Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy | 
 enlarge | Author: David Loy
Publisher: Humanity Books
Category: Book
List Price: $32.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 305365
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 1573923591
Dewey Decimal Number: 111.82
EAN: 9781573923590
ASIN: 1573923591
Publication Date: November 1997
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Book Description
Many Western philosophers are poorly informed about the issues involved in nonduality, since this topic is usually associated with various kinds of absolute idealism in the West, or mystical traditions in the East. Increasingly, however, this topic is finding its way into Western philosophical debates. In this "scholarly but leisurely and very readable" (Spectrum Review) analysis of the philosophies of nondualism of (Hindu) Vedanta, Mahayana Buddhism, and Taoism, Loy, who is a Zen practitioner, extracts what he calls "a core doctrine" of nonduality of seer and seen from these three worldviews and then applies the doctrine in various ways, including a critique of Derrida's deconstructionism. (This is an important work addressing one of the central patterns of Asian thinking.)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
A very important book! October 7, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I stumbled onto David Loy's work after years of reading books concerning Heidegger, phenomenology and (recently) Buddhism. And I will have to say that I am now a very enthusiastic David Loy fan. This book has provided a kind of philosophical "glue" that has suddently made sense of the past 15 years of Heidegger. If you are interested in Buddhism and phenomenology I strongly suggest you buy up everything David Loy has written and read it twice. Very accessible. Very creative.
Effing the Ineffable June 15, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is absolutely brilliant. If you're grappling with the subject of nonduality then this should put you straight (at least intellectually!) - I've read parts of this book numerous times, and the sections on the deconstruction of nonduality and Derrida are mindblowing stuff. Loy has nailed 'it'.
Flawed? Only in the sense that it uses language to describe something that subverts language and avoids description. That's saying a lot, but Loy can be forgiven for that - even Lao Tsu and Nagarjuna wrote a book!
superb February 26, 2005
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
David Loy has done a superb job of being true to the standards of academic comparative philosophy, true to the traditions, and true to direct pointing to transconceptual awareness, all at the same time--which is every bit as rare as it is desperately needed. But then, I would expect nothing less from a philosophy professor who is also a spiritual teacher in the Zen tradition. Don't pass this one up.
 Fascinating but flawed August 10, 2004
16 out of 22 found this review helpful
I am a great admirer of David Loy's work, especially his book "Lack and Transcendence." This work is chock full of fascinating information and discussions, and I have learned a great deal from it, but the material Loy presents for discussion is a good deal better than the conclusions he draws from it. Loy's philosophical background is in the Heigegger/Derrida continental tradition, and unfortunately he has inherited some of the logical sloppiness of that tradition. Worse, and this is a flaw that pervades just about the whole book, is that he seems not to fully understand that the Nagarjunian theory of the two truths means that you cannot meaningfully mix the conventional mode of discourse with the ultimate. Certainly you cannot draw logical conclusions from such a mixture. This failure to grasp the most foundational point of Madhyamika leads to a variety of confusion, such as his discusson of the role of sense organs in non-dual perception. Worse, it completely undermines the thesis of his central chapter, the Deconstruction of Dualism, in which he tries to show that fundamental identity of the different non-dual traditions he discusses: Mahayana Buddhism, Sankara's Advaita Vedanta, and Taoism. Loy's is certainly the most sophisticated attempt I have seen to defend this "perennial philosophy" blenderized view of eastern religions, but all Loy succeeds in doing is to create the proverbial the coal bin at midnight in which all cats are black.
But I still recommend this book. It is full of treasures, and it is a pleasure to enter into a mental discussion with a writer as sharp and learned as Loy.
The very Best on Non-Duality June 5, 2003
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
David Loys book is simply too far ahead of its time. That's why it is so under-appreciated (see the lukewarm editorial reviews).
In 20 years this will be a classic. If your "on the verge" this book can help you do the quantum-leap.
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