The Doctrine of Awakening: The Attainment of Self-Mastery According to the Earliest Buddhist TextsIn a probing analysis of the oldest Buddhist texts, Julius Evola places the doctrine of liberation in its original context. The early teachings, he suggests, offer the foremost example of an active spirituality that is opposed to the more passive, modern forms of theistic religions. This sophisticated, highly readable analysis of the theory and practice of Buddhist asceticism, first published in Italian in 1943 , elucidates the central truths of the eightfold path and clears away the later accretions of Buddhist doctrine. Evola describes the techniques for conscious liberation from the world of maya and for achieving the state of transcendence beyond dualistic thinking. Most surprisingly, he argues that the widespread belief in reincarnation is not an original Buddhist tenet. Evola presents actual practices of concentration and visualization, and places them in the larger metaphysical context of the Buddhist model of mind and universe. The Doctrine of the Awakening is a provocative study of the teachings of the Buddha by one of Europe's most stimulating thinkers. |
Contents
Varieties of Ascesis | 3 |
The Aryanness of the Doctrine of Awakening | 13 |
The Historical Context of the Doctrine of Awakening | 21 |
Destruction of the Demon of Dialectics | 38 |
The Flame and Samsaric Consciousness | 44 |
Conditioned Genesis | 57 |
Determination of the Vocations | 73 |
The Qualities of the Combatant and the Departure | 95 |
The Four Jhana The Irradiant Contemplations | 146 |
The States Free from Form and the Extinction | 165 |
Discrimination Between the Powers | 183 |
Phenomenology of the Great Liberation | 191 |
Signs of the Nonpareil | 203 |
The Void If the Mind Does Not Break | 212 |
Up to Zen | 220 |
The Ariya Are Still Gathered on the Vultures Peak | 231 |
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Common terms and phrases
achieved action already anatta ancient Angutt appear arises Ariya Aryan ascesis ascetic asceticism ātmā ayatana become body bond Brahman Buddha Buddhism Buddhist teaching calm canonical concept conditioned consciousness considered corresponding cosmic craving death desire detachment Dhammapada Digha disciples discipline divine Doctrine of Awakening dukkha elements Evola existence experience extinction fact feeling force formula free from form human Ibid idea ignorance illumination individual Indo-Aryan irradiant contemplations Jātaka jhāna Julius Evola knowledge leads liberation lives Mahāvagga Vin Mahāyāna Majjh mania manifestation Māra means mental metaphysical Milindapañha mind modern name-and-form nature nibbāna nidāna noble one's oneself original Pāli paññā particular path of awakening perception plane possible Prince Siddhattha principle pure reality realization refer saṁsāra samsaric Samyutt sankhāra sense sīla simile speak spirit Suttanipāta symbolism Tathāgata term things thirst thought tion tradition transcendental truth unconditioned Upanisad viññāṇa vision void Western Yoga of Power