1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910784188603321

Autore

Studstill Randall

Titolo

The unity of mystical traditions [[electronic resource] ] : the transformation of consciousness in Tibetan and German mysticism / / by Randall Studstill

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Leiden ; ; Boston, : Brill, 2005

ISBN

1-280-86795-7

9786610867950

90-474-0721-0

1-4337-0712-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (320 p.)

Collana

Numen book series, , 0169-8834 ; ; v. 107

Disciplina

248.2/2/094309023

Soggetti

Mysticism

Mysticism - China - Tibet Autonomous Region

Mysticism - Germany

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [275]-291) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preliminary Material -- A Mystical Pluralist Theory of Mysticism -- A Critique Of Constructivism -- An Alternative Methodology: A Systems Approach To Consciousness -- Doctrine and Practice in the Dzogchen Tradition -- Doctrine And Practice In German Mysticism -- Mystical Pluralism, Systems Theory, and the Unity of Mystical Traditions -- Defining ‘Mysticism’ and ‘Mystical Experience’ -- Remarks On Essentialist and Typological Approaches to Mysticism -- The Motivational Basis of Cognitive Confirmation -- Bibliography -- Index -- Studies in the History of Religions Numen Book Series.

Sommario/riassunto

This book argues that mystical doctrines and practices initiate parallel transformative processes in the consciousness of mystics. This thesis is supported through a comparative analysis of Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen (rdzogs-chen) and the medieval German mysticism of Eckhart, Suso, and Tauler. These traditions are interpreted using a system/cybernetic model of consciousness. This model provides a theoretical framework for assessing the cognitive effects of mystical doctrines and practices and showing how different doctrines and



practices may nevertheless initiate common transformative processes. This systems approach contributes to current philosophical discourse on mysticism by (1) making possible a precise analysis of the cognitive effects of mystical doctrines and practices, and (2) reconciling mystical heterogeneity with the essential unity of mystical traditions.