The unity of mystical traditions : the transformation of consciousness in Tibetan and German mysticism / / by Randall Studstill.

• Superior document: Numen book series, v. 107
• Author: Studstill, Randall.
• Year of Publication: 2005
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in the history of religions ; 107.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (320 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

This book argues that mystical doctrines and practices initiate parallel transformative processes in the consciousness of mystics. This thesis is supported through a comparative analysis of Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen (rdzogs-chen) and the medieval German mysticism of Eckhart, Suso, and Tauler. These traditions are interpreted using a system/cybernetic model of consciousness. This model provides a theoretical framework for assessing the cognitive effects of mystical doctrines and practices and showing how different doctrines and practices may nevertheless initiate common transformative processes. This systems approach contributes to current philosophical discourse on mysticism by (1) making possible a precise analysis of the cognitive effects of mystical doctrines and practices, and (2) reconciling mystical heterogeneity with the essential unity of mystical traditions.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- A Mystical Pluralist Theory of Mysticism -- A Critique Of Constructivism -- An Alternative Methodology: A Systems Approach To Consciousness -- Doctrine and Practice in the Dzogchen Tradition -- Doctrine And Practice In German Mysticism -- Mystical Pluralism, Systems Theory, and the Unity of Mystical Traditions -- Defining ‘Mysticism’ and ‘Mystical Experience’ -- Remarks On Essentialist and Typological Approaches to Mysticism -- The Motivational Basis of Cognitive Confirmation -- Bibliography -- Index -- Studies in the History of Religions Numen Book Series.