| Unit name | Psychology & Philosophy in the Abhidhamma |
|---|---|
| Unit code | THRS30017 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Gethin |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Religion and Theology |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The unit begins with a consideration of the Buddhist taxonomy of the mind and mental states, and then moves on to look at the distinctive Buddhist understanding of the processes of perception, dream, sleep, death, rebirth, and the workings of karma, and how these relate, on the Buddhist view, to the ethics of violence, theft, sex, and lying. The unit concludes by considering the Buddhist view of the mind in relation to modern western understanding, focusing on the notion of ‘mental health’ and the secular adaptation of Buddhist psychological and meditative techniques to psychotherapy in the context of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy.
One essay of c.3000 words (50%) and one exam of 90 minutes (50%).
Bodhi, Bhikkhu, A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma: The Abhidhammattha Sangaha of Ācariya Anuruddha, 3rd edn (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 2007)
Dhammajoti, Sarvastivada abhidharma, 3rd rev. ed. (Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong, 2007)
Flanagan, Owen J., The Bodhisattva’s brain: Buddhism naturalized (Cambridge, M.A.: MIT Press, 2011)
Gethin, Rupert, ‘Can killing a living being ever be an act of compassion? The analysis of the act of killing in the Abhidhamma and Pali commentaries’, Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 11 (2004), 167–202
‘Bhavanga and Rebirth According to the Abhidhamma’, The Buddhist Forum, 3 (1994), 11–35
Karunadasa, Y., The Theravada Abhidhamma: its inquiry into the nature of conditioned reality (Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong, 2010)
Segal, Zindel V., J. Mark G. Williams and John D. Teasdale, Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression: a new approach to preventing relapse (New York; London: Guilford Press, 2002)
