Forerunner of All Things - Buddhaghosa on Mind, Intention, and Agency

Scholars have long been intrigued by the Buddha's defining action (karma) as intention. This book explores systematically how intention, agency, and moral psychology were interpreted in all branches of early Theravada thought, paying special attention to the thought of the 5th-century commentator Buddhaghosa.

About the author

Associate Professor of Religion, Amherst College

Summary

Scholars have long been intrigued by the Buddha's defining action (karma) as intention. This book explores systematically how intention, agency, and moral psychology were interpreted in all branches of early Theravada thought, paying special attention to the thought of the 5th-century commentator Buddhaghosa.

Additional text

Throughout this original, humane, and often beautiful exploration of Buddhist moral thinking, Maria Heim allows herself to be taught and guided by the great Buddhist thinker Buddhaghosa about how to read Buddhist texts well and how to think reflectively about the nature of a moral person. The result is that we are introduced to a Buddhaghosa that we have not met before: an astute humanist always alert to the complexities of the moral life, and a contemporary with us, as it were, offering us fresh resources for our own efforts to make sense of ourselves as moral persons

Product details

• Authors: Maria Heim
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 14.11.2013
• EAN: 9780199331031
• ISBN: 978-0-19-933103-1
• No. of pages: 272
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Other religions; RELIGION / Buddhism / General, PHILOSOPHY / Buddhist, Religion - World Religions, RELIGION / Buddhism / Theravada, Buddhism, East Asian and Indian philosophy, Oriental & Indian philosophy