Articles
Original scholarship published on a rolling basis
About
The Journal of Contemplative Studies regularly publishes original research and scholarship on topics related to the world’s contemplative traditions — historical and contemporary, religious and secular. Articles are not restricted to a particular disciplinary or methodological approach as long as scholarship is deeply grounded in the humanities or transdisciplinary scholarship with a humanistic core, and adheres to the journal’s Focus and Scope. Articles are reviewed and published on a rolling basis, either independently, or within a Special Issue. Details about how to submit an article are on the Submissions page.
Recent Articles
Supreme Patriarch Suk Kai Thuean’s Method of Visualizing the Elements
Potprecha Cholvijarn
The paper aims to shed further light on the boran kammaṭṭhāna, or “old meditation,” tradition by providing a summary and an analysis of a meditation manual titled “Baep Doen That” (literally, “Model for walking the elements”) attributed to the Supreme Patriarch Suk Kai Thuean (1733–1822), the fourth Saṅgharāja of Bangkok, Thailand. The analysis of the manual incorporates the author’s interviews with Phra Khru Sitthisangwon (Wira Ṭhanāvīro) of Wat Ratchasittharam, the current lineage holder of Supreme Patriarch Suk’s meditation.
The Art of Imagination at the Intersection of Pramāṇa and Samaya: Normative Epistemology and Tantric Ethics in Early Philosophical Vajrayāna
Dominic D. Z. Sur
Buddhist thinkers in Tibet, most especially those associated with Tibet’s Nyingma or Old School of Buddhism, have produced a rich and understudied current of tantric philosophy advancing the authority, validity, and rationality of the tantric view. This paper examines the text, Establishing Appearance as Divine (Snang ba lhar bsgrub pa) by Rongzom (fl. 11th–12th c.). It is our earliest documented instance of a Tibetan “tantric pramāṇa”—that is, an approach characterized by the philosophical integration of exoteric philosophical thought and esoteric ritual and ideology. As such, and in contrast to more narrowly focused studies of Tibetan ritual or Tibetan philosophy, this paper details the form, content, and context of Rongzom’s tantric pramāṇa or epistemological discourse in terms of both classical epistemology and Buddhist Tantra. This study thus sheds light on the relationship envisioned between ritual and philosophy in traditions of Vajrayāna.
Practicing the “Threefold Mystery”: Rethinking a Shingon Ritual from Dichotomy to Dialectic
Richard K. Payne
After a century and a half of focus on Buddhist doctrine, academic attention is increasingly being paid to practice. What remains undertheorized, however, is the relation between the two. Despite its prevalence, the dichotomous representation of doctrine and practice is methodologically dysfunctional. As an alternative, it is proposed that the relation between doctrine and practice is better understood as dialectical, sometimes represented in Buddhist literature by the image of “the two wings of a bird.” This relation is explored by examining a particular tantric ritual, a Shingon homa.
No Attainment, Nothing to Attain: A Buddhist Reflection on Psychedelics
Peter D. Hershock
The religious or spiritual value of contemplative practices and the use of psychedelics is not intrinsic to experiences obtained through them and is instead relational—a function of how they alter consciousness. Hershock presents a nonreductive, nondualist Buddhist account of consciousness that calls critically into question the merits of both physicalist and phenomenalist reductionism, makes a Buddhist case for seeing that changes in subjective experience are at best provisional goals of these alterations, and draws some challenging inferences regarding the dynamics of contemplative practice, and more.
Re-Visioning Ethnography Through Meditative Practice: The Proposal for a Contemplative Anthropology and Its Experience through Visual Elicitation Technique
Federico Divino
This article introduces a novel method presently in development that integrates ethnography and visual elicitation techniques to explore meditative experiences and investigate consciousness. Central to this method is the utilization of mandala-like images as a means to capture the dynamic evolution of consciousness during contemplative practices. This article provides an illustrative case study that scrutinizes the method’s potential applications and contributions within the domain of anthropological research on contemplative practices.
Hesychasm and Psychedelics: Altered States, Purgation, and the Question of Authentic Mysticism
Thomas Cattoi
Hesychasm is a form of monastic asceticism rooted in the tradition of the Desert Fathers and given a systematic articulation by the Byzantine author Gregory Palamas (1296–1359). This article considers how the mystical experiences described in Palamas’s Triads compare to the altered states at the center of contemporary psychedelic research, turning to the discipline of Comparative Theology as a helpful framework to bring into dialogue the hesychastic understanding of deification as a trajectory grounded in the reception of the sacraments and the therapeutic impact of psychedelic experiences.
Portrait of a Poison: Datura in Buddhist Magic
Samuel M. Grimes
The psychoactive plant Datura metel appears across a range of traditions in premodern South Asia including the form of tantric Buddhism (Vajrayāna) located in the yoginī tantras, where the plant is most prominently used in instructions for bringing about magical acts (ṣaṭkarman). This paper explores the possibility that datura was consumed for its hallucination-inducing potential by considering how the plant was viewed and used in premodern South Asia through an ethnobotanical approach to relevant texts. It argues that the material potency of the plant as a dangerous poison gave it a magical potency that made it a favored ingredient in several hostile magic rites (abhicāra) and suggests that the line between material and magical is an inappropriate distinction to draw when examining these tantras.
A Study of Cheng Yi’s Quiet-Sitting Meditation and Other Contemplative Practices in the Confucian Context
Bin Song
This study delves into Cheng Yi’s Ruist (Confucian) contemplative practices, addressing a gap in contemplative studies from a Ruist perspective. These practices, including quiet-sitting meditation, beholding, calligraphy, and restful sleep, emerged during political and social crises, amid diverse interpretations of Ruist classics and the influences of Buddhism and Daoism. Cheng Yi’s approach provides valuable comparative insights for contemporary contemplative studies and guidance for practitioners seeking to balance intellectualism, contemplation, and ethical action.
Relationships between Religious and Scientific Worldviews in the Narratives of Western Buddhists Reporting Meditation-Related Challenges
Roman Palitsky, David J. Cooper, Jared R. Lindahl, Willoughby B. Britton (PDF)
Relationships between religious and scientific worldviews are important factors in exploring meditation-related challenges for Western Buddhist meditators. Interviews with sixty-eight meditators and thirty-three meditation experts were analyzed to examine how they understand these relationships, which were observed to be conflicting, compatible, nested, discrete, and complementary. These dynamics suggest an expansion of existing understandings of the relationships between science and religion as they apply to Buddhist meditators.