This book offers the first published translation of the contemplative manual Vir p ksapancasik, written circa the twelfth century CE, and the commentary on it, Vivrti by Vidy cakravartin. These late works from the Pratyabhijn tradition of monistic and tantric Kashmiri aiva philosophy focus on means to deindividualize and disclose the primordial, divine essential natures of the human ego and body-sense. David Peter Lawrence situates these writings in their medieval, South Asian religious and intellectual contexts. He goes on to engage Pratyabhijn philosophical psychology in dialogue with Western religious and psychoanalytic conceptions of identity and narcissism, and also demonstrates the aiva tradition s strong concern with ethics. The richly annotated translation and glossary illuminate the texts for all readers."

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Product Description: Rediscovering God with Transcendental Argument provides a comparative philosophical study of the Pratyabhijna system of the medieval Kashmiri Shaiva thinkers Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta. Beginning with intensive descriptive and prescriptive reflections on the nature of philosophy itself, the book examines the special characteristics of the Pratyabhijna discourse as both philosophical apologetics and spiritual exercise...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)