O despertar do budismo no ocidente no século XXI: contrbuição ao debate / The awakening of Buddhism in the West in the twenty-first century: a contribution to the debate

AUTOR(ES)

Maria Theresa da Costa Barros

FONTE

IBICT - Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia

DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

26/07/2002

RESUMO

This thesis presents, as a fundamental aspect, the understanding of another culture, another version, another framework of values: of Indian thought, the foundation of Ahamkãra the individual consciousness, the Self and of the ascetic practices of pre-Arian and autochthonous origin. Our choice within this tradition fell upon the teachings of Buddha Shãkyamuni, due to the absolute originality of their conception of individuality, radically transforming the extant conceptions of subjectivity of the time. The aim of this search within a tradition that differs from ours in all respects, as we focus on that contrast, is to shed light in our own tradition, adding to the discussion about new subjectivity matrixes in our postmodern, global wessern society. This inquiry aims at contributing to the debate on the emergence of Wessern Buddhism in the 21st. century, by essablishing some lines of reflection that should help us to contextualise this phenomenon, on the one hand, and on the other, to widen the debate on issues that relate to the notion of subject as theoretical psychoanalysts use it, through the presentation of the Buddhist Self as another version. A transcultural, primary structuring force, which Harpham calls ascetic imperative, shall allow for the comparison between one form of individuality which comes from a traditional and holistic society, and the form of contemporary individuality, which comes from a secularised and individualist society. Along these lines, we see a relationship between the ascetic practices and the construction of the Self. According to Mauss, the Self also is a universal category, which all cultures present. Much as there are variations on the inventory of ascetic practices available in various cultures, there are variations on the form of subjectivity, in accordance with its cultural ground and its mental landscape. We essablish a connection between Indian ascetic practices and what we call mystic identification, and this allows us to infer the interrelation between asceticism and the construction and sacralisation of the Self in the primeval ages of Indian civilisation. A kind of de-centring occurs with Buddhism: sacralisation spreads through all the Cosmos, meditation practices syntonize with all beings, all animals, in order to eliminate the causes of suffering. Buddhism has risen with an universalist vocation, and took beyond the borders of India this Self built upon the concepts of Ãhimsa, of non-violence, and the notion of absence of inherent existence, which have been intrinsic to Buddhist thought for twenty-five hundred years, and calls the attention of the West after a long period of concealment.

ASSUNTO(S)

filosofia indiana budismo ocidente ascetismo saude coletiva century xxi século xxi buddhism indian philosophy west asceticism

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