Table of Contents
NEW
BOOK> A Critique of Western Buddhism: Ruins of the Real, by Glenn Wallis
by A. Charles Muller
Published by Bloomsbury AcademicISBN: 9781474283557
Publisher's Blurb:
What are we to make of Western Buddhism? Glenn Wallis argues that in aligning their tradition with the contemporary wellness industry, Western Buddhists evade the consequences of Buddhist thought. This book shows that with concepts such as vanishing, nihility, extinction, contingency, and no-self, Buddhism, like all potent systems of thought, articulates a notion of the “real.” Raw, unflinching acceptance of this real is held by Buddhism to be at the very core of human “awakening.” Yet these preeminent human truths are universally against in contemporary Buddhist practice, contravening the very heart of Buddhism.
The author's critique of Western Buddhism is threefold. It is immanent, in emerging out of Buddhist thought but taking it beyond what it itself publicly concedes; negative, in employing the “democratizing” deconstructive methods of François Laruelle's non-philosophy; and re-descriptive, in applying Laruelle's concept of philofiction. Through applying resources of Continental philosophy to Western Buddhism, A Critique of Western Buddhism suggests a possible practice for our time, an "anthropotechnic", or religion transposed from its seductive, but misguiding, idealist haven.
Table of contents
Part One
Introduction: Raise the Curtain on the Theater of Western Buddhism!
1. The Snares of Wisdom
2. Specters of the Real
3. First Names of the Buddhist Real
Part Two
4. Non-Buddhism
5. Immanent Practice
Part Three
6. Buddhofiction
7. Meditation in Ruin
Reviews
“The single most important book of contemporary Buddhist philosophic reflection. Wallis' critique masterfully addresses the twinned questions central to contemporary Buddhism: 'What use is being made of Buddhism today?' and 'What use is Buddhism today?'” – Richard K. Payne, Yehan Numata Professor of Japanese Buddhist Studies, Institute of Buddhist Studies, USA
“It is a very rare and precious thing to find a book such as this, which engages as deeply with religious materials as it does with the philosophical. Glenn Wallis brings together resources from Continental philosophy, namely François Laruelle's non-philosophy, and concepts and ideas from Buddhism to carry out a A fecund project that grows in the ruins of our philosophical and religious pretensions and arrogance.”” – Anthony Paul Smith, Associate Professor of Philosophical Theology, La Salle University, USA
Web site: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/a-critique-of-western-buddhism-9781474283557/
