Echoes from an empty sky : the origins of the Buddhist doctrine of the two truths / John B. Buescher.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Buescher, John B. (John Benedict)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Truth--Religious aspects--Buddhism.

Truth.

Buddhism--Doctrines.

Buddhism.

Physical Description:

176 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, N.Y. : Snow Lion Publications, [2005]

Summary:

The important Buddhist doctrine of the two truths-conventional truths and ultimate truths-is the subject of this book. It examines how the doctrine evolved within early Buddhism from efforts to make sense of contradictions within the collected sayings of the Buddha. The two truths, however, came to refer not primarily to statements or language, but to the realities to which statements or language referred. As such, the doctrine of the two truths became one through which Buddhist philosophers focused their efforts to elaborate an abhidharma, a "higher teaching," which allowed them to explain how the mind apprehends and misapprehends the world, how it attaches itself to objects that do not exist in and of themselves, thereby creating suffering. In effect, the doctrine then evolved into a distinction between different sorts of objects rather than a distinction between different sorts of statements. The doctrine of the two truths, understood in this way, played a key role in the articulation of the Mahayana by its followers in distinguishing it from what they called the Hinayana, especially in defining the central ideas of selflessness and emptiness. Unlike prior books on this topic, which concentrate on the doctrine within the context of the Mahayana, Buescher's examines it within the context of the Hinayana.

Contents:

Ancient Indian Speculation on Language and Reality 11

The Beginnings of Grammar 11

Philosophical and Religious Issues Connected to Grammar 13

Early Buddhist Views on Language, Truth, and Interpretation 19

Denying the Preeminence of Any Particular Language 19

Searching for the Final Doctrine 21

Collecting and Standardizing the Teaching 23

The Growth of the Abhidharma 25

The Buddha's Word 31

The Truth behind the Multitude of Forms 31

The Buddha's Ultimate Word and Ultimate Truth 37

Definitive Sutras and Those Whose Meaning Must Be Drawn Out 45

The Quest for Interpretive Clarity 47

Two Truths 55

Statements or Objects? Existent or Nonexistent? 55

Two Truths and Four Truths 62

The Vaibhasika School and the Two Truths 66

A Gelukpa Presentation of the Two Truths in the "Sravaka" Schools 85.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [135]-170) and index.

ISBN:

1559392207

OCLC:

57193278