Dissertation (MHSc--Health Science) -- AUT University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print ( 92 leaves ; 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 294.3366168914 DIL)

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-86).

Thesis (doctoral)--University of London, 1970.

Czech painter František Kupka (1871-1957), who spent his active years in Paris, remains one of the most under-researched artists, given his important status as one of the first painters of totally abstract works of art, beginning in 1912. As such, his philosophical and iconographical sources have yet to be fully discussed. This thesis examines how three of Kupka's sources, Buddhism, Theosophy, and science, demonstrate his belief in the existence of an immaterial reality, which shaped his art and theory. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the notion of invisible realities was a widespread concern of individuals aware of science and/or interested in mysticism and occultism. In this context, Buddhism would have offered another model for new ways of envisioning existence and consciousness. Two of Kupka's early works, The Soul of the Lotus (1898) and The Beginning of Life (1900), show his knowledge of Buddhist, and possibly Hindu, iconography. The Musée Guimet in Paris offered a rich supply of material by which an individual could learn about Buddhism, and Kupka's imagery likely drew upon such sources. In addition to the Musée Guimet, it is likely Kupka also encountered Buddhism through popularized Eastern thought--in part through books published in Paris on that subject as well as on Theosophy. The writings of Theosophical authors regularly addressed themes related both to Buddhism and to contemporary science, which was equally concerned with the invisible and the immaterial. Discoveries such as the X-ray, for example, affirmed the inaccuracy of human vision and the existence of a reality beneath surface appearances, which supported Theosophy in its reaction against materialism. I argue that Kupka's 1909 painting The Dream serves as a culmination of his concern for alternative conceptions of reality. Painted using a formal language of transparency, The Dream demonstrates Kupka's interest in Buddhism, Theosophy, and science and represents his belief in the immaterial as a critical stage in his philosophical and artistic evolution. / text

This dissertation is about the ways David Foster Wallace's writing expresses Buddhist philosophy. Because Buddhism is a vast subject, sometimes I conflate several traditional "Buddhisms" into a common-denominator form, while other times I investigate Wallace's work through Zen Buddhism specifically. By close-reading his work in chronological order--starting with The Broom of the System, Girl With Curious Hair, "The Empty Plenum," Infinite Jest, "Roger Federer as Religious Experience," "The Suffering Channel," and The Pale King--I analyze the ways in which Wallace's writing focused on questions of the self-awareness of linguistic expression, the contemporary causes of addiction and suffering and their implied remedy, the ethical and moral implications of living out of self-consciousness, the principles of mutual causality, "co-arising" and ecological well-being, and the discernment of multiple forms of awareness, all of which are foundational concerns shared with Buddhist philosophy. / text

published_or_final_version / Buddhist Studies / Master / Master of Buddhist Studies

published_or_final_version / Buddhist Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The nucleus of the Therav?da exegetical literature was introduced to Sri Lanka with the introduction of Therav?da Buddhism. It developed in the subsequent centuries. Its extant literature consists of the following works: *Vimuttimagga, Visuddhimagga, A??hakath?-s, ??k?-s, Ga??hipada-s, G??apada-s, Pi?apot/pi?apat-s, and Sannaya-s. These works contain divergent doctrinal interpretations and discussions relating to their authenticity. Many views have been expressed by modern scholars with regard to these divergences. Some scholars believe that they do not greatly affect the Therav?da doctrinal position as they represent minor differences that existed between the exegetes who followed one or the other Therav?da fraternity. But other scholars take a different position. They consider Buddhaghosa, the first P?li commentator, either as the founder of the Therav?da, or as the one who introduced new doctrinal concepts to Sri Lankan Therav?da from Buddhist schools in India. Moreover, some of these scholars believe that the orthodox Therav?da exegesis preserved at the Mah?vih?ra was changed by Buddhaghosa and by his contemporaries and successors. The present study begins with a discussion of the Therav?da exegeses and shows how divergent doctrinal interpretations contributed to their development. It examines divergent Therav?da exegeses as can be gathered from P?li and Si?hala exegetical works. These are arranged here under four main headings: (1) the canonical authenticity of the Abhidhamma-pi?aka: origin of the Abhidhamma and its canonical treatises; (2) Abhidhamma analysis of mind into consciousness (citta) and mental factors (cetasika): history of the notion of momentariness in Therav?da, the static moment of consciousness, some mental factors, such as vitakka, vic?ra, the three virati-s, iss?, macchariya, karu??, and mudit?; (3) cognitive process (cittav?thi): history of the theory of life-continuum (bhava?ga), five-door cognitive process, mind-door cognitive process, different stages of the cognitive processes; (4) analysis of matter (r?pa): number of material dhamma-s, life-span of matter, distribution of primary elements in the physical sense-organs, physical objects and their impingement on the sense-organs, the two faculties of gender, and middha in relation to matter. Divergences on the above teachings have, in fact, existed among the Sri Lankan Therav?dins since the S?ha?a-a??hakath? period. Proponents and opponents of these divergences followed either the Mah?vih?ra or the Abhayagiri. Some of the exegetes of these two fraternities sometimes agreed, and sometimes disagreed. Both parties sought to establish the authenticity of their interpretations on the basis of different authorities, namely, sutta (original discourse), sutt?nuloma (conformity to sutta), ?cariyav?da (teachers’ view), and attano mati (one’s own personal opinion). Influence of non-Therav?da doctrinal interpretations can be discerned in some divergences. Proponents and opponents of these divergences dealt seriously with them. It is not correct to say that Therav?da doctrines of momentariness, life-continuum, and the cognitive process were created by Buddhaghosa, or that they were introduced by him to Sri Lankan Therav?da. They were a part of the Mah?vih?ra exegesis that existed prior to his arrival in Sri Lanka. / published_or_final_version / Buddhist Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This Dissertation explores the Buddhist and the Wittgensteinian approaches towards language and shows their confluences. The Introductory Chapter exposes the State of Art of Buddhist-Wittgenstein comparative studies in the scope of East-West cross-cultural studies. Chapter Two presents the arguments against predicaments of self and the private language of sensations in Buddhism and Wittgenstein. The idea that the language is connected with mind activity and social conventions or agreements is also recurrent in Buddhism. From this premise it deduces that language does not only names things and intervenes in the reproduction of the self-identification and the assumption of ontological self. In Buddhism the assumption of grammar self leads to the assumption of ontological self (or grammar acquisition of self). Rejecting the ontologization of the grammar self, Buddhism and Wittgenstein argue against solipsism, nominalism and private language-sensations arguments. Chapter Three is devoted to the Buddhist and Wittgenstein approaches the inexpressibility of the Mystical. It compares how both philosophies analyse the free will, the suffering and happiness. Finally, Chapter Four compares the Buddha`s parable “leaving the raft behind” and the Wittgenstein aphorism “throw away the ladder”. It can be observed affinities between the Nāgārjuna possitionlessness (the relinquishing of all views), the Zen meditation, and the Wittgenstein’s idea of philosophy as elucidation and therapy. The last two sections explain the use of language in Mindfulness and Vajrayana yoga from the perspective of the Wittgensteinian theory of language-games. / published_or_final_version / Buddhist Studies / Master / Master of Buddhist Studies

This study examines the Śrāvakabhūmih of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra with the aim of identifying the doctrines of spiritual praxis from Abhidharma to Mahāyāna Yogācāra. The hypothesis posited is that the spiritual praxis of the Mahāyāna Yogācāra is modified from the practice of the Śrāvakayāna yogācāra-s, the early meditation practitioners whose practices were closely related to the Abhidharma. Two questions have been set for this investigation; the first question being: Is the spiritual praxis of the Śrāvakayāna yogācāra-s actually related to the Abhidharma tradition, and if so how? The second question is: How much influence did the practice of the Śrāvakayāna yogācāra-s have on the evolution of the spiritual praxis of the Mahāyāna Yogācāra and what new developments, if any, were there? Together, the answers to these two questions will reveal how far the hypothesis set for this study is justified. This research starts with accumulation of knowledge around the identity of the yogācāra-s as meditation practitioners in early Buddhism, the different phases of the Mahāyāna Yogācāra school, the structure and contents of the Śrāvakabhūmih and the current reports on the relationship between the practice of the Śrāvakayāna yogācāra-s and the Mahāyāna Yogācāra. In order to bring out the profound practice of the Śrāvakabhūmih, an English translation of the important teachings in the Yogasthāna III of the Śrāvakabhūmih has been attempted. A key section of this research is the analysis and discussion of the findings with appropriate passages from two major groups of texts: (a) the Abhidharma texts and (b) the Mahāyāna Yogācāra texts. These texts include: (a) the Abhidharmasangītiparyāya-pāda-śāstra ( 阿毘達磨異門足論), the Abhidharma-dharmaskandha-pāda-śāstra (阿毘達磨法藴足論), and the *Abhidharma-mahāvibhā āśāstra ( 阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論); (b) the Samāhitābhūmi_ ( 三摩呬多地), Cintāmayībhūmih ( 思所成地), Bodhisattvabhūmih ( 菩薩地) and the Viniścayasamgrahanī ( 攝決擇分) of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, the Sandhinirmocana-sūtra (解深密經), liu men jiao shou xi ding lun (六門教授習定論) and the Abhidharmasamuccaya-bhā yam-śāstra (大乘阿毘達磨雜集論). The findings of this preliminary study show that the practices of the Śrāvakayāna yogācāra-s are indeed systematic re-organizations of Abhidharma materials with elaborated details and the Mahāyāna Yogācāra did establish their spiritual praxis on the foundation of these practices of the early meditation practitioners modified with new theories and explanations. Thus, it can be concluded that the spiritual praxis of the Mahāyāna Yogācāra was indeed modified from the practices of the Śrāvakayāna yogācāra-s, the early meditation practitioners whose practices are closely related to the Abhidharma. / published_or_final_version / Buddhist Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy