Sumano
January 10, 2019, 1:16pm
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I’ve been fascinated by Bhante @sujato ’s posts on myths and mythology , and I’m curious–where would be a good place to start learning about that topic (which imagine is a pretty large undertaking).
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Leon
January 10, 2019, 1:53pm
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If you’re interested in the Indo-European dragon-slaying myth (and Indo-European poetics), then Calvert Watkins’ How To Kill A Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics (Oxford University Press, 1995) offers a comprehensive, scholarly survey.
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ERose
January 10, 2019, 3:48pm
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Perhaps this graduate program information might be interesting M.A./Ph.D. in Mythology
(Just one approach among the very diverse ways in which this subject might be explored.)
sujato
January 12, 2019, 12:13am
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Well, now there’s this:
The Buddhist traditions have created and maintained a vast body of mythological literature. The central myth of Buddhism is the life of the Buddha. This is told in relatively realistic terms in the earliest texts, and was soon elaborated into a complex literary mythology. The chief motif of this story, and the most distinctive feature of Buddhist myth, is the Buddha's renunciation: leaving his home and family for a spiritual quest. Alongside this central myth, the traditions contain large numbers...
I’m giving some thought to teaching a course this year on Buddhism and Mythology. Hmm, let’s see!
For myself, there are a few modern works that stand out, and have greatly influenced me. In no particular order:
The Hero with a Thousand Faces (first published in 1949) is a work of comparative mythology by Joseph Campbell. In this book, Campbell discusses his theory of the mythological structure of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world myths.
Since the publication of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell's theory has been consciously applied by a wide variety of modern writers and artists. Filmmaker George Lucas acknowledged Campbell's theory in mythology, and its influence on the Star ...
The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (retitled The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion in its second edition) is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer. The Golden Bough was first published in two volumes in 1890; in three volumes in 1900; and in twelve volumes in the third edition, published 1906–15. It has also been published in several different one-volume abridgments. The work was aimed a...
The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype (German: Die große Mutter. Der Archetyp des grossen Weiblichen) is a book about mother goddesses by the psychologist Erich Neumann. The dedication reads, "To C. G. Jung friend and master in his eightieth year". Although Neumann completed the German manuscript in Israel in 1951, The Great Mother was first published in English in 1955. The work has been seen as an enduring contribution to literature inspired by Jung.
As a brief introduction to a fract...
The Origins and History of Consciousness (German: Ursprungsgeschichte des Bewusstseins) is a 1949 book by the psychologist and philosopher Erich Neumann. It was first published in English in 1954 in a translation by R. F. C. Hull. Neumann's work has been seen as an important and enduring contribution to Jungian thought, but Neumann has also been criticized for using evidence in misleading ways and making untenable assumptions.
Neumann charts what he calls the "mythological stages in the evolutio...
Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
http://www.julianjaynes.org/bicameralmind.php
Vintage (paperback) London, 1994 Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (1995) UK Chatto & Windus (hardback) UK; Farrar, Straus & Giroux (hardback & paperback) US In this landmark study of the history and meaning of fairy tales, the celebrated...
Carol Gilligan, whose classic In a Different Voice revolutionized the study of human psychology, now offers a brilliant, provocative book...
Various works by
Claude Lévi-Strauss (/klɔːd ˈleɪvi ˈstraʊs/; French: [klod levi stʁos]; 28 November 1908, Brussels – 30 October 2009, Paris) was a French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theory of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair of Social Anthropology at the Collège de France between 1959 and 1982 and was elected a member of the Académie française in 1973. He received numerous honors from universities and institutions througho Lévi-Strauss a...
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Nadine
January 12, 2019, 2:16am
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Would it be online? I would be very interested if it were. Anthropology is one of my roads not taken.
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Linda
January 12, 2019, 3:03am
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@Sumano
Work by Joseph Campbell is a good place to start.
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Very grateful for this post, exactly what I’ve been looking for. I’ve heard rumors of a Buddhist Cosmology book coming out and I’d love to have more of those ideas in my actual everyday practice and experience. Thanks!
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musiko
June 24, 2019, 4:10pm
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Indeed it is (parts 1–3 out of 4 part course).
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Nadine
June 26, 2019, 12:59pm
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Thank you for posting the link!
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Did you mean this one by Bhante Punnadhammo?
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Yes, I was happy when I saw that one was released. Thx
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