Buddhist Epistemology as Apologetics
Studies on the History, Self-understanding and Dogmatic Foundations of Late Indian Buddhist Philosophy
by Vincent Eltschinger
“2nd. German text.”
This book deals first with the historical and doctrinal foundations of Dharmakirti’s religious philosophy. It points to a socio-historical context of Brahmanical hostility toward non- and anti-Vedic denominations (chapter 1), new patterns of Buddhist self-diction (chapter 2), reinvented models of theoretical and apologetical rationality (chapter 3), and the dogmatic infrastructure underlying Buddhist epistemology (chapter 4). It argues that Buddhist “Tantrism” and Buddhist “logic,” two roughly contemporary phenomena that can be regarded as the main literary outcomes of the “early medieval” period, share interesting features in terms of polemical targets and self-understanding. Since the end of the fifth century, intra-Buddhist polemics have become less relevant (at least in the form it had had heretofore) and partly receded into the background in favor of inter- or cross-confessional controversies. Departing from Abhidharma and addressing new, predominantly non-Buddhist targets resulted in the abandonment of scholastic, confession-specific terminology and methods as well as the development of new models of theoretical and apologetical rationality: first, the construction of a clear-cut concept of reason(ing) as opposed to scripture; second, the gradual constitution of a concept of practical rationality that served the apologetic purpose of defending the very possibility, or rationality, of the Buddhist path. Finally, the book examines the extent to which Buddhist epistemology can be said to be Buddhist at all as regards its deeper doctrinal structure. It attempts to interpret the foundations of Buddhist epistemology – the apoha theory, the doctrine of the pramanas, etc. – as a rationalization and an apologetically updated version of Buddhist dogmas on the structure of ultimate and conventional realities, on the cognitive bases of error and its elimination, and on the cintamayi prajna (“insight born of reflection”) as a salvific means of a predominantly inferential order.
- By (author) Vincent Eltschinger
Other Titles in this Series
Marga
Paths to Liberation in South Asian Buddhist Traditions. Papers from an International Symposium held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 17 - 18 December, 2015
Volume 100
Reverberations of Dharmakirti’s Philosophy
Proceedings of the Fifth International Dharmakirti Conference Heidelberg, August 26 to 30, 2014
Volume 104
Death and Beyond in Ancient Tibet
Archaic Concepts and Practices in a Thousand-Year-Old Illuminated Funerary Manuscript and Old Tibetan Funerary Documents of Gathang Bumpa and Dunhuang
Volume 77
In Clear Words
The Prasannapada, Chapter One: Volume I: Introduction, Manuscript Description, Sanskrit Text Volume II: Prasannapada, Tibetan Text
Volume 86
Tantrikabhidhanakosa III
Dictionnaire des termes techniques de la litterature hindoue tantrique / A Dictionary of Technical Terms from Hindu Tantric Literature / Worterbuch zur Terminologie hinduistischer Tantren
Volume 76
Scriptural Authority, Reason and Action
Proceedings of a Panel at the 14th World Sanskrit Conference, Kyoto, September 1st-5th, 2009
Volume 79
History and Transmission of the Nyayamanjari
Critical Edition of the Section on the Sphota.
Volume 91
From Birch Bark to Digital Data
Recent Advances in Buddhist Manuscript Research: Papers Presented at the Conference Indic Buddhist Manuscripts: The State of the Field. Stanford, June 15-19 2009
Volume 80
A Fine Blend of Mahamudra and Madhyamaka
Maitripa's Collection of Texts on Non-conceptual Realization (Amanasikara)
Volume 90
Anton Schiefner (1817-1879). Briefe und Schriftenverzeichnis
Briefe an Bernhard Jalg (1825-1886), Karl Ernst von Bar (1792-1876), Reinhold Kohler (1830-1892), Victor Hehn (1813-1890), August Friedrich Pott (1802-1887), Ernst Jung (1846-1920), L. Diefenbach (1806-1883), E. Forstermann (1822-1906) und K. Dziatzk
Volume 94
Une critique bouddhique du Soi selon la Mimamsa
Presentation, edition critique et traduction de la Mimamsakaparikalpitatmapariksa de Santaraksita
Volume 84
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