Buddhist Xenology

I use the word “xenology” here in the way Halbfass used, namely, as “attitude towards others.” What I write here is not an outcome of some research. It is something spontaneous. Needless to state that xeno- is said to be from Greek xenos meaning “stranger, foreigner.” I like the word. It provides one with a basis of thinking about something very personal and fundamental. The fundamental presupposition seems to be that there is a sense of “oneself” as opposed to a sense of “others.” Otherwise the very concepts of xenophobe and xenophile would make so sense. Buddhist philosophy would not propose a metaphysical, transpersonal, hypostatic, or substantial Self. Belief in such a Self, if one has, would be seen as being induced by an indoctrinator. Buddhist philosophy would not, as far as I am concerned, deny the possibility of an instinctive notion of personal self based on the continuum (rgyun) and conglomeration (tshogs pa) of psychical-physical complex (phung po), which is, however, epistemically speaking, false, misconstrued, vague, and arbitrary. The notion of self therefore has no epistemic value or validity. But it does have an instrumental value or efficacy. So long as one wanders around in the cyclic existence, one needs a sense of personal identity. A premature loss of identity, or split personality, or a multiple-personality complex would be detrimental to one’s mundane and supramundane responsibilities and aspirations. In fact, one’s self is the spatial and temporal point of reference for everything. As long as one roams around in saṃsāra, which is of one’s creation, and as long as one has the notion of self, it is completely natural to have the notions of “self” and “others.” On this level, we cannot deny that there are differences as well similarities among human beings with regard to color, creed, race, gender, culture, ethnicity, cognitive-emotive-conative faculty, and so on. The fulcrum upon which the self–other lever hinges, however, is a misconception. As long as there is the fundamental nescience, there is bound to be xenophobes or xenophiles. One tends to see anyone foreign as a potential foe, or anything foreign as dangerous. Taking a cobra for a rope and a rope for a cobra are both misperceptions or misconceptions. Until nescience is replaced by insight, it is going to affect oneself and others. The challenge is how should one and how can one and how best can one perform this tricky balance act.

            Histories or stories about the introduction of Buddhism in Tibet is full of references to xenophobic aptitudes and actions. For examples, Śāntarakṣita, Padmasambhava, and Vimalamitra,