Sunday, December 22, 2013

Apophaticism

SR 1989: 3
Perhaps in the Buddhist context “apophaticism” is to be understood in the sense of expressing of the ultimate reality via negationis.

Substantialism

Substantialism: SR 1989: 41.

Cataphaticism

SR 1989: 3

Perhaps in the Buddhist context “cataphaticism” is to be understood in the sense of expressing of the ultimate reality via affirmationis.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Religiology

“Religiology” is a term coined/proposed by Hideo Kishimoto to express “science of religion” or “scientific study of religion,” very close to German Religionswissenschaft. I personally like the term, better than “Religious Studies.” I propose chos lugs rig pa in Tibetan (if it has not yet been opposed). For details, Hideo Kishimoto, “Religiology.” Nvmen 14 (2), 1967, pp. 81–86.

 

An Apology for Buddhist Philosophy and Buddhist Philology

Why Philosophia Buddhica? Even as someone who tries to do philology, one’s actual interest lies in philosophy. One does philology because one has to. One does philosophy because one likes it. The temptation, however, is that one does what one likes, but does not do what one has to. This seems to be particularly true in the field of Buddhology (i.e. Buddhist Studies). So honestly, I am sceptical about those of us who do (or rather try to do) Buddhist philosophy without relying on historical-philological works. Let us say all of us are interested in what the Buddha thought or said, what Nāgārjuna thought or said, and so on, but how are we to be sure that is what the Buddha actually thought or said and what Nāgārjuna thought or said. One of the greatest challenges thus is finding out if our attribution of a certain Buddhist philosophical idea to a certain person, a certain time, a certain place, a certain work, and so on, is accurate and thus reliable. None of us would, I would assume, prefer to live in a fool’s paradise! Because of such difficulties regarding past thoughts and ideas, we have no choice but to resort to historical-philological works, which may not always succeed in meeting these challenges but at least address these difficulties and draw caution to them. To be sure, historical-philological works are dreary and tedious, but that in way should suggest that we do not need them. In my view, a good student of Buddhist philosophy is also a good student of Buddhist philology, and vice versa. A student of Buddhist philology who does not understand Buddhist philosophy cannot do good Buddhist philology. A student of Buddhist philosophy who does not practise Buddhist philology cannot do good Buddhist philosophy. Of course, it is also a matter of personal interest. Not everyone who can do Buddhist philology or philosophy may want/like to do Buddhist philology or philosophy. This is an absolutely legitimate choice. But we should resist the temptation or tendency (in our academia, mostly those of us who are politicians in the academia) to denounce (or undermine) those fields or disciplines at which we are not particularly good at. The simple (il)logic seems to be: We do not need all those difficult disciplines at which I am not particularly good at. This is an apology for both Buddhist philosophy and Buddhist philology! 

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Buddhist Misology?



According to a Wikipedia entry, “misology” is “the hatred of reasoning; the revulsion or distrust of logical debate, argumentation, or the Socratic elenchus.” The question is whether we can speak of “Buddhist misology” or designate any Buddhist philosophy or ideology as “misology.” According to Seyfort Ruegg 1981: 2, one of the various terms used to describe the doctrine of Madhyamaka school and particularly of Nāgārjuna, is “misology,” which he, of course, rejects. Mādhyamikas would claim that the Madhyamaka reasoning is reasoning par excellence and if there is one person that truly loves and lives reasoning then that person would be a Mādhyamika. Hence nothing can be more off the tract than describing Madhyamaka philosophy as “misology.” For Tibetan scholars such as Rong-zom-pa, there would no such thing as absolutely immaculate reasoning that can prove or disprove everything to everyone and thus all kinds of reasoning are maculate and limited, but there are various kinds of reasoning, one reasoning more incisive than the others. The more incisive ones can refute the less incisive ones. We can assume that Buddhist logicians and philosophers would like to think that they have some of the most incisive kinds of reasoning ever. They would contend that the Buddha taught only what is logical/rational/reasonable, and anything or everything that is logical/rational/reasonable should be acceptable to the Buddha and a Buddhist philosopher. From such a perspective, it would make no sense at all to talk of “Buddhist misology.” But what about Buddhist yogins and devotional Buddhists? Are they not supposed to hate reasoning? Buddhist yogins would warn people of the limitation of theoretical type of reasoning, pure speculation, and “eristics” (i.e. arguments that aim at winning rather than gaining insights) but they cannot be said to hate reasoning. Devotional Buddhists, knowledgeable about Buddhist logics and reasoning, would not hate reasoning. Devotional Buddhists, who are ignorant of the Buddhist logics and reasoning, might hate reasoning, but as Candrakīrti states, fools are never authorities. Any way, the word “hate” is totally inappropriate. Even if a person is ignorant of reasoning or disproves reasoning, it does not mean that the person actually hates it. In short, the term “Buddhist misology” would be a complete misnomer.

With regard to the limitation of theoretical type of reasoning, pure speculation, and “eristics,” I think we can glean quite a bit of information from materials associated with different periods, places, and persons. Propositions and deliberations on the status of logic and epistemology in Buddhism will be of particular relevance and interest. In this regard some studies have already been done. We would find Buddhist thinkers who seem markedly pro-Pramāṇic, and others who appear markedly anti-Pramāṇic, but in the end we might find a consensus. That is, when people like Atiśa tell us that anumāṇas and pratyakṣa are dispensable for Buddhist soteriology, they really do not really or actually seem to reject altogether the utility or instrumental/epistemic value of inferences and perceptions as such. Because if this were the case, they would have to even reject existence and utility of yogic perceptions (e.g. śuddhalaukikajñāna and nirvikalpajñāna), which, however, could have hardly been the case. For most, if not for all, buddhajñāna would be the ultimate 
pratyakṣa. What these people are perhaps trying to tell is that Buddhists, who aspire for Arhathood or Buddhahood, do not need a system of theory (or a theory system) that is devoted to the theorization of logic and epistemology. Perhaps something like: You just play or enjoy the music. You don't have to theorize it. The consistent and categorical rejection of pure speculations as being irrelevant to and detrimental for one’s aspiration for salvation is attributed to the Buddha himself. Dignāga, too, warns us against dragging Buddhist teachings along “eristic paths” (rtog ge’i lam). The points of consensus between (seemingly) pro-Pramāṇic and anti-Pramāṇic Buddhist thinkers is perhaps that (a) risks of being carried away by pure theoretical speculations and not being able to avail oneself of the teachings of the Buddha that are actually and initially meant as medicine against the ills of saṃsāra, but (b) liberating insight, be it prajñaic or jñānaic, which must be ultimately acquired through meditation, is indispensable for causing one’s soterical breakthrough. 

There is also the relativisation of pramāṇa (i.e. kind of “higher” and “lower”). gNubs-chen, (citing the sPyi bcingsbSam gtan mig sgron (pp. 295–296):

gsang sngags rgya mtsho chen po ni ||
dpe dang tshad ma gtan tshigs dang ||
rjes su dpog pa’i shes rab kyis ||
rtogs par nus pa ma yin te ||
de bas gsang sngags bdag nyid che ||
dngos grub rlabs chen ’khrigs pa can ||
bsam yas gting ni dpag dka’ bas ||
lung dang man ngag thob pas ’grub  ||.