A critique of Buddhist soteriology¶

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Volume 2 of Studies in Buddhist Thought. Volume 1 is history; this volume is argument. It begins from the historical findings set out in Volume 1 and judges, one by one, the soteriologies of five traditions: Madhyamaka, Yogācāra, tathāgatagarbha, esoteric Buddhism, and Pure Land.

This volume classifies the teachings¶

The classification of the teachings is an established tradition within Buddhism. Tiantai, drawing on the Lotus Sūtra, and Huayan, drawing on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, each classify the many teachings as higher or lower, definitive or nondefinitive. In modern times, the monk Yinshun proposed three systems, "emptiness of intrinsic nature and mere naming" (性空唯名), "delusion and consciousness-only" (虚妄唯识), and "true permanence and mind-only" (真常唯心), taking the Āgamas and Nikāyas as his standard. This volume continues that tradition. Its stance has affinities with the three-system account, but its angle differs. Yinshun concentrates on distinguishing historical strata and doctrinal origins and developments. This volume asks more directly what kind of attachment lies within the philosophical motivations of each tradition's soteriology.

There is another difference from traditional classifications of the teachings. After ranking the teachings, Tiantai and Huayan still bring them all under the Buddha's word, assigning them places as expedient or ultimate. This volume does not take that step of inclusion. Its form of classification comes from the tradition; its basis is philosophical argument. Whether a claim holds depends only on its reasons, not on its origins.

This volume makes no pretense of neutrality. Its criterion is the early Buddhist baseline established in the introductory essay, and the reasons for that choice will be stated openly. But the absence of neutrality does not remove the obligation to argue. Each essay presents the tradition's central claims and strongest defense before offering criticism, and uses premises the system itself accepts wherever possible. For the scope of the baseline, and why "the earliest textual stratum" gives us "early" rather than "true," see the Preface and the introductory essay.

The five traditions and their attachments¶

Madhyamaka. Intellectual craving. The most exacting reductio arguments dismantle every view of intrinsic nature, but eventually develop into a doctrinal system that requires extensive intellectual training even to enter. This attachment is recursive. Thought continually takes itself as its object, one layer nested within another.

Yogācāra. Craving for a foundation and for explanations that give certainty. It is iterative, moving ever deeper in the same direction, as though one more layer would reach the ultimate bottom. The ālayavijñāna is thus required to bear the full weight of explaining the arising of all phenomena.

Tathāgatagarbha. Craving for eternity and for a guarantee of liberation. It gives positive answers to questions on which early Buddhism deliberately remained silent, and presupposes as a premise a conclusion that has yet to be verified.

Esoteric Buddhism. Craving for results and for enactment. It takes the fruit as the path, assigning authority over verification in advance.

Pure Land. Craving for salvation and for entrusting oneself. This tradition is the structural exception treated in this volume. It is, in substance, a doctrine of redemption, with verification deferred until after death.

Structure¶

The introductory essay establishes the standard and method. Five essays then develop the treatments of Madhyamaka, Yogācāra, tathāgatagarbha, esoteric Buddhism, and Pure Land. Essay 7 offers a combined critique and compares the five traditions in parallel tables. The appendices include a comparison with Yinshun's three-system account and an account of modern forms of Madhyamaka.

Relation to the other two volumes¶

Volume 1, A History of Buddhist Philosophy, provides the historical findings and accounts of doctrines on which this volume relies. Readers unfamiliar with a tradition's background can turn there first. Volume 3, A History of Buddhist Transformations, addresses another question. It asks who took each new turn, and what led them to take it, rather than whether the traditions' claims are correct.