Kālīghāṭ and the Fashioning of Middle-Class Modernities

International Journal of Hindu Studies - The upper middle classes have worked over the past century to transform the Hindu temple from a symbol of “backwardness” to a symbol of the...     

Self-Awareness and the Integration of Pramāṇa and Madhyamaka

Buddhist theories of mind pivot between two distinct interpretative strands: (1) an epistemological tradition in which the mind, or the mental, is the foundation for valid knowledge and (2) a tradition of deconstruction, in which there is no privileged vantage point for truth claims. The contested status of these two strands is evident in the debates surrounding the relationship between epistemology (pramāna) and Madhyamaka that extend from India to Tibet. The paper will focus on two exemplars of these approaches in Tibet, those of ?ākya Chokden (shākya mchog ldan, 1428–1507) and Tsongkhapa (tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa, 1357–1419).     

Whitehead's doctrine of objectification and Yogācāra Buddhism's theory of the three natures

IntroductionNa¯ga¯rjuna, the most well-known Buddhist thinker after the Buddha himself, points out in his famous Mu¯lamadhyamakaka¯rika¯ that ‘The Buddha's teachings of the Dharma is based on the two truths: a truth of worldly conventions and an ultimate truth’ (XXIV:8). This doctrine of the two truths does indeed lie at the very heart of Buddhism. More particularly, the phenomenological and soteriological discourses in the Ma¯dhyamika tradition revolve around ideas concerning the two truths. Central to the doctrine is the concept that all phenomena possess dual characteristics—conventional and ultimate. The former, defined as the mode of phenomenal appearance, is the conventional truth; while the latter, defined as the ultimate mode of being, is the ultimate truth. This paper examines the ways in which these two truths are related from the Tibetan Pra¯sangika Ma¯dhyamika perspective, and argues that there are two radically distinct Tibetan ways of reading and interpreting the issues surrounding them. It does so by comparing the ccounts of Tsong khapa Blo bzang Grags pa (hereafter Tsong khapa, 1357–1423 A.D.) and Go rampa bSod nams Senge's (hereafter Go rampa 1429-1489 A.D.), and focuses on the way in which the two truths are related. It will be argued that, for Tsong khapa, the two truths constitute a ‘single ontological identity’ (ngo bo gcig) with ‘different conceptual identities’ (ldog pa tha dad), whereas for Go rampa, the truths are separate in a way that is ‘incompatible with their unity’ (gcig pa bkag pa'i tha dad) or identity.     

Vijñaptimātratā and the Abhidharma context of rarly Yogācāra

Contemporary accounts of early Mahāyāna Buddhist schools like the Madhyamaka and the Yogācāra tend to portray them as generally antithetical to the Abhidharma of non‐Mahāyāna schools such as the Theravāda and the Sarvāstivāda. This paper attempts to locate early Yogācāra philosophical speculation firmly within the broader context of Abhidharma debates. Certain key Yogācāra concepts such as ālayavijñāna, vijñapti‐mātratā and citta‐mātra are discussed insofar as they relate to pre‐existing concepts and issues found in the Vaibhāsika and Sautrāntika schools, with specific reference to the Abhidharmako?a and the corresponding bhāsya of Vasubandhu. Finally, some remarks are made about the, benefits of approaching the history of religious ideas without the benefits and distortions of hindsight, particularly as this relates to the attribution of an idealistic position to the early Yogācāra literature.     

The development and use of the eight precepts for lay practitioners,Upāsakas and Upāsikās in Theravāda Buddhism in the West

Sometimes translating religious texts brings us up against the problem of scatological language. The author examines this problem in relation to a story of a former life of the Buddha and explores a variety of avenues for guidance on how to render gūtha ‘shit’ into English. This includes looking at Buddhist monastic law, which does not necessarily give us the guidance we might expect, and how the existing translation of this source of guidance illustrates the very problem in hand. The textual history and context of the story precludes some otherwise useful strategies for determining our translation and the best guide to the translator's hand in this instance turns out to be humour. The author makes a case that, employed judiciously, humour could become a useful hermeneutic tool for drawing meaning from religious literature. Along the way the author also reflects on the influence of the social context of the translator, including changes in British obscenity law, and on the possibility that academia is unconsciously constrained by unexamined assumptions of ‘decency’. Buddhist attitudes to language are also touched upon.     

The importance of Hinayāna and Mahāyāna

Volume 1. Hinayāna. Den tidlige indiske buddhisme. Volume 2. Mahāyāna. Den senere indiske buddhisme. Christian Lindtner, 1998, Copenhagen, Spektrum/Forum Publishers, Vol. 1: 228 pp., ISBN 87 7763 170 6; Vol. 2: 256 pp., ISBN 87 7763 174 9     

Art and war: Paradox of the Bhagavad Gitā

The first several chapters of the Bhagavad Gitā set themselves a daunting task: to explain how a life of action can be rendered compatible with a life of renunciation of desire. The situation, in fact, is designed to raise the issue in an excruciatingly intense form. As Krsna and Arjuna pause on the verge of the great battle, Arjuna asks how killing people—including his own teachers and members of his own family—in order to secure power and fame, can be squared with his religious and ethical convictions. This paper is an attempt to explicate Krsna's solution of the paradox, not from the point of view of Hindu tradition (in which it has, of course, driven whole movements of thought), but simply as a philosophical problem in its own right. I will argue that the paradox of the Gitā suggests a reconstrual of the way we conceive the relation of means and ends in our activities, a reconstrual that can be profitably elucidated through the concept of art. And I will argue that this reconstrual has the potential to change our relations to our world and to one another in a way that is deeply life‐affirming.     

Ghazāli and the Ash'arites

It has been widely accepted that the thought of al‐Ghazāli was broadly in line with the Ash'arite approach to theology, which came to have a dominant role in Islamic thought for the last thousand years. Recently, though, many commentators have argued that this is a misconception, and that there are many instances where Ghazāli produces arguments and opinions which are not compatible with Ash'arism. It is argued here that these examples do not establish that the general line of Ghazāli's thought is not Ash'arite. The fact that on occasion he is prepared to use the language of his opponents does not invalidate the Ash'arite basis of his thought. It is quite possible to adhere to a philosophical view about how reality is and at the same time use the language of those who have a different view without committing oneself to that different form of expression. Although the revisionist approach to the interpretation of Ghazāli is interesting and often perceptive, it does not lead to any necessity to question his adherence to Ash'arite principles in general.     

The Presence of the Real: Jalarāmkathā and the Experience of the Transcendent

International Journal of Hindu Studies - Rarely is the presence of the Gujarati saint Jalarām Bāpā (1799–1881) felt more immediately, and indeed collectively, by his devotees...     

Contaminants and the Path to Salvation: A Study of the Sarvāstivāda Hṛdaya Treatises

The Sa?gītiparyāya is the earliest Sarvāstivāda philosophical text that enumerates a series of contaminants (anu?aya), i.e. innate proclivities, inherited from former births, to do something of usually evil nature. This early list comprises seven such contaminants. As it is the contaminants that lead a worldling (p?thagjana) to doing volitional actions and thus to forming a karmic result (karmavipāka), these contaminants naturally also bear on the path to salvation. The gradual development of the peculiar Sarvāstivādin path to salvation necessitated a gradual refinement and reinterpretation of the original list of seven contaminants. Apart from a mere technical aspect, this reinterpretation also reflects the viewpoint of the Sautrāntika school of Buddhist philosophy on the nature of contaminants, i.e. their acceptance of a latent and an active state of the defilements, vis-à-vis the Vaibhā?ika viewpoint according to whom no such difference exists. Within Sarvāstivāda literature, the H?daya treatises illustrate this philosophical development.     

Al‐Ghazāli's evaluation of abu yazid al‐bistāmi and his disapproval of the mystical concepts of union and fusion

Abū Yazid al‐Bistāmi (d. 874 AD) was a renowned early sūfi who exerted a tremendous influence upon the doctrinal formulation of the sufism of medieval times. A highly controversial figure, he is venerated by some as a top‐ranking saint and sūfi, condemned by others as a notorious heretic, and there are still others who suspend judgement on him. More than 200 years after him al‐Ghazāli (1058‐1111 AD) flourished as the greatest sūfi of all times; he examined and evaluated the teachings of his sūfi predecessors including Abū Yazid. To determine his evaluation of Abū Yazid and his opinion on the related, well‐known concept of man's union with God at the highest peak of spirituality is the main aim of this paper. To achieve this aim al‐Ghazāli's citations from Abū Yazid's teachings on many basic doctrines of sufism, together with his explicit comments on them, are analysed in the second section of the paper, and he is found to have evaluated these teachings as of a very high grade and to have extolled Abū Yazid as a sūfi of the highest rank. The third section studies al‐Ghazāli's opinion on the most important aspect of Abū Yazid's teachings, i.e. his shatahāt or ecstatic utterances apparently expressive of union, fusion and divine indwelling. This began with a consideration of al‐Ghazāli's definition of two kinds of shath and his condemnation of them on the grounds of their harmful consequences. In connection with a study of his condemnation of the shatahāt of Abū Yazid and al‐Hallāj an investigation is made into his opinion on union and fusion. It is found that throughout his sūfi life he condemned them as false concepts. However Abū Yazid's shatahāt, which apparently mean union, fusion, etc. are interpreted in an orthodox manner, and he is adjudged an elect of the elect, a gnostic who reached the level of reality of realities, a perfect sūfi who attained to God. All the above findings are based on al‐Ghazāli's explicit comments on Abū Yazid. The fourth section of the paper deals with his implicit, indirect comments which also prove his appreciation of, and indebtedness to, Abū Yazid in respect of several central concepts of sufism.     

Candanbālā's hair: Fasting, beauty, and the materialization of Jain wives

Jain discourse on the body provides us with an opportunity to examine complex choreographies of ritual acts, which materialize the Jain body. The incipient moment of moving into womanhood is a key place for the materialization of wifely bodies. In order to understand this materialization, we must consider the ways in which discourses (here of wife-hood and nun-hood) shape the transition of Jain young women's bodies into the expected bodies (wives). The acceptance of the performative nature of the body among Jains allows us to examine the ways that Jain young women negotiate the seemingly contradictory discourses of wife-hood and nun-hood into bodies constitutive of both. Body practices suggest ways to explore the intersection of competing discourses and to destabilize the boundaries between them. In the Candanbālā Fast, Jain ritualized hair practices manifest the bodies (shaved nun and the luxurious long-haired bride) more overtly and the focus on the reiteration of the presence and discourse of loose, lovely hair enables these young women to negotiate the terrain of these seeming poles while maintaining the stated virtue of the celibate nun and the promise of the sexual and fertile wife.     

On the Coherence of Dignāga’s Epistemology: Evaluating the Critiques of Candrakīrti and Jayarāśi

I discuss two critiques of Dignāga’s epistemology, one from Candrakīrti and another from Jayarā?i. I argue that they are two versions of what I call the core problem: if the content of Dignāga’s epistemology were correct, two fundamental beliefs within this epistemological theory could not be established or known to be true, as Dignāga claims they are. In response to objections found within the classical Indian tradition as well as several plausible contemporary objections, I then argue that the core problem remains a serious issue with which those sympathetic to Dignāga ought to contend.     

Bodies,religion and relationality: the paradox of the Buddhist trikāya

Rethinking religion along the lines of relationality rather than focusing on practice alone may substantiate the cultural meanings of embodiment. Yet, relationality may only provide a cover for exclusive practices that are intended to reduce the significance of the religious subject, as in the case of the practice of multiple embodiments in Tibetan Buddhism. This practice refers to the ability of lamas to activate a form of transcendental reciprocity in the service of their disciples’ salvation. But its application also suggests a paradox centring on the dissolution of bodies. It not only affirms ongoing relationships between lamas and their disciples but also reiterates the quest for transcendental goals beyond the intricacies of bodily connections. This paradox demonstrates that the question of bodies and subjectivity in religion may not be resolved simply by focusing on the meanings of personal relationships and relationality. The context of these meanings becomes clearer when a distinction is made between the lama's personal goals and the metaphor of spiritual empowerment in lama–disciple relationships.     

Śaṅkara and the Authorship of the Īśopaniṣadbhāṣya and the Kaṭhopaniṣadbhāṣya

International Journal of Hindu Studies - This article investigates the authorship of the Īśopaniṣadbhāṣya and the Kaṭhopaniṣadbhāṣya, which are...     

Delivering the last blade of grass: Aspects of the bodhisattva ideal in the Mahāyāna

The ideal of the bodhisattva was crucial in the development of the Mahāyāna branch of the Buddhist tradition. It provided a meeting ground for cardinal Mahāyānist doctrines concerning prajñã (wisdom), karunā (compassion) and ?ūnvatā (voidness), as well as introducing into Buddhism more overtly religious elements which help to account for its popular appeal in those areas where the Mahāyāna took hold. The vow of the bodhisattva to forego entry into nirvāna until all beings “down to the last blade of grass” have been delivered raises several apparent contradictions and condundrums; these disappear in the light of a proper understanding of the pivotal Mahāyānist doctrine of ?ūnvatā. This paper examines the relationship of the bodhisattva ideal to the metaphysic of sunyata and discusses the place of this ideal in the spiritual economy of the Mahāyāna.