Joy as Contextualized Feeling: Two Contrasting Pictures of Joy in East Asian Yogācāra
Journal of the American Academy of Religion September 1, 2023 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfae024 via OpenAlex
Summary
This article examines the approach to joy in East Asian Yogācāra texts by Xuanzang and Kuiji, arguing that they propose a contextualist view: joy is not an emotion with an essential property but is always shaped by personal and interpersonal lifeworlds. They contrast joy experienced in a lifeworld of ignorance with joy in a lifeworld of wisdom. Because joy lacks inherent properties, people can collaboratively recontextualize it for inclusion and emancipation, enriching feminist discussions on happiness.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Xuanzang and Kuiji propose a contextualist approach to joy, seeing it as always embedded in lifeworlds and open to recontextualization for inclusion and emancipation. |
Abstract
Abstract In this article, I elaborate on the approach to joy preserved in East Asian Yogācāra texts authored by Xuanzang and his disciple, Kuiji. I argue that these Yogācāra Buddhists propose a contextualist approach that does not presume joy to be an emotion with an essential property but rather perceives joy as always contextualized in lifeworlds at the personal and interpersonal levels. As such, Xuanzang and Kuiji outline two contrasting pictures of joy to capture how it is experienced in the lifeworld of ignorance and the lifeworld of wisdom, respectively. Upon delineating what joy is and how it is experienced, I continue to explore what joy can promise. Since joy does not have an inherent property, people can always make a collaborative effort to recontextualize joy for inclusion and emancipation. As such, I hope to draw on the Yogācāra analysis of joy to enrich the feminist discussion on happiness.