The Body

<p><b>Explores mind-body philosophy from an Asian perspective.</b></p><p>This book explores mind-body philosophy from an Asian perspective. It sheds new light on a problem central in modern Western thought. Yuasa shows that Eastern philosophy has generally formulated its view of mind-body unity as an achievement a state to be acquired-rather than as essential or innate. Depending on the individual's own developmental state the mind-body connection can vary from near dissociation to almost perfect integration. Whereas Western mind-body theories have typically asked what the mind-body is Yuasa asks how the mind-body relation varies on a spectrum from the psychotic to the yogi from the debilitated to the athletic from the awkward novice to the master musician.</p><p>Yuasa first examines various Asian texts dealing with Buddhist meditation kundalini yoga acupuncture ethics and epistemology developing a concept of the dark consciousness (not identical with the psychoanalytic unconscious) as a vehicle for explaining their basic view. He shows that the mind-body image found in those texts has a striking correlation to themes in contemporary French phenomenology Jungian psychoanalysis psychomatic medicine and neurophysiology. The book clears the ground for a provocative meeting between East and West establishing a philosophical region on which science and religion can be mutually illuminating.</p>