Research Catalog

Title

Two views of mind : Abhidharma and brain science / R. Christopher deCharms ; with translation by Gareth Sparham, Sherab Gyatso, and Tsepak Rigzin.

Author

DeCharms, R. Christopher, 1966-

Publication

Ithaca, N. Y. : Snow Lion Publications, c1998.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Samuels, Jonathan, 1963-
• Sparham, Gareth.
• Rigzin, Tsepak, 1957-

Description

242 p. : ill.; 23 cm.

Subject

• Abhidharma
• Buddhism > Psychology
• Perception
• Neurosciences

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• The purpose of this book. Introduction. Tibetan philosophy and neuroscience? ; How this material is presented ; Sources of this material -- The usefulness of an exchange : a discussion with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Usefulness of an exchange for practitioners and for academic study ; A scientific perspective on ancient debates of Tibetan Buddhism.
• A glimpse of the Tibetan view of mind. Approaching the Tibetan view of mind. A little philosophical game, from two cultural perspectives ; Meeting the Tibetan lamas -- A very different metaphor of mind, His Holiness the Dalai Lama : the Tibetan approach to mind, a painting with no wall -- A discussion with Venerable Lobsang Gyatso : mind and mental factors. The presentation of mind and mental factors in Tibetan Buddhism ; Consciousness as clear and knowing ; Consciousness as authoritative regarding appearance ; Intensity of clarity ; Awareness is non-physical ; Awareness and physical being ; Awareness can increase and decrease without limit.
• Buddhism and science. Is Buddhism scientific? No. A difference in authority : meditative observation vs. empirical verification ; A different dualism : the mind-body problem and the subject-object problem ; Difference in method : description vs. mechanistic analysis ; The Buddhist perspective on the mind : descriptions of consciousness ; The neuroscience perspective on the brain : mechanisms of behavior ; Different views of causation ; The importance of differences between the two systems -- A discussion with Kamtrul Rinpoche : a different authoritative base. The power of two types of authority : observation and reason.
• Perceiving the real. Perception in Tibetan Abhidharma and Western neuroscience. The Sauntrika view of direct perceivers ; Definition of a direct perceiver ; The mode of function of direct perception in Tibetan Buddhism ; Divisions and types of direct perceivers ; The two truths in brief ; Conceptual truths : the objects of thought ; Nonconceptual truths : the objects of direct perception ; Direct perceivers know their objects completely and with bare awareness ; Mechanisms of direct perception ; The conditions of direct perception ; Aspected direct perception ; The units of direct perception ; The understanding of perception from contemporary neuroscience ; Definition of perception ; The functions of perception ; The measurement of perception ; Mechanisms of perception : vision ; The visual processing hierarchy of the brain ; Awareness takes place over time and space ; Perceptual illusions ; Comparing the two systems of thought ; The question of aspected perception ; Where is the aspect of aspected awareness? ; Is the medium of the aspect static and passive, as in a mirror reflection? ; How many aspects appear to consciousness at once? ; What is a particular, a unit of perception? ; Is there a "partless particle" of perception at all? ; Recognizing aggregated objects ; What can neuroscience learn from the Buddhist presentation of perception?
• Perceiving the real. A discussion with His Holiness the Dalai Lama : aspects of perception. How the aspect of the object is cast to the perceiving mind ; Separating individual functions of the perceiving mind -- A discussion with Lati Rinpoche : perception and the illuminating nature of mind. Direct perception : its causes and the role of the previous moment of mind ; Consciousness is not the brain ; The illuminating element of mind ; The causal sequence of the mind stream ; The flow of bodily energy and the illuminating essence.
• Ideas of reality. Concepts in Tibetan Abhidharma and Western neuroscience. The use of concepts in Tibetan Buddhism -- What conceptual thoughts are : the Sauntrantika perspective. Definition of a conceptual consciousness -- What conceptual thoughts are for. The purpose of a conceptual thought is to understand what is not at first perceived -- How conceptual thought grasps reality -- Two types of thought and their objects. "Conventional" and "ultimate" minds ; The objects of conceptual and directly perceiving minds ; Objects of a direct perceiver ; Objects of a conceptual mind -- The mistakes of a mistaken mind and the truth of conceptuality. Mistakes of what appears to be mind ; Mistakes of what the mind ascertains -- The negative action of the mind in thought. Negative and positive phenomena ; Non-affirming negatives ; Double negative exclusion objects -- The mode of action of conceptual thought in terms of its object --^
• The objects of a conceptual mind : meaning generalities and double negative exclusions -- The reason for the presentation of exclusions rather than positive phenomena -- Presentation of how a conceptual consciousness is induced. Conceptuality in the presence of an object being observed ; Conceptuality induced by memory ; Conceptuality induced by reason -- Concepts in contemporary neuroscience. Conceptuality as a neural engine : metaphors from physical science ; The parallel processing hierarchy in brief ; Where is the mental semblance? ; The standard theory : generating concepts from positive features ; A source of the generality of thought ; Contrast with the Samkhya view ; Concepts as descending exclusions ; Ascending perceptual information ; Inseparable mixing of the object of engagement and the meaning of generality --^
• Comparing the two systems and considering unanswered questions. Some debated points within the Gelugpa presentation of Sauntrantika ; Term and meaning generalities : separate or united? ; Separate components of concepts ; A united "meaning of the term" ; Separate representations of terms and meanings in the brain ; The mode of arising mental direct perceivers ; Alternating production ; Production of three types ; Production at the end of a continuum ; Concurrent perceptual and conceptual thought ; Spanning the two truths : general and specific objects.
• Ideas of reality. A discussion with Gen Damcho : objects of thought. The meaning generality or mental semblance of an object of thought ; Realization of an object through conceptuality or direct perception ; The four types of objects of a mind ; Objects of a conceptual mind ; Objects of a directly perceiving mind ; The reason for positing exclusion objects (isolates) ; Conceptual awareness of a mental object ; A refutation of the ultimacy of perception by by neuroscience and Prasangika Madhyamika -- A discussion with Lati Rinpoche : ideas, concepts, and terms. Can a concept exist in the absence of a term? ; Conceptualizing objects through exclusion ; How conceptualization arrives at its exclusive object ; Objects of thought : double negatives ; A view from neuroscience ; A view from Tibetan Buddhism ; Forming a concept by introduction and verbal designation ; The necessity of a term for a concept ; Are concepts positive or double negative? ; A stable memory is dependent on the use of a term.
• Memories of experience. A discussion with Kamtrul Rinpoche : memory and the freedom of mind. A Western view of awareness and memory based on neural activity ; Memory and taming the wild horses of the mind -- A discussion with Lati Rinpoche : memory and the subtle channels of the mind. An introduction to channels and pathways within the nervous system ; The flow of mind like water in a river ; The importance of having a term for a concept -- A discussion with Gen Damcho : objects of the mind and memory. Perceiving objects at the "mind door" ; Retrieving concepts from memory ; Memories as potentials for future thoughts.
• Conclusions : what can be learned : the mind from inside and out. New ideas for Western science. Forming a link between subjective experience and empirical science ; Philosophical underpinnings and a definition of consciousness ; The issue of the subject -- New ideas for Buddhism. Subtle channels and physical anatomy ; Mechanistic analysis ; Brain plasticity and the Buddhist idea of transformation -- Tibetan Buddhism and Western science : complementary views. Knowledge of mind and its limits ; Sense of self.

ISBN

1559390816

LCCN

^^^97041162^

OCLC

• 37675833
• SCSB-11058468

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library