Empty Words Buddhist Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Interpretation

by Garfield, Jay L.

• ISBN13: 9780195146721
• ISBN10: 0195146727
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-12-06
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This volume collects Jay Garfield's essays on Madhyamaka, Yog-ac-ara, Buddhist ethics and cross-cultural hermeneutics. The first part addresses Madhyamaka, supplementing Garfield's translation of Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way (OUP, 1995), a foundational philosophical text by the Buddhist saint Nagarjuna. Garfield then considers the work of philosophical rivals, and sheds important light on the relation of Nagarjuna's views to other Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical positions.

Table of Contents

PART I. MADHYAMAKA
Epoche and Sunyata: Scepticism East and West	3	(21)
Dependent Arising and the Emptiness of Emptiness: Why Did Nagarjuna Start with Causation?	24	(22)
Emptiness and Positionlessness: Do the Madhyamika Relinguish All Views?	46	(23)
Nagarjuna's Theory of Casuality: Implications Sacred and Profane	69	(17)
Nagarjuna and the Limits of Thought (with Graham Priest)	86	(23)
PART II. YOGACARA
Three Natures and Three Naturelessnesses: Comments Concerning Cittamatra Conceptual Categories	109	(19)
Vasubandhu's Treatise on the Three Natures: A Translation and Commentary	128	(24)
Western Idealism through Indian Eyes: A Cittamatra Reading of berkeley, Kant, and Schopenhauer	152	(18)
Sounds of Silence: Ineffability and the Limits of Language in Madhyamaka and Yogacara	170	(17)
PART III. ETHICS AND HERMENEUTICS
Human Rights and Compassion: Toward a Unified Moral Framework	187	(19)
Buddhism and Democracy	206	(14)
The ``Satya'' in Sathyagraha: Samdhong Rinpoche's Approach to Nonviolence	220	(9)
Temporality and Alterity---Dimensions of Hermeneutic Distance	229	(22)
Philosophy, Religion, and the Hermeneutic Imperative	251	(10)
Notes	261	(30)
References	291	(8)
Index	299