Zen and Comparative Studies
Subtitle: Part Two of a Two-Volume Sequel to Zen and Western Thought
Contributors: Steven Heine (Editor)
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Published: March 1996
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 262
ISBN-13: 9780824818319
Subjects: Buddhism; Comparative Religion; Philosophy; Zen Buddhism; Psychology; Philosophy, Comparative; Buddhism - General; Zen; Buddhism and philosophy; Doctrines
Description: Zen is not a religion of God. Nor a religion of faith. It is a religion of emptiness, a religion of absolute nothingness. However, it is not nihilistic but dynamically positive. For Zen is based on self-awakening, awakening to the self. In this book, the author tries to clarify the true meaning of Buddhist emptiness in comparison with the Aristotelian notion of substance and the Whiteheadean notion of process. He also emphasizes that Buddhism completely defies and overcomes dualism. Yet the Buddhist philosophy of religion is not monistic, but rather nondualistic. What is the meaning of 'nondualism'? This book examines this issue from a variety of comparative philosophical perspectives.