In his text Viṃśikākārikā, translated as the Twenty Verses, Vasubandhu makes and defends the claim that the world is mind-only. What this means is however not directly clear, and many...Show moreIn his text Viṃśikākārikā, translated as the Twenty Verses, Vasubandhu makes and defends the claim that the world is mind-only. What this means is however not directly clear, and many interpretations of what it exactly entails exist. The common direction of interpretation is to read Vasubandhu as making some kind of idealist claim. In this thesis, I will explore the different interpretations and their viability, and argue for my claim that we can interpret Vasubandhu’s mind-only as a form of Mind substance monism.Show less
This thesis examines the ongoing division between nature and culture in international heritage management. Despite efforts to integrate both aspects, the division persists and is often reinforced...Show moreThis thesis examines the ongoing division between nature and culture in international heritage management. Despite efforts to integrate both aspects, the division persists and is often reinforced by international heritage processes and categorisations, historically established, and promoted by organisations like UNESCO, which contributes to a disconnect between local, national, and international processes, frequently marginalising local communities. Through a multidisciplinary approach this thesis examines the impact of World Heritage listings that incorporate both natural and cultural criteria, using the case study of Khangchendzonga National Park (KNP) in the Indian state of Sikkim. Inscribed as India’s first mixed natural and cultural World Heritage Site in 2016, the KNP boasts a remarkable range of environments, resulting in exceptional biodiversity. Additionally, the landscape holds deep spiritual and cultural significance for local communities such as the Lepcha, and international Buddhist communities, who consider it a sacred hidden land. These relationships have established unique customs, worldviews, material culture, and traditional knowledge. In this context, natural and cultural heritage are intricately interconnected, providing an opportunity to explore whether mixed listings can transcend the traditional Western dichotomy of nature versus culture and enable more integrated heritage management.Show less
Anorexia Nervosa is a debilitating illness characterized by the limitation of food intake and a fear of weight gain. While we might at face value take the illness to be irrational, within this...Show moreAnorexia Nervosa is a debilitating illness characterized by the limitation of food intake and a fear of weight gain. While we might at face value take the illness to be irrational, within this project we find that the dangerous condition is fueled by a foundation of justifications based on shared cultural ideas and the values derived from them. I will argue that anorexia occurs when an individual manages to embody attitudes of mind, body, and desire found in the Western philosophical tradition. For the anorexic, rather than being a project of vanity, losing weight can be understood as a spiritual project of transcending the human body and dissolving craving, thus, a quest for liberation. The illness functions in a way in which the anorexic individual sees the world through a filter that seeks out motivation to continue starving, as the self-denial is so extreme that it goes against the individual’s basic human instinct of survival and thus requires constant fuel to persist. What I call the anorexic worldview is a system of values and beliefs that promises the individual who adopts it liberation through transcending one’s ordinary humanity and becoming invulnerable, but at the end of the day, this worldview serves merely the contrary purpose of powering the mental and physical deterioration of the individual. Interestingly, themes inherent to anorexia such as a negative view of the body and the strict denial of craving are also prevalent in early Buddhist philosophy.Show less
Bachelor thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (BSc)
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This bachelor thesis focuses on the novel integration of robots within Japanese Buddhism. It does so by zooming in on the integration and assignment of different roles to three robots.
Bachelor thesis | South and Southeast Asian Studies (BA)
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It is a sensitive question for many Tibetans nowadays what the use and thereby the survival of the Tibetan language could or could not mean for the preservation of a Tibetan cultural identity and...Show moreIt is a sensitive question for many Tibetans nowadays what the use and thereby the survival of the Tibetan language could or could not mean for the preservation of a Tibetan cultural identity and the survival Tibetan Buddhism.Show less
This thesis compiles views on music and dance scattered throughout the Pāli Canon and its commentaries. It starts with negative views, widely considered the most characteristic, and lists the...Show moreThis thesis compiles views on music and dance scattered throughout the Pāli Canon and its commentaries. It starts with negative views, widely considered the most characteristic, and lists the spiritual, emotional and even social reasons given in the early texts for the avoidance of musical art forms. The rest of the work addresses less known, wholesome uses of music: ‘devotional’ compositions, apparently as old as the oldest strata of the Pāli Canon (according to the texts themselves, many eons older), and a handful of episodes where advanced practitioners are led to Nirvana by the lyrics of peasant songs. The last chapter is dedicated to two meditational states that seem to involve perceptions of beauty, the ‘beautiful-liberation’ (subha-vimokkha) and the samādhi of divine sounds of the Mahāli Sutta. The conclusion argues that a more balanced image of the early Buddhist approach to art is needed to make sense of modern Buddhism and its embrace of a perhaps not so foreign ‘Romantic’ aestheticism.Show less
This paper proposes another axis of understanding for the Minamata case study by analyzing the philosophical intricacies of the Japanese culture in contrast with Japan's politics and industrial...Show moreThis paper proposes another axis of understanding for the Minamata case study by analyzing the philosophical intricacies of the Japanese culture in contrast with Japan's politics and industrial goals. Instead of offering a technical solution to such a far-reaching event, it looks at the hidden potential of Japanese cultural practices in transforming the way politics consider the priorities of human development and how local communities’ expectations can be met when their lifestyle is taken into consideration. In that sense, the Minamata incident reveals to be more than a local disaster but also to a larger extent the illustration of a societal and philosophical discordance.Show less
