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Early Buddhist Hedonism : The Role of Spiritual Pleasure in the Pali Discourses.

Bloomsbury Collections: Religious Studies 2026 Available online

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Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Font, Bernat.
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Ecstasy (Buddhism).
Buddhist philosophy.
Physical Description:
1 online resource (201 pages)
Edition:
1st ed.
Place of Publication:
London : Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2026.
Summary:
This book presents early Buddhism as a form of refined hedonism that values positive affect and actively uses it to achieve liberation.
Contents:
Cover
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Note on the text
Foreword by Peter Harvey
Introduction
Why does the Buddha smile?
The varieties of pleasant experience
Other bits and pieces
1 Early Buddhism through the feeling glass
The Buddha's refined hedonism
When a finger points up to the sky
2 The concept of vedanā and why it matters
Primary and secondary feelings
Finding 'emotion' among Buddhist categories
Buddhist maps of the inner life
3 A dance of pain and pleasure
The paradox of sukha
Do neutral feelings really exist?
All feelings are painful - not another paradox!
On how to climb a staircase
4 Is it good to feel bad?
No pain, no Jain (nor Ājīvaka)
The Buddhist, the bad and the ugly
5 The soteriological value of spiritual pleasure
Ascetic views on feeling good
Wandering in Vedic bliss
Buddhism as a liberation theory of pleasure
A pleasure made for walking
6 The underlying hedonic curve of early Buddhism
Rising towards pleasantness
Mellowing into equanimity
Insight, wobbles and later Pali literature
7 An ethical-hedonic training to wake up
Learning to enjoy skilfulness
From mastery to play
Conclusion: Samatha and vipassanā as the wisdoms of pleasure and pain
Afterword: Buddhism, Epicureanism and pleasure by John Peacock
Appendices
Selected discourses
Notes
References
Index.
Notes:
Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.
Part of the metadata in this record was created by AI, based on the text of the resource.
Other Format:
Print version: Font, Bernat Early Buddhist Hedonism
ISBN:
9781350586840
OCLC:
1602016415

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