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Cogen Bohanec, MA, PhD

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Cogen Bohanec, MA, PhD
Assistant Professor at Arihanta Institute
MA Faculty
Cogen Bohanec, PhD, an Assistant Professor at Arihanta Institute, received his doctorate in Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion from the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California where his research emphasized comparative dharmic traditions and the philosophy of religion. His dissertation was on Process and Dialectic in Hindu Thought with an emphasis on systematic Hindu theology and ethics, and he has a variety of publications in Jain, Hindu, and Buddhist studies.

Cogen also holds a Master of Arts in Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies at the GTU where his research primarily involved the translations of Pāli Buddhist scriptures in conversation with the philology of the Hindu Upaniṣads. He is the editor of An Introduction to Jain Philosophy by Parveen Jain, PhD (DKPrintword, 2019). He is an adjunct professor in South Asian Culture and Religions and Sanskrit language at the GTU, teaches Asian humanities, world religions, and classical humanities at American River College in Sacramento, California; and is post-doctoral faculty member in Jain Studies for Arihanta Institute.

Research

PhD in Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion (Hindu Emphasis), MA in Buddhist Studies, IBS/GTU    

Dr. Bohanec’s scholarship focuses on the comparative philosophies between major dharma traditions (Jain dharma, Buddhism, Hinduism), within these traditions, and in dialogue with Western theoretical frameworks. He specializes in Sanskrit and Indian literature but has engaged in textual work in texts in a variety of languages such as Pali, Gujarati, Hindi, Bengali and Ardhamāgadhī. By employing methods of textual hermeneutics, philology, literary criticism, and translation, Dr. Bohanec seeks to nuance the academic understanding of dharma traditions by employing the lexicon of Western philosophy in a way that is vigilant against the possibility of distorting these traditions, yet renders them more accessible to the Western milieu. During his time at Arihanta Institute, Dr. Bohanec has engaged in extensive research to develop curriculum and corresponding manuscripts that will soon bear publications. The first of these, “Jain Yoga Philosophy: Peacebuilding and Contemplative Practice,” is a philosophical engagement with various Jain yoga texts (e.g. Yoga-bindu, Yoga-dṛṣṭi-samuccaya, and the Yoga-śāstra). This work brings various philosophical fields of inquiry (metaphysics, epistemology, logic, psychology, and ethics) into dialogue with similar categories of thought in the broader field of dharmic yoga texts from the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. In the process, the book proposes a model of interfaith dialogue and peacebuilding and asserts the Jain tradition’s rightful place in the broader academic field of contemplative studies.    

A second manuscript that Dr. Bohanec has developed which corresponds to his curriculum at Arihanta Institute is titled, “Jain Pragmatism in the Ātma-Siddhi Śāstra.” This text engages in a dialogue with Western philosophical pragmatism, particularly as articulated by William James. In the Ātma-siddhi, Śrīmad Rajchandra invokes a number of themes that resonate with the evidentialist claims of a pragmatic maxim (the evidence and meaning of a proposition can be found in the result of its engagement). James has specifically argued in favor of an ontological pluralism in his attempt to synthesize the dialectical tension between empiricism and rationalism. His way of framing the discussion has great potential to lend conceptual and linguist constructions to the understanding of a similar Jain ontological pluralism and dialectical logic. While there are a number of dissimilarities between James and Śrīmad Rajchandra’s teaching, the illuminating process of dialogue between these views unfolds with a translation and scholastic analyses on the Ātma-siddha by Dr. Bohanec, and in consultation with Nitya-kram commentary by Pujyashri Brahmachariji.    
 

Publications

2023 | Contributing Author & Co-Editor in Chief | Volume 2: Contemplative Studies and Jainism: Meditation, Devotion, Prayer, and Worship | Routledge | Completed, available in Print    

2023 | “Pan-Dharmic Yoga: Comparative Meditative Praxis in the Jain Yoga-Śāstra of Hemacandra and the Hindu Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali” | Contemplative Studies and Hinduism:    
Meditation, Devotion, Prayer, and Worship | Routledge   

 2019 | Editor & Research/Translator Assistant | An Introduction to Jain Philosophy: Based on Writings and Discourses by Ācārya Sushil Kumar, by Parveen Jain, PhD | D.K.    
Printworld |     

2023 | “Book Review: Māyā in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Human Suffering and Divine Play. By Gopal K. Gupta | Journal of Hindu Studies    

2023 | “A Theocentric Argument for Animal Personhood in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta” | Journal of Dharma Studies | Springer |     

2023 | “Towards A Jain Ecotheology” | Ecology & Indian Philosophy: Hindu, Jain, and Yoga Perspectives on Climate and Environmental Mitigation | Routledge | Accepted, Forthcoming    

2023 | “Bhaktivedānta, Gandhi, and the Social Implications of Nonviolence” | Ahiṃsā in India: Diverse Traditions of Nonviolence | Lexington | Accepted, Forthcoming    

2023 | “Kīrtana as Meditation: A Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Theory on Sound and Language” | Contemplative Studies and the Arts of Yoga: Contemporary Approaches | Routledge | Accepted, Forthcoming    

2021 | “A Dialogical Encounter between Christian Ecotheological Ethics and Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Theology” | Sustainable Societies: Interreligious, Interdisciplinary Responses | Springer    

2021 | “Bhaktivedānta Swami and Buddhism: A Case Study for Interfaith Dialogue and Peacebuilding” | The Journal of Dharma Studies | Springer    

2020 | “Semiotics and Illocution in Gauḍīya Sādhana” | Contemplative Studies and Hinduism: Meditation, Devotion, Prayer, and Worship | Routledge    

2018 | “Ecotheology, Animal Rights, and the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam” | Journal of Vaishnava Studies | Volume 26, NO.2 | Spring 2018, 17-33    

2023 | Animal Ethics | “Spiritual Bypass and Manipulation in DIY Slaughter” | The Humane Hoax Anthology | Contributing Author | New York: Lantern Books    

2013 | Animal Ethics | The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat? | Co-author | Bloomington: iUniverse

Courses