Indic philosophical traditions are full of striking states of consciousness that often bend or break the usual ways in which the mind functions. Partly rooted in distinctive yogic methods of self-reflection, these Indic philosophies and soteriologies aim at some of the most extreme re-structurings of conscious known to history. Some advise destroying our egoic structure, some train us to see the world free of all reification or desire, others advise re-identifying as other selves through possession, while still others flood all experience with intense emotion that is itself the target of a uniquely refined enjoyment. Viewed together, these philosophies offer alternative ways of existing as minds, and creative technologies for manipulating the very nature of the self.
Conference Schedule
10-11.30am
Gavin Flood, University of Oxford
Is Phenomenology a Way of Thinking in India?
Aamir Kaderbhai, University of Oxford
All Things are Sublime: A Phenomenology of jīvanmukti in the Mokṣopāya
11.45am-1.15pm
Jessica Frazier, University of Oxford
‘Otherwise…’; Phenomenological Plasticity in Classical Yoga
Ankur Barua, University of Cambridge
How To Be Out Of Your Mind: The Phenomenology of Perplexity in South Asia
2-3.30pm
Ruth McNeil, King’s College London
Experiences of śūnya in the Vijñānabhairava
Hrvoje Cargonya, University of Zagreb
Expansiveness and Bhakti Aesthetics in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism
3.45-5.15pm
Geoffrey Ashton, University of San Francisco
Revitalizing Samkhya through Phenomenology: Reading the Samkhya Karika through Goethe’s Organics
Daniel Ruin, University of Oxford
“[L]’autre, sans manger, contemple”: Henry Corbin and the Phenomenology of the Witness in the Śvetāśvatara– and Kaṭha–upaniṣad-s
5.15pm CLOSING DISCUSSION
