A Buddhist History of the West ― Studies in Lack

Roy (international studies, Bunkyo U., Japan) explores the Western desire to ground oneself or make oneself feel more real, arising from a self-conscious ungroundedness which we experience as a sense of lack . Using a contemporary Buddhist perspective, the author discusses ways that our understanding of this sense of lack has changed at important points in history, and the largely unconscious ways in which we have tried to resolve our lack. Issues covered include freedom, progress, delusive craving (for fame, romantic love, money), modernity, civil society, the "means/end problem in modern life," and the modern economic system. Earlier drafts of some of the chapters have been previously published in academic journals and books. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

David R. Loy is Professor in the Faculty of International Studies at Bunkyo University, Japan. He is the author of Lack and Transcendence: The Problem of Death and Life in Psychotherapy, Existentialism, and Buddhism and Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy.