BUDDHIST ESCHATOLOGY FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONALISM
Main Article Content
Abstract
Eschatology is well-known in Abrahamic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Although the eschatological ideas in Buddhism are not featureless, both international and Vietnamese scholars have given less attention to research. This work aims to present and briefly introduce the forming basis and the main points of eschatology in Buddhist texts. Next, applying Malinowski's psychological functionalism in combination with C. Jung's conception of religious impacts on the human psyche mentioned in the concept of collective unconsciousness was used to analyze and evaluate the roles of Buddhist eschatology in the religious daily life as well as its indirect effects on social life. In that manner, the study sought to determine the formation of the eschatology in Buddhism because of two requirements: deterring the Buddhists and adapting to the new cultural environment on the process of pervasion and development. Accordingly, these findings shed light on the value of this theory, aside from the religious field, which also contains the social-moral function in orienting the human lifestyle, and perhaps supporting to maintain the sustainability and harmony of a society.
Keywords
eschatology, Buddhism, religion, psychological functionalism, collective unconsciousness
Article Details
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