Double hiddenness: Governmentality and subjectivization in Gelug Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism, the Gelug school specifically, promotes a deep skepticism about the ability to know others’ minds. Its scripture is rife with cautionary tales allegorizing and extolling this skepticism in adherents, while claiming a buddha, by contrast, has eradicated this skepticism with their om...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
2021
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| In: |
Critical research on religion
Year: 2021, Volume: 9, Issue: 3, Pages: 317-331 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Dge-lugs-pa
/ Scepticism
/ Buddhahood
/ Knowledge
/ Seclusion
/ Subjectivism
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| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism BL Buddhism |
| Further subjects: | B
subjectivization
B Buddhism B Gelug B Tibet B Power B Foucault |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Tibetan Buddhism, the Gelug school specifically, promotes a deep skepticism about the ability to know others’ minds. Its scripture is rife with cautionary tales allegorizing and extolling this skepticism in adherents, while claiming a buddha, by contrast, has eradicated this skepticism with their omniscience. I describe a buddha’s purported privileged epistemic access to others’ minds as “double-hiddenness.” On this skepticism, not just what a buddha knows, but if they know it is hidden, making their authority irreputable. I use critical theory to investigate the ramifications of this double hiddenness, demonstrating that the resultant subjectivization brought about by this extreme skepticism—although the product of power—is not merely a type of subjugation, as suggested by Foucault, but also constitutes a robust agency. |
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| ISSN: | 2050-3040 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Critical research on religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/2050303220986985 |