The Teachings of the Odd-Eyed One: A Study and Translation of the Virupaksapancasika, with the Commentary of Vidyacakravartin

ISBN-13: 9780791475546 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 208 str.

David Peter Lawrence

Opis

This book offers the first published translation of the contemplative manual Virūpāksapancasikā, written circa the twelfth century CE, and the commentary on it, Vivrti by Vidyācakravartin. These late works from the Pratyabhijnā tradition of monistic and tantric Kashmiri Śaiva philosophy focus on means to deindividualize and disclose the primordial, divine essential natures of the human ego and body-sense.

David Peter Lawrence situates these writings in their medieval, South Asian religious and intellectual contexts. He goes on to engage Pratyabhijnā philosophical psychology in dialogue with Western religious and psychoanalytic conceptions of identity and "narcissism," and also demonstrates the Śaiva tradition's strong concern with ethics. The richly annotated translation and glossary illuminate the texts for all readers.