Loy draws from giants of psychotherapy and existentialism, from Nietzsche to Kierkegaard to Sartre, to explore the fundamental issues of life, death, and what motivates us.
Whatever the differences in their methods and goals, psychotherapy, existentialism, and Buddhism are all concerned with the same fundamental issues of life and death—and death-in-life. In Lack and Transcendence (originally published by Humanities Press in 1996), David R. Loy brings all three traditions together, casting new light on each. Written in clear, jargon-free style that does not assume prior familiarity, this book will appeal to a wide variety of readers including psychotherapists and psychoanalysts, scholars of religion, Continental philosophers, and readers seeking clarity on the Great Matter itself. Loy draws from giants of psychotherapy, particularly Freud, Rollo May, Irvin Yalom, and Otto Rank; great existentialist thinkers, particularly Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Sartre; and the teachings Buddhism, particularly as interpreted by Nagarjuna, Huineng and Dogen. This is the definitive edition of Loy’s seminal classic.
“A philosophical masterpiece! David R. Loy is one of the most important thinkers of our time. Even after 15 years this groundbreaking book keeps sharpening my mind and opening me up to the great mystery. A treasure to revisit again and again—highly recommended.”
“A profound book that shows how the root of human suffering is a state of groundlessness that either gives rise to anxiety and despair, or, when fully met, becomes a stepping-stone on the path of spiritual awakening.”
“From an important Buddhist thinker, this pioneering treatment of psychotherapy and existentialism in relation to Buddhism offers rich rewards to its readers.”
“Western Buddhists and other psychologists were treated to a major flash of insight when David Loy first published this groundbreaking and often breathtaking book on how the divergence between humanity’s greatest professors of desire, Freud and the Buddha, sheds a new and liberating light on the human quest for inner freedom. Brilliantly employing the concept of ‘lack,’ Loy plumbs the deepest and widest implications of the Buddha’s ‘no-self’ doctrine as far as, and sometimes farther than, words can convey.”
