Japan in the Thirteenth Century, and now today it ranks as one of the most important sects in Japan, not only an measured by number of followers, but as far as artistic and cultural impact is concerned.

This study focuses on the portrayal of Zen buddhism according to the counterculture icon Alan Watts; to see how he distinguishes the relationship between east and west, what differences Zen has in its character compared to other schools of buddhism, and how Zen could be of use for the western world. To acquire relevant and important information the chosen method is therefore a qualitative content analysis to decode the content of two books. Mentioned books are: The way of Zen and Talking Zen Reflection on Mind, Myth, and the Magic of life. The relationship between east and west has been, and still is, a complex phenomenon. Therefore, to ensure a clear picture the study has chosen to proceed with orientalism as its theoretical standpoint. More specifically; Richard King's use of the term orientalism and the mystic east. With orientalism as a ‘tool’ the inquiry could more easily proceed to show the importance of why religion should be seen in light of the cultural context. This due to the common occurrence of how westerners put the label religion on eastern peoples way of living without regards to their culture.  The results show that even though Alan Watts had immense knowledge of Zen and the orient, he still saw it through the lens of orientalism. Watts paints a picture of eastern cultures such as Zen, as peaceful and living in harmony with nature, whilst the west is plagued by problems. One solution according to Watts, is to embrace the way of Zen, and experience true freedom.

In this thesis, I develop a method that will help you, understand, and solve deep disagreements. In forming my method I draw on Zen Buddhist philosophy. In chapter one my understanding of deep disagreement is presented. Deep disagreements is seen as being caused by underlying metaphysical fundamental beliefs and/or worldviews. My method hinges on three concepts, interconnected, conventional centric, and ultimate reality. In the process of explaining these concepts important Zen Buddhist ideas are explored. By exploring which of these three categories a view or argument engages with you will be able to avoid deep disagreements because the types of beliefs that cause deep disagreements are made transparent. In the second chapter, I first analyze an argument against theism and for naturalism and show that there is a deep disagreement at play in that argument. In using my method you can see that the conflict is not a conflict. I then analyze animism and show that animism does not need to be in opposition to naturalism and that both can coexist. In the third chapter, a meta-analysis is made. The main advantage of my method is that it tries to understand and place all types of views into a bigger picture. This makes my method unifying. I also show that there is a wide range of areas in which this method could be used. It could be used in many situation of disagreement.

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Since its inception in the 1960s, the scientific research of Buddhist-based meditation practices have grown exponentially with hundreds of new studies every year in the past decade. Some researchers are using Buddhist teachings, such as not-self, as an explanation for the causal mechanism of meditation’s effectiveness, for conditions such as stress, anxiety, and depression. However, there has been little response from Buddhist studies scholars to these proposed mechanisms in the growing discourse surrounding the engagement of ‘Buddhism’ and ‘Science.’ I argue that the mechanistic causal explanations of meditation offered by researchers provide an incomplete understanding of meditative practices. I focus on two articles, by David Vago and his co-authors, that have been cited over nine hundred and three hundred times. I make explicit internal criticisms of their work from their peers in neuroscience, and offer external criticisms of their understanding of the cognitive aspects of meditation by using an extended, enactive, embodied, embedded, and affective (4EA) model of cognition. I also use Chinese Huayan Buddhist mereology and causation to provide a corrective for a more holistic understanding. The constructive aspect of my project combines 4EA cognition with Huayan mereology and causation in order to propose new directions of research on how meditative practices may lead to a changing sense of self that does not privilege neurobiological mechanisms. Instead, I argue a fruitful understanding of change in ethical behavior is a changing sense of self using support from a consummate meditator in the Japanese Zen Buddhist context: Dōgen and his text Shoakumakusa. Contemporary research looking for mechanistic causation focuses on the physical body, specifically the brain, without considering how the mind is involved in meditative practices. The group of researchers I focus on reduce the senses of self to localized parts of the brain. In contrast, according to Mahayana Buddhist terminology, Huayan offers a nondualistic understanding of the self that does not privilege the brain. Rather, Huayan characterizes the self as a mind-body complex and meditation is understood to involve the whole of the person. My critique notes how the methodology used in these studies focuses too much on the localized, explicit, and foreground, but not enough on the whole, implicit, and background processes in meditative practices. Bringing in Huayan also offers a constructive aspect to this engagement of Buddhist studies and neuroscience as there are implications of its mereology for a more complete understanding of not just meditation, but also of neuroplasticity. To be clear, the corrective is only meant for the direction of research that focuses on neural-mechanistic explanations of meditation. Surely, there is value in scientific research on meditative practices. However, that emphasis on neural mechanisms gives a misleading impression of being able to fully explain meditative practices. I argue that a more fruitful direction of engagement between Buddhist traditions and scientific research is the small but growing amount of experiments conducted on how meditative practices lead to ethical change. This direction provides a more complete characterization of how meditative practices changes the senses of self. / Religion

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背景: 近代不少西方的實證心理治療方法都開始採納東方源來已久的身心治療，來醫治常見的情緒病，例如：抑鬱症，效果最為顯著。這個發展趨勢正好回應現存醫療制度及資源的限制，或其他社會文化及個人所造成的障礙。本研究旨在檢視一種促進身心健康的中國禪宗身心治療方法 － 以「德建身心療法」對比於 「認知行為治療法」及「等候對照組」，在治療一羣抑鬱症患者的抑鬱情緒、腦功能的改善及其身体健康等的療效。 / 研究方法: 在一個精神科門診部內，研究員召集了75 名成人的抑鬱症患者。他們都是有不同程度的抑鬱情緒或身體健康問題，同時有興趣參加為期十節的「德建身心療法」或「認知行為治療法」。 在對照基本資料後 (如年齡、學歷、抑鬱程度，初患或復發) ，他們被隨機分派到「德建身心療法」、「認知行為治療法」或「等候對照組」中。治療前及治療後，抑鬱症患者都會接受情緒、腦功能、健康狀況及腦電波的評估。 / 結果: 整體而言，相對於「等候對照組」，「德建身心療法」及「認知行為治療」更有效地減低患者的抑鬱症狀。此外，「德建身心療法」更帶來一些其他組別所末見的療效；包括有效地提昇患者的專注力、記憶、執行功能、腸道功能及睡眠質素。再者、研究亦發現「德建身心療法」的參加者，在有關正面情緒和專注力的兩個客觀量化腦電波(QEEG)指數上有顯著的攀升。意外地，在短短的十星期後「德建身心療法」參加者使用抗抑鬱药的份量亦有效地減少。 / 總結: 本研究的結果顯示中國的禪宗身心治療方法 －「德建身心療法」在治療抑鬱症患者的情緒捆纏、腦功能失衡、睡眠及腸道功能、提升正面情緒及專注力的量化腦電波指數都有明顯的功效。 / BACKGROUND: There are growing interests and encouraging findings of adapting and developing Mind-Body Intervention into evidence-based group treatment for common mental disorders such as depression. The advancement is a partial response to the limitations on the availability and accessibility of the existing treatment in the current health care system for depression, and/or a partial response to the socio-cultural and personal reasons in different communities. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a newly developed Chinese Chan-based treatment the Dejian Mind-Body Intervention (DMBI), as compared to the groups of Cognitive-behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Wait-list control, in alleviating depressive mood and improving physical health of adult depressive patients. / METHOD: Seventy-five patients with the diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder were recruited in the current study. They were stratified for age, education, level of depression, course of illness before random assignment to receive either 10-session DMBI or CBT, or placed on a wait-list. Pre-post measurements included primary outcome measures on psychiatrists’ rating and self-evaluated mood scores (HRSD and BDI) and secondary outcome measures on performance in different neuropsychological assessment (Executive function, Attention, Memory). The three groups also compared among different sleep (SOL, TST, and WASO), gastrointestinal parameters as well as neurophysiological QEEG indices. / RESULTS: Both the DMBI and CBT groups demonstrated significant reduction in depressive psychopathology after intervention. However, the DMBI group but not the CBT or Wait-list control groups demonstrated significant improvement in attention, verbal memory, executive function, gastrointestinal health and overall sleep quality. Besides, Dejian Mind-Body Intervention brought about significant increase in objective QEEG measures of positive affect and attention that were not evidenced in the other two groups. Participants in the DMBI group also demonstrated significant reduction in the use of anti-depressant after the end of 10-week treatment. / CONCLUSIONS: Findings of the current study suggested that a Chinese Chan-based Dejian mind-body intervention has positive effects on improving the mood and health conditions of individuals with depression. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Wong, Yun Ping. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-109). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; some appendixes also in Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.iii / CHINESE ABSTRACT --- p.v / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.vii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.ix / LIST OF TABLES --- p.x / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.xii / LIST OF APPENDICES --- p.xiii / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.xii / Chapter CHAPTER I: --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / PURPOSES OF THE PRESENT STUDY --- p.26 / Chapter CHAPTER II: --- METHODS --- p.29 / Chapter CHAPTER III: --- RESULTS --- p.47 / Chapter CHAPTER IV: --- DISCUSSION --- p.68 / GENERAL DISCUSSION --- p.70 / CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS --- p.76 / LIMITATION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE DIRECTION --- p.77 / REFERENCES --- p.79 / TABLES --- p.110 / FIGURES --- p.124 / APPENDICES --- p.128

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:31:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luciana Moutinho.pdf: 908896 bytes, checksum: e75539f9a05e378aa556c9a9212b578f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-13 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / We can find in the work of Jacques Lacan several references to Zen Buddhism, which are, however, little explored by researchers in Psychoanalysis. Considering such references relate to important elements of Lacanian theory, we seek to locate them in Lacan's texts, specifically in his seminars and writings. At the same time, we also seek to understand historically the emergence of Zen Buddhism in the East and which were its main philosophical and methodological principles, searching in anthropologists texts, in texts of other scholars of the East as well as in texts by Zen Buddhist authors. This made it possible to identify the possible similarities and differences between Lacanian psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism. The elements that stood out in this study were those concerned with the method of the Lacanian clinical analyst and the Zen master method. Thus, we see the similarities between the transmission method of Lacanian Psychoanalysis and the method used by Buddhist Zen masters in their transmission. Both cherish for a language that breaks the Aristotelian logic, both stand as non-dualistic (but with their respective specificities) and both cherish for an emptying of the "I" (also with their respective specificities). We also observed differences between both methods, such as the specificity of the analytical Act regarding to Nirvana as an "end" that Zen Buddhism aims. Zen, as a school of Buddhism, would propose to its practitioner reach a state of "no longer desire" or "do not give in to his/her desire"; while in psychoanalysis is understood that "not to want" is not possible for it being a constituent factor of the subject as a missing being , and therefore the end of the analysis is given by the accountability and the empowerment of the subject facing a jouissance wich he was subjected to. The specificity of the analytical act stipulates that the subject remains barred, divided, not being refunded the small object "a", and not being taken as part of a whole or a not barred big Other (A). The pass, or act of completion of an analysis, has as specific feature being what qualifies the analysand to occupy the analyst place / Podemos encontrar na obra de Jacques Lacan diversas menções ao Zen Budismo, mas que são pouco exploradas pelos pesquisadores em Psicanálise. Considerando que essas menções dizem respeito a elementos importantes da teoria lacaniana, buscamos localizá-las nos textos de Lacan, especificamente em seus seminários e escritos. Concomitantemente, também buscamos compreender historicamente o aparecimento do Zen Budismo no Oriente e quais seus principais princípios filosóficos e metodológicos em textos de antropólogos, em textos de outros estudiosos do Oriente, bem como em textos de autores do próprio Zen. Isso possibilitou identificar as possíveis semelhanças e diferenças entre a Psicanálise de Lacan e o Zen Budismo. Os elementos que se destacaram nesta pesquisa foram os que diziam respeito ao método do analista clínico lacaniano e o método do mestre Zen. Assim, verificamos as semelhanças entre o método de transmissão da Psicanálise lacaniana e o método utilizado pelos mestres Zen budistas em sua transmissão, que ambos prezam por uma linguagem que quebra a lógica aristotélica, ambos se colocam como não-dualistas (mas com suas respectivas especificidades) e ambos prezam por um esvaziamento do eu (também com suas respectivas especificidades). Também observamos as diferenças entre ambos os métodos, tal como a especificidade do Ato analítico em relação ao Nirvana enquanto um fim a que visa o Zen Budismo. O Zen, como escola de Budismo, proporia ao seu praticante chegar a um estado de não mais desejar ou ceder de seu desejo ; enquanto que em Psicanálise se entende que não desejar não é possível por ser um fator constituinte do sujeito enquanto ser faltante, e sendo assim o fim de análise se dá pela responsabilização e pelo empoderamento do sujeito perante um gozo que antes o assujeitava. A especificidade do ato analítico preconiza que o sujeito permanece barrado, dividido, não sendo restituído do objeto pequeno a, e nem sendo tomado como parte de um todo ou de um grande Outro não barrado (A). O passe, ou ato de conclusão de uma análise tem como especificidade ser o que qualifica o analisante a ocupar o lugar de analista