서강대학교

초록/요약

The purpose of this thesis is to portray the parallelism between the Buddhist notion of ‘No Self’ (anatta 無我), the Christian concept of self-emptying and William James’ understanding of self. We find that Buddhist ‘No-self’ has a lot of relevant relationship to the Christian idea of self emptying. We find these two concepts searched and concretized by William James in his understanding of the self and in his treatment of the problem of sick souls, divided self and death. William James sees death as ‘the universal human condition’. However he sees that this fear of death is at the same time fear of life. From our birth, we are faced with the painful process of separating from the one we were initially attached to: our mother. It is a frightening process of individuation. This separation is indeed painful, and we long desperately for the union from which we have been torn: A lifelong yearning for union with that which is greater than our ‘little self’. Losing the little self (小我), becomes the only way to rediscover oneself in the greater self (大我) and real ‘Self’ (眞我). For the Christians this would be to find real self by rediscovering oneself ‘in God’. For the Buddhists, it would be to discover the one’s ‘Buddha nature’ and enter into Nirvana. We find therefore in these William James’ insights a parallelism with the Buddhist notion of ‘No-Self’ and Christian ‘Self-Emptying. Our goal in highlighting the relationship of these notions is demonstrate their centrality in any authentic religious experience. We find that this element of self emptying and self surrender, of dying and losing, is at the heart of any valid religious experience, and more so the a foundation and the beginning of authentic human living. This work is composed of four chapters. The first chapter offers the framework for understanding the Buddhist concept of ‘No-Self’. To do so, we have enumerated the foundations of this notion in the Buddhist theory of Impermanence, dependent origination and emptiness. In the second chapter, we have highlighted the ‘Self Emptying’ in Christianity by re-reading and reflecting on some central biblical passages on the subject. We have eventually presented three figures of choice in the Christian tradition, who lived and taught self emptying in their life. In chapter three, we have presented William James’ analysis of the self in real experiences. We have presented his images of the sick soul, the twice born, the divided self, and self in the face of death. In the last chapter, we have made an attempt to bring about the practicability and possibility of self empting in everyday life.