Self-hood in Daoism and Buddhism

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the Asian, Chinese or Buddhist personality in contrast with an allegedly consistent Western sense of self or pattern of socialization. The paper looks at the similarities and differences in Western and Eastern conceptions of the self and socialization, while it specifically refers to Daoism and Buddhism. The paper concludes by addressing whether there is a Daoist or Buddhist sense of self.

From the Paper:

"If Daoism and Buddhism in Chinese society have both encouraged self-regulation and placing the self within the group or the cosmological environment, in the West, there has been a progression towards self-expression and self-direction away from past restraints in obligations to others or a surrounding system. All of these ideas are fascinating to think through but, as Douglas Allen argued in assessing various perspectives in Asian and Western concepts of self and their influences, the personality is not one thing. (1997 140) What Allen criticized as a monolithic notion of the personality or self, anywhere in the world has given way to awareness of how the self is exercised or presented in different settings. For instance, whatever may be argued of the Daoist, Buddhist or Christian or secular Western self needs to be more evaluated in terms of the particular setting. Socialization and different social settings stand to tell us a great deal of a changing, adaptable self, East and West, which adjusts to particular situations."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Allen, Douglas. Ed. Culture and Self - Philosophical and Religious Responses, East and West. Boulder: Westview Press, 1997.
• Chu, Godwin C. "The Changing Concept of Self in Contemporary China," in Anthony J. Marsella Et Al. Eds. Culture and Self - Asian and Western Perspectives. New York: Tavistock Press, 1985.
• Nakamura, Hajime. Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples. New York: Trubner, 2003.
• Soothill, W.E. The Three Religions of China - the Inter-Relationship between Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1973.

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