New Arrival : Foundations of Indian Psychology

Foundations of Indian Psychology (in two volumes)

edited by: Matthijs Cornelissen, Girishwar Misra, & Suneet Varma

published by: Longman, Pearson Education, New Delhi
Volume I is available now;Volume II is scheduled to come out by the end of October.

Volume 1: Concepts and Theories
Karan Singh
Preface
Editors
Introduction
Aster Patel
The psychological perspectives of our times... Three shifts of a rhythm

Section 1: The social and philosophical context
1
K. Ramakrishna Rao
Indian psychology: Implications and applications
2
Ajit K. Dalal
A journey back to the roots: Psychology in India
3
R. L. Kashyap
Psychological ideas in the Vedas and their relevance to contemporary psychology
4
Vladimir Iatsenko
On the Vedic symbolism in the light of Sri Aurobindo
5
Kundan Singh
Beyond mind: The future of psychology as a science
6
John Pickering
Indian psychological thought in the age of globalization

Section 2: Self and personality
7
Kiran Kumar K. Salagame
Ego and ahaṁkāra: Self and identity in modern psychology and Indian thought
8
Priya Ananda & Ajith Prasad
Models of personality in Buddhist psychology
9
Suneet Varma
Integral Psychology: A new science of self, personality and psychology
10
Brant Cortright
An integral approach to our psychic centre
11
Bahman A. K. Shirazi
The Sufi path of self-transformation
12
Shivantika Sharad
Being an authentic self: Some insights from the lives of Sri Aurobindo and Mahatma Gandhi

Section 3: Pathways to knowledge
13
Peter Sedlmeier
Indian psychology and the scientific method
14
William Braud
Integrating yoga epistemology and ontology into an expanded integral approach to research
15
Girishwar Misra
Knowing in the Indian tradition
16
R. M. Matthijs Cornelissen
What is knowledge? A reflection based on the work of Sri Aurobindo
17
S. R. Bhatt
The noetic process (citta vṛthi): A Therāvāda Buddhist view

Section 4: Affect, motivation and creativity
18
Girishwar Misra
Psychology of emotions: Some cultural perspectives
19
Sunil D. Gaur
Why am I here? Implications of self and identity for conceptualizing motivation
20
Anand C. Paranjpe
The principles and practice of karma yoga in the writings and life of B. G. Tilak
21
Kavita A. Sharma
From dejection to action: A narrative analysis of the transformation of Arjuna and Yudhiṣṭhira
22
Minati Panda
Cultural construction of creativity: Dualism and beyond
Glossary of words of Sanskrit or Pali origin
The contributors
Index

Volume 2: Practical Applications
Karan Singh
Preface
Editors
Introduction
Aster Patel
The psychological perspectives of our times... Three shifts of a rhythm

Section 1: Health and healing
1
Kapil Kapoor
Philosophy of healing in Indian medicine
2
R. L. Bijlan
Integral psychology: More than a tool for health and happiness
3
Ajit K. Dalal
Folk wisdom and traditional healing practices: Some lessons for modern psychotherapies
4
Alok Pandey
Psychotherapy and Indian thought
5
Michael Miovic
Psychotherapy and Integral Yoga Psychology
6
K. M. Tripathi
Concept and scope of pratyāhāra in management of mental health

Section 2: Education
7
Neeltje Huppes
Integral education: An application of Indian psychology
8
P. Ram Manohar
The blending of healing and pedagogy in Āyurveda
9
Bharati Baveja
Situating teacher education in the Indian context: A paradigm shift
10
Vinita Kaushik Kapur
Krishnamurti and value education
11
Anjum Sibia
Education for life: The Mirambika experience

Section 3: Social issues
12
Anand Prakash
Exploring the images used for the individual-organization interface: Experiences and reflections
13
Kumar Ravi Priya
Broadening of consciousness: A healing process among the survivors of the Kachchh earthquake
14
R. S. Pirta
Resolution of social conflicts: An Indian model
15
Anjali Singh
Lālan-pālan: A psycho-spiritual experience for the Indian mother
16
P. Kapur & G. Misra
Being human the Sikh way: Some psychological reflections
17
Kittu Reddy
Organizational transformation through consciousness-centred training: A case study from the Indian Army
Glossary of words of Sanskrit or Pali origin
The contributors
Index

http://ipi.org.in/events/fip-announcement.php

International Conference on Positive Psychology : A New Approach to Mental Health

International Conference on Positive Psychology : A New Approach to Mental Health

6 to 8 August 2010

Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

The conference brings together positive psychologists, mental health experts, behavioural & social scientists, spiritual thinkers and academicians on one platform. The focus of this conference is to promote Positive Psychology.Organized by: Amity University Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 30 June २०१०

Contact name: Vineeth Kumar

Brochure [Click Here]
Registration Form [Click Here]

Website: http://www.amity.edu/jaipur/pp.asp

Last date of Courses in Indian Psychology

Dear friends,

This is gentle reminder for those interested in the course on Indian Psychology, that थे last day to submit an application is 20 April।The full information on the courses is available at:

http://ipi.org.in/
or directly at:
http://ipi.org.in/events/ip-courses-2010.html(The info was also sent to you in an email on 22 March.)For all further information please write to: matthijs@ipi.org.in

SPIRITUAL APPROACH TO EDUCATION: AN INDIAN EXPERIENCE

Become a part of the book Philosophy, Education and Indian Value System(CPPIS 2011) Contact:
http://drsirswal।webs.com

SRI AUROBINDO AND SPIRITUAL APPROACH TO EDUCATION

Become a part of the book Philosophy, Education and Indian Value System(CPPIS 2011) Contact:
http://drsirswal।webs.com

Two Certificate Courses Indian Psychology

Two Certificate CoursesIndian Psychology
At Pondicherry and Delhi June to October २०१०

organised by the Indian Psychology Institute.

These courses offer an introduction to Indian Psychology. They are largely, but not exclusively, based on the work of Sri Aurobindo, and cover topics like philosophical background; self and personality; cognition and modes of knowing; yoga-based research methodologies; motivation and the aim of life; emotions and attitudes; individual change and development; relationships; professional work involving psychology (education, therapy, organisational psychology, etc.).
Information transfer is, however, only one aspect of these courses। Their central focus is on increasing one’s self-knowledge, and on developing consciousness-based psychological skills and ­attitudes that help in one’s personal growth. In Indian ­approaches to Psychology one has to begin with understanding one’s own self, and apply that understanding to life. Only then, can one hope to understand, teach or otherwise help others.

Registration
Please email the following information as early as possible, but not later than April 20,to: mail@ipi.org.in
A 300-600 word “biographical note”Focus here on the work you have already done in the fields of psychology, Indian philosophy and yoga.
A 300-600 word “motivation note”Focus here on why you are interested in this course, what you expect from it, and how you plan to use what you will learn after completing this course.
Factual information
Which course (Pondicherry or Delhi):
Name:
Gender:
Year of birth:
Educational qualifications:
Present position & place of work:
Preferred Postal Address:
Email address(es):
Telephone / Mobile:
There are only limited seats, so if you are interested, please register at the earliest, but not later than April 20, 2010. Please don't send the fees before you have received our acceptance email.For the latest information, visit: http://ipi.org.in
If you need any further info, you can write to ।org.in" href="mailto:matthijs@ipi

For more details go to the main page

http://ipi.org.in/events/ip-courses-2010.html

CONCEPT OF SELF IN GAUTAMA BUDDHA

-Desh Raj Sirswal

IntroductionSelf is broadly defined as the essential qualities that make a person distinct from all others. The self is the idea of a unified being which is the source of an idiosyncratic consciousness. Moreover, this self is agent responsible for the thoughts and actions of an individual to which they are ascribed. It is a substance which therefore endures through time; thus, the thoughts and actions at different moments of time may pertain to the same self as John Locke discussed. The particular characteristics of the self determine its identity. The Self usually begins as a random stream of sensory material — sounds, images, tactile sensations, scents, flavours, stimulate the nervous system and, through a series of neurochemical processes affect the brain forming first impressions in the brain tissue. Self can be described in many languages and conceptual networks but they will always be partial and incomplete. What you are today is a product of all events which occurred before. Physically you are what you have eaten up till now. But there is also structural, slow-motion changes which could be however seen if filmed with a slow speed camera, the same way as we can see blooming of a flower accelerated to 10 seconds when it took maybe 2 days. So the structure is not static, it continues to change only slowly. It is the intension of this article is to analyse the conception of self according to Gautama Buddha.

Gautama Conception of the SelfThe self is a problem which was of central concern to both and which has since exercised a continuing fascination for philosophers, both of the East and the West.1 The Buddha denies the existence of any permanent entity either physical or mental. He considers the human person as a psychophysical complex. For him all worldly things are momentary and likewise the self is not more than it and rejects commonly believed conception of self. But how, it may be asked, does he then explain the continuity of a person through different births, or even through the different states of childhood, youth and old age? Though denying the continuity of an identical substance in man, Buddha does not deny the continuity of the stream of successive states that compose his life. In the meaning of the Atman is to believe in the eternity, then we call Buddha’s conception about self as Anantamavada. Atman is nothing more except the composition of five skandhas.

The Buddha’s concept of experience was “pre-theoretical” akin to the “radical empiricism” of James. His “middle-way” was the same as “radical empiricism”–with the help of which he escaped all the dualisms and dichotomies of his times such as eternalism and annihilationism, being and nonbeing, Brahman and the atman, subject and object, knower and the known, the self and the not-self, permanence and impermanence.

About this conception one question arises that How does such a view of the self account for personal identity and personal freedom? Goutama had something original to contribute to both these problems. Since what we designate the “self” is a continuous flow of psyche-physical processes it is futile to look for exactly the same entity (atman) within them. Even if one postulated such an entity it would be difficult theoretically to explain its relation to the ongoing flow of these processes.

Self is not more than a CompositionA number of analogies are used to illustrate the Buddhist philosophy of process. The most popular metaphor for expounding the Buddhist doctrine of no-abinding self is that of the bundle of fire-sticks .According to the Buddha, all of our senses and thoughts are on fire with lust and desire. Although there is no-abinding self or soul, we cannot deny the reality of our experiences. Thus, the Buddha provided a five-fold classification of what he thought was really going on when we experience something. He described these as the five bundles and they constitute one of the earliest attempts at a definite analysis of what is it to experience something. They are:

1. Rupa: Material Form-the material givenness of experience.
2. Vedana: Sensation- the initial sensory apprehension of forms.
3. Samjna : Cognition- the determine classification of experience.
4. Samskara: Disposition- the volitional response that colours experiences.
5. Vijnana: Consciousness- awareness of the six sensory ranges (indriya).2

For the early Buddhists, however, the five skandhas provided their own conceptual map of the entirety of our experience. Where is there a self to be found within this scheme? The Buddha is said to have declared with reference to each of the five skandhas “It is not mine. He is not me. He is not myself”., thereby rejecting the existence of some mysterious entity that might be thought to ‘own’ or ‘possess’ the skandhas and to deny that any such substantial self can be found within the skandhas themselves. The five bundles are themselves continually understanding transforming and do not constitute a persisting or abiding self of any kind.3

Buddhist used the term ‘name-and-form’ is quite crucial for understanding the Buddhist analysis of mind and the body. The used it in two important contexts. First, name and form, which is a translation of the Pali term nama-rupa, are often associated together as a reference to the five aggregates: feeling, perception, disposition and consciousness associated with nama and rupa associated with the material shape derived from extension, cohension, heat and mobility.4 So, the man is only a conventional name of a collection of different constituents and his existence depends on this collection and it dissolves when the collection and it dissolves when the collection breaks up. The soul or the ego denotes nothing more than this collection.5

On Personal IdentityIdentity for the Buddha is to be found in the cumulative continuity of the processes themselves. Identity or sameness involves the mistaken assumption of a permanent element or substance that must persist throughout an ever changing process. The series is not a discrete one of perishing particulars, otherwise memory and moral effort would be inexplicable. On the contrary, it is governed by the “law of dependent origination” which says: If this is, that comes to be, from the arising of this, which arises. If this is not, that does not come to be; from the stopping of this, that stops. This is a description of what is experientially encountered without being trammeled by the conceptual puzzles regarding the nature of the “‘tie” to account for the continuity. Such a cumulative continuity, so the Buddha thought, has a room for personal freedom and moral initiative. It is not a causally tight and determined series. Any notion of rigid determinism flatly contradicts our experience of putting forth moral effort in the, face of temptation.

Buddhists believe in re-birth but do not accept that there is any substantial entity of self (atman) being reborn in this process-there is simply the process itself. For the various Hindu schools samara is like a pearl necklace. The successions of lives are a series of pearls held together by a singular connecting thread-the atman. In contrast, Buddhist philosophical texts tend to represent rebirth using analogies of dynamics and ever-changing processes, such as the following of a river or the flickering flame of a candle. Thus, according to the Questions of King Milinda to talk of either ‘identity’ or ‘difference’ between lives is inappropriate.6 Rebirth is, therefore, not transmigration, i.e. the migration of the causation of the same soul into another body; it is the causation of the next life by the present.

In short, the Buddha’s attitude to all these conceptual problems regarding self-identity was to follow the experiential middle-path and to avoid the philosophical puzzles arising from espousing extreme conceptual positions. By the complete phrase ‘dependent origination’, such and such elements of being come into existence by means of an unbroken series of their full complement of dependence, the truth, or the middle course, is shown. This rejects the heresy that he who experiences the fruit of the deed is the same as the one who performed the deed, and also rejects the converse one that he who experiences the fruit of a deed is different from the one who performed the deed, and leaning not to either of these popular hypotheses, holds fast by Nominalism.7

According to Silva, “In general, the Buddha did not push the questions like the body-mind issue towards the obtaining of theoretical finality. While drawing clear distinction for the purpose of conveying his message concerning the alleviation of human suffering, the Buddha had a practical and pragmatic approach to problems. He steered clear of metaphysical traps. He considered the communication of ideas as a pragmatic and linguistic issue which should help the individual to follow the Buddhist experimental path and discover the nature of ‘things as they are’.”8

Conclusion
Here we have studied the conception of self according to Buddha. The Buddha denied any permanent existent entity mental or physical. It is material position in Indian Philosophy and it only reflects conscious flow of experience and leaves all puzzles regarding metaphysical entity. So Buddha’s conception have a rich component which is relevant of modern era of thought and also it reasonable to all men, theist or atheist .It is need further consideration on several topics related to human cognition, personality and way to express thoughts.

Notes and References:
1. D.C.Mathur, “The Historical Buddha (Gotama), Hume, and James on the self:
Comparisons and evaluations”, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 28, No. 3
(1978), p.253.

2. Richard King, Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Hindu and Buddhist Thought,
pp.79-80.

3. ibid, p.80.

4. Padmasiri De Silva, An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology, Macmillan Press Ltd.,
2000,p.143.

5. Dutta & Chatterjee, An Introduction to Indian Philosophy, University of Calcutta
1984, p.138.

6. Richard King , Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Hindu and Buddhist Thought,
p.81.

7. D.C. Mathur, “The historical Buddha (Gotama), Hume, and James on the self:
Comparisons and evaluations”, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 28,
No. 3 (1978), p.253.

8. Padmasiri De Silva, An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology, Macmillan Press Ltd.,
2000, p.145.

Post Link:http://niyamakpsychology.blogspot.com/2009/08/concept-of-self-in-gautama-budhha.html