A history of Buddhist philosophy¶

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Volume 1 of Studies in Buddhist Thought. The volume traces twenty-five centuries, from the background of Indian thought before the Buddha to contemporary developments. It explains how the problems of Buddhist philosophy arose, how different thinkers answered them, and how those answers came into conflict.

What the volume covers¶

Many histories of Buddhist philosophy already exist in Chinese. Some begin from a sectarian position, some focus on compiling material, and some take a modern academic approach that demands considerable preparation from readers. The present volume occupies a place between academic scholarship and an introduction for general readers, and its method is to reconstruct arguments. Merely reporting conclusions is of no use in explaining what "emptiness" means, what "non-self" claims, why storehouse consciousness was proposed, or how Madhyamaka reductio arguments proceed. The volume tries to set out each school's reasoning step by step, so that readers have a basis for their own judgments and can see the tensions between ideas.

History and philosophical analysis are treated separately in the volume. The historical account aims for neutrality, and reconstructions based on historical evidence and inference are marked with phrases such as "we can conclude from this" and "on this basis, we infer." They are distinguished from historically documented facts. The philosophical analysis sets out the structure of arguments and states the volume's own interpretations on questions it considers important. Sectarian legends are not accepted as historical facts, but the reasons they took their later forms and the roles they played in history are themselves material for analysis. The Preface gives a full account of the method.

Structure¶

The volume has two parts.

Part I, History of philosophy, comprises twelve essays organized historically. It covers the background of Indian thought and the earliest teachings, including the four noble truths, dependent origination, non-self, and the five aggregates. It then treats the early sangha and its division into schools; the philosophies of those schools, including Sarvāstivāda, Sautrāntika, Theravāda Abhidhamma, and the debate over the person; the rise of Mahāyāna; Madhyamaka; Yogācāra; tathāgata-garbha and buddha-nature; logic and epistemology in late Indian Buddhism; and the separate development and modern directions of the Theravāda, Chinese, and Tibetan traditions.

Part II, Philosophical analysis, sets aside the pace of historical narrative to examine, one by one, the systems the volume considers most important. It covers the early teachings, including cosmology and the fourteen undeclared questions; Theravāda Abhidhamma; Sarvāstivāda; the Mahāvibhāṣā and Abhidharmakośa; the proofs and interpretation of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā; later Madhyamaka; Yogācāra; Tiantai; Huayan; and analysis of Mahāyāna sūtras themselves, including the Heart Sūtra and Diamond Sūtra. A subject whose history occupies one chapter in Part I may require an entire essay in Part II to develop its arguments.

A terminology concordance at the end of the book gives Chinese, Sanskrit, Pāli, and English equivalents with brief explanations.

How to read the volume¶

Reading in order is one option. Readers who want to follow the philosophical development can begin with Part I, Essay 1, Chapter 5, on the earliest teachings, and then move to Essay 3 on the philosophy of the early schools and Essay 5 on Madhyamaka. The complete route for philosophical readers appears in section 5 of the Preface. Readers who want to begin with close analysis can enter any essay of Part II independently.

Relation to the other two volumes¶

The present volume is a history and seeks restraint in judgment. Evaluation belongs to Volume 2, A Critique of Buddhist Soteriology, which draws on the historical facts presented here to evaluate the teachings directly. Volume 3, A History of Buddhist Transformations, goes further by asking who brought about each change and what led them to do so. Each volume can be read independently, while reading them in sequence gives the fullest account of their connections.