A group blog of scholars exploring Indian philosophy
Even more ubiquitous in the West than mindfulness meditation, and for a longer period of time, is yoga: specifically meaning the practice of postural stretching exercises, with names like “sun salutation” and “downward dog”. They can be supplemented by breathing Continue reading We need a history of modern yoga but not A History of Modern Yoga
Traditional Indian and Tibetan tantric anatomy tells us that in the middle of the human torso there are three channels (nādis or “streams”), one each on the left, middle, and right, and that these proceed vertically upward through a number Continue reading Empiricism of the subtle body
The most important lesson I ever learned was back in Thailand in 1997: that the biggest contributor to my unhappiness wasn’t external problems like being single or unemployed, but my own mental states like craving. Fixing those mental states was Continue reading We need to see emotions as bodily
Veṅkaṭanātha has to adapt the Mīmāṃsā approach to free will to his Vaiṣṇava commitment to the role of God’s grace. He thus concludes that humans are free in their intentions, although they need God’s consent to convert them into action. Continue reading Veṅkaṭanātha on free will to surrender
Guest post submitted by Debajyoti Gangopadhyay Classical Indian Buddhism scholar Suniti Kumar Pathak passed away recently in his Santiniketan house, Bengal. For the whole Indian Buddhist fraternity as well as Indo-Tibetan academia this loss is irreparable. He was 101 years Continue reading Obituary of Suniti Kumar Pathak
We just had a symposium at the APA Eastern celebrating the ten years of the Indian Philosophy Blog. We also used it as a chance to reflect on the need to build a community of scholars in Sanskrit philosophy and Continue reading APA panel on the IPh blog
Celebrating ten years of the IPB, we are going to be hosting a panel at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association in New York City on Thursday, 9 January 2025, entitled Building a Network of Scholars in Continue reading Indian Philosophy Blog APA panel
If we take a modern Buddhist approach where the ultimate reality is emptiness, what then does that look like in practice? Especially as we think about the key question:how can you be yourself if there is no self? In thinking Continue reading Sketching an existentialist Buddhism
How can we reconcile Buddhism with expressive individualism (“be yourself”) and with natural science? When I had previously turned to Wilfrid Sellars for help on this question, I had compared Sellars’s view to two Buddhist metaphysical positions on ultimate truth, Continue reading The physics of emptiness
Any serious contemporary Buddhist intellectual needs to think through the connection between Buddhist ideas and the relevant claims of natural science. Many of us, too, are expressive individualists: we believe that there is something valuable in the project of discovering Continue reading The scientific self is not reductionist