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The Modal Catuṣkoṭi: Formalizing Emptiness In Classical Modal Logic, Chance Chapman

Comparative Philosophy

Nāgārjuna’s arguments in the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā rely extensively on modus tollens, yet this inference is invalid in the paraconsistent frameworks typically used to formalize the catuṣkoṭi. We develop a modal extension of Belnap-Dunn semantics to address this, expressed as: ¬□(v(P) = t) ∧ ¬□(v(P) = f) ∧ ¬□(v(P) = b) ∧ ¬□(v(P) = n). This formula applies self-reflexively, resolves longstanding interpretive debates regarding verses within Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and Vigrahavyāvartanī such as his “no thesis” defense, and bridges interpretive gaps between traditionally designated Eastern and Western logical traditions, providing a Western analytical translation of Indian dialectic into symbolic modal logic that …

The Dialogue Of Spiritual Experience In Buddhist-Christian Encounter, S Mark Heim

Journal of Global Catholicism

Can one learn more about one’s own religion through the practices of another? My positive answer to this question is illustrated in this paper by reflection on aspects of the Buddhist practice of emptiness, in specific connection with Christian under-standing of our lives as creatures. The Buddhist meditative practices I have in mind have several things in common. They are introspective (activated in one person’s inner consciousness) and premised on the Buddhist understanding of emptiness (specifically “no self ” teachings). Buddhist introspective practice takes at least three broad forms. One of these is a meditative analytical awareness of the contents …

Imagination And The Self: A Cross-Cultural And Cross-Disciplinary Study, Qianyi Qin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is an interdisciplinary investigation of the imagination and the self that engages with cognitive science, philosophy of mind, Buddhism, ethical theories, and a variety of perspectives from Asian and Western philosophy. I address the following questions in three interrelated chapters. First, what does it mean for the self to appear in imagination? In Chapter 1, against certain narrow understandings of the self in philosophy of language, I build a multidimensional model of the self in imaginative experiences to capture the rich phenomenology, drawing on empirical findings on memory and imagination. Second, can the self be removed from imagination? …

Infinite Regress Argument: Nāgārjuna Vs. The Naiyāyikas, Aastha Pujara

Honors College Theses

Infinite regress arguments are commonly employed within philosophical texts as an ad infinitum fallacy to disprove an argument. This argumentative tactic is described as a chain of never-ending explanations that has no beginning. In this paper, I explore the Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna and how he utilizes the infinite regress argument to disprove the existence of svabhāva, or essence. Unlike other philosophers, he indicates that the infinite regress argument is not a problem for him due to his philosophy, which explains that everything is devoid of essence or substance and is inherently empty, also known as śūnyatā. Nāgārjuna examines these infinite …

From Tiktok To Transcendence: Reclaiming Focus Through Contemplative Education, Araceli Gordus Huizar

Knowledge and Creativity Expo

In an era shaped by the attention economy and digital technology, students in higher education navigate constant stimulation that fragments attention, increases stress, and challenges emotional regulation. Research in psychology and neuroscience suggests that chronic exposure to social media, AI tools, and multitasking environments contributes to divided attention and diminished cognitive performance. While institutional responses, such as phone bans, attempt to manage distraction, they often fail to cultivate the internal capacities necessary for sustained focus and meaningful learning.

This paper argues that contemplative education--grounded in Buddhist and Hindu contemplative traditions and informed by humanistic psychology and contemporary mindfulness-based interventions--offers a …

Hirarki Ruang Candi Kedaton Muara Jambi, Kirana Anindita Parama Putri

Multikultura

Kedaton Temple is one of the temples located in the Muara Jambi Temple Complex. Kedaton Temple, like most other temples in this temple complex, is composed of several rooms. Kedaton Temple in the Muara Jambi Temple Complex is considered the largest temple there. In addition, Kedaton Temple is composed of 14 rooms. The large number of rooms raises the question of how the existing spatial hierarchy is seen from the concept of Buddhist Cosmology. This research was conducted by conducting a literature study and analyzed using spatial analysis. The literature study was carried out by collecting sources such as books, …

The Coherence Of Navayāna Pragmatism: Ambedkar And The Pragmatist Reconstruction Of Buddhist Philosophy, Danish Hamid

Comparative Philosophy

This paper examines the philosophical coherence of B.R. Ambedkar’s reconstruction of his (Navayāna) Buddhism in relation to John Dewey’s pragmatism. Building on Scott Stroud’s reading of Ambedkar as a Deweyan Pragmatist (2017, 2023), it argues that Dewey’s evolutionary naturalism, his conception of growth, and pragmatic redefinition of concepts provide Ambedkar with the methodological tools for a naturalistic and socially reconstructive reinterpretation of Buddhist doctrines such as anicca (impermanence), dhamma (Buddha’s teaching), nirvāṇa (enlightenment), karuna (compassion), etc. Ambedkar transforms impermanence from a metaphysics of flux into an ethics of progressive growth, and recasts dhamma as a social morality grounded in fraternity …

Emptiness Is Enlightenment: Two Interpretations Of Nāgārjuna's Middle Way As Buddhist Soteriology, Isabella R. Sullivan

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the soteriological implications of Nāgārjuna’s doctrine of emptiness (śūnyatā) as presented in the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (MMK), or Root Verses of the Middle Way. While Nāgārjuna’s radical denial of intrinsic existence (svabhāva) is widely recognized as a masterful critique of metaphysics, modern scholarship remains divided on whether this "right view" can sufficiently ground the Buddhist Path to Liberation. This project centers on a comparative analysis of two prominent modern interpretations: Jay Garfield’s semantic anti-dualism and Giuseppe Ferraro’s anti-metaphysical realism.

The inquiry evaluates these perspectives against the doctrinal frameworks of the Four Noble Truths, dependent …

The Use Of Mindfulness In Empirically Supported Treatments In Psychology, Timothy Stewart

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

After gaining popularity in the United States of America (USA) in the 1960s and 1970s, Buddhist mindfulness was introduced to clinical psychology and investigated for its potential psychological healing effects. In the years since, mindfulness has been widely used in empirically supported treatments (ESTs) in clinical psychology in the USA to treat a wide variety of psychological conditions and disorders. This dissertation examines and compares conceptualizations and implicit understandings of mindfulness in early (Theravāda) Buddhism and in ESTs in clinical psychology in the USA. Through textual narrative analysis of two Buddhist sutta and 10 clinical psychology journal articles, this study …

Martial Arts Studies: A Commentary On The Exploration Of Consciousness In Modern Martial Arts, James H. Sutton

Journal of Conscious Evolution

The rapid globalization of martial arts has reconditioned how the beliefs, customs, and philosophies of traditionally based systems are interpreted and applied in modern practice. As contemporary scholarship struggles to accommodate the cultural histories, myths, and traditions that permeate the perception of martial arts in modern contexts, the focus of inquiry has shifted towards explaining cultural variations in practice rather than understanding the nature of self-awareness derived from self-practice. Consequently, the deeper meanings of martial arts as pathways to personal and transpersonal awareness are often invalidated in favor of objective and verifiable explications. In short, the role of consciousness is …

The Structuralist Semiotics Of Hidden Places, Alexander Shin

Episteme

No abstract provided.

A Buddhist Critique Of Harmony, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

No abstract provided.

Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy Through Buddhism, Teng-Kuan Ng

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Victor Fan, Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy through Buddhism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2022)

Review Of Victor Fan, “Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy Through Buddhism”, Teng-Kuan Ng

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This is a book review of Victor Fan, Cinema Illuminating Reality: Media Philosophy through Buddhism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2022)

Merit Transference And The Paradox Of Merit Inflation, Matthew Hammerton

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Many religious traditions and ethical systems hold that individuals accrue merit through their good intentions, acts, and character, and demerit through their bad intentions, acts, and character. This merit and demerit, accumulated by individuals throughout their lives, gives each person a kind of ethical “score” that can determine what they deserve, and influence whether good or bad things happen to them (e.g., divine punishments and rewards, a favourable or unfavourable rebirth, etc.). In some traditions (most notably Buddhism, but also to a limited extent in Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity), “merit transference” is a feature of these merit-based ethical systems. This …

How Theravāda Buddhism Enriches The Language Of Thought Hypothesis: Beyond Syntax, Juanjuan Cheng, Sumanasara Sandamadulle

Comparative Philosophy

The Language of Thought Hypothesis (LOTH) posits that mental states operate through a language-like representational system physically implemented in the brain. However, this purely symbolic approach faces a significant limitation: certain mental phenomena—such as intuitions, emotions, and intentions—lack the syntactically compositional structure required by LOTH and therefore cannot be adequately explained within its symbolic framework. To address this theoretical challenge, we turn to Theravāda Buddhism (TB), an early Buddhist tradition that integrates rigorous philosophical inquiry with meditative practice. Remarkably, TB began to prefigure a solution to LOTH’s limitations over 2,300 years ago. Although LOTH and TB differ …

A Summoned Life: Vocation In The Analects, Teng-Kuan Ng

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article explores the concept of vocation in the Analects. While most treatmentsof vocation focus on the Christian tradition, and while Confucian thought is oftenviewed as categorically nontheistic, Robert Merrihew Adams’s Finite and InfiniteGoods (1999) presents an illuminating comparative framework for tracing outKongzi’s religious ethical vision of how persons think, act, and feel when graspedby a sense of divine calling. I argue that in the Analects a vocation is compositelyconceived as: (1) a special divine imperative to an individual or a community (2) tolove particular goods within one’s actual circumstances (3) with nonconsequentialist,noncompetitive, and potentially counter-cultural commitment (4) such that …

Sacral Glitch, Kareena Naresh Solanki

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Growing up in a multifaith environment in Mumbai, I witnessed many religious sites and people with diverse beliefs. My parents always remained open-minded to other faiths, and my house remained replete with idols of deities of different religions. I studied Nichiren Buddhism, particularly the Lotus Sutra, as my mother began practising it along with her faith in Hinduism. Philosophical studies became a part of my life at the age of nine. Catholic prayers turned into rituals in my convent school days, and Islamic prayers resonated from afar. I often reflect on the influence of multiple religions in shaping my approach …

Polemik Catra Pada Stupa Induk Candi Borobudur: Kajian Arkeologi Dan Filosofis, So Tju Shinta Lee, Salim Lee

Paradigma: Jurnal Kajian Budaya

This paper explores the profound meaning of the main stupa at Candi Borobudur and analyzes the implications of the proposed catra installation on the monument’s spiritual and cultural values. The interpretation is based on a post-processual perspective that emphasizes the importance of considering context, internal evidence, and internal symbolic relationships rather than seeking externally sourced validation. Through a combination of literature study, observation, and comparative analysis of stupas at Borobudur itself, contemporary Buddhist candis in Central Java, and various types of stupas abroad, this research concludes that the proposal for catra installation on the main stupa of Borobudur lacks …

Is “Sám Hối” An Adequate Form Of Apology?, Hien Vu Gia

CAFE Symposium 2025

This project studies a recent Buddhism scandal in Vietnam, examining whether the apology offered by the authorities was successful. From this, the project explores if “sám hối” (or repentance) could be considered a form of apology.

Is Buddhist View Of Mental States In Consonance With The Foundational Tenets Of Their System?: Investigating Nyāya And Buddhist Debate On Perception In Jayanta Bhatta’S Nyāyamanjari, Ajay K. Verma

Comparative Philosophy

The first noble truth in Buddhism points toward a purely phenomenal experience. Though purely qualitative in nature, the experience of suffering has an existential aspect. As stated in the second noble truth, suffering has a cause that relates to our situatedness in the world. Notwithstanding, the cause of suffering has to be something external to the mental state of suffering itself. Some of the more recent studies on mental states suggest two different positions on the nature of mental states. One may view mental states as self-referential, reflexive and purely qualitative in nature; alternatively, one could view them as transitive …

Epicurus And The Buddha On Desire, Andrew Alwood

Comparative Philosophy

The philosophies of Epicurus and the Buddha aim to free us from suffering by helping us to recognize how ignorance and delusion lead us to pursue harmful desires. Since the problem lies in our attitudes, the solution is to change our attitudes. Like doctors healing the sick, they offer therapeutic practical advice, to remove the groundless opinions and the unhealthy desires that cause suffering. Although various misconceptions may lead us to conceive of these two thinkers as quite different with respect to values and ethics, there are remarkable similarities. Indeed, their practical advice for how to live has the same …

Autoethnographic Action Research As A Contemplative Practice: Awareness And Transformation Of Inner And Outer Selves, Jiju Varghese, Bal Chandra Luitel, Niroj Dahal

The Qualitative Report

Contemplation as a spiritual practice has taken various forms across different religious traditions and regions worldwide. Over the years, various contemplative practices have evolved and become popular even outside religious traditions to promote the well-being of all for inner and outer selves’ transformation. In education, many scholars worldwide have expounded on the benefits of contemplative practices in the classroom for students and teachers. Contemplative practices have penetrated research practices in the form of contemplative inquiry considering performative, philosophical, and artistic transformations, where researchers enter into a deep, thoughtful, and reflective introspective journey to see the connection between what is seen …

40 Years Passing By In (A) “Heartbeat”, Christopher Janney

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This article outlines the forty-year history go Christopher Janney’s iconic performance work “HeartBeat.” Trained as an architect and jazz musician, Janney combines these two disciplines to create large interactive light/sound installations and performances. On the one hand, he attempts to make architecture more like music, more “alive” using real-time sensing devices as on his “Harmonic Convergence” installation on the Miami International Airport. On the other hand, he attempts to make music more like architecture, more physical more visual. In his “HeartBeat” performance, a dancer wears a heartbeat device that amplifies his/her heartbeat in “real time.” Over this pulse, live musicians …

Yoga Sūtra Book Four And The Yogabindu, Christopher Key Chapple

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

Four themes from the fourth pāda of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra are examined here: karma (IV:2-13), individuality (IV:16), humility (IV:20-22), and freedom (IV:29-34). Affirmations and variant interpretations of these four are provided from Haribhadra Virahāṅka’s Yogabindu, most likely composed a century or two later.

Collective Karma: From The Yogasūtra To Taylor Swift, Zoë Slatoff

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

The Indian knowledge traditions speak at length about karma, which is divided into three categories—accumulated (saṃcita), ripe (prārabdha), and future (kriyamāṇa). While much is said about our individual karma and how it affects our repeated reincarnation in cyclic existence, how does this affect others and how do others affect us? In other words, as this paper explores, what is our reciprocal and collective karma?

Painting Liberation: A Visual Ontology Of The Interplay Of Mind And Consciousness In Book Four Of The Yoga Sūtras, Melissa Townsend

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

This presentation explores how artistic practice can illuminate philosophical questions about the nature of mind, consciousness, and liberation as articulated in Book Four of the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. Through a series of paintings that visually translate these sūtras, I propose that art offers a unique, experiential means of engaging with the complex relationship between citta (mind) and puruṣa (consciousness).

The paintings function as a form of “visual ontology,” inviting viewers to engage with abstract philosophical concepts in a sensory, tangible way. By depicting the interplay between the mutable processes of the mind and the unchanging awareness of consciousness, these …

Zeami's Buddhism And Noh In Kurosawa's Ikiru, Ronald S. Green

Journal of Religion & Film

This paper explores the influences of Noh drama theorist Zeami Motokiyo on Akira Kurosawa's 1952 film Ikiru. While Kurosawa's adaptations of traditional Japanese arts are well documented, this study uniquely demonstrates how specific Noh aesthetics shaped this film. It analyzes how Kurosawa's direction of actor Takashi Shimura embodies Zeami's aesthetic principles of awareness of impermanence (mujō), profound mystery (yūgen), and no-mind (mushin), which are performative expressions of Buddhist philosophies. Kurosawa employs four methods developed by Zeami: the use of masks, sparseness in settings and costumes, singing, and the application of an …

Buddhism, Daoism, And Jeet Kune Do: A Contemporary Analysis Of Nondual Traditions In A New Age Martial Art, James H. Sutton

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Traditional martial arts are known for their focus on spiritual cultivation through a combination of self-defense training and contemplative practices like meditation. Traditional martial art systems tend to utilize nondual traditions commonly associated with Buddhism and Daoism; however, modern martial art practices, particularly those of MMA, no longer place a strong emphasis on such traditions. In turn, this has led to the development of high-performance sport athletes who emphasize self-defense efficiency in combat (usually combat sports) over all other attributes while also mixing “arts” or “styles” as necessary for the individual’s own self growth. I dub these as “new age” …

Understanding And Accessing North Korean Religion, Byun Jin Heung

Asia Pacific Mission Studies

Questions about North Korean religion always come with a question mark, and the general level of understanding about North Korean society is very low. This stems from doubts about North Korean communism. However, North Korea is a human society in which people live. As the society of North Korea has changed, so has the religion of North Korea. North Korea, especially after the collapse of the Cold War between East and West, has sought to change to survive and has used religion to gain recognition and acceptance from the international community. Religion has always been a tool to be used. …