Reason's Traces : Identity and Interpretation in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist Thought

by Kapstein, Matthew

• ISBN13: 9780861712397
• ISBN10: 0861712390
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-06-15
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications

Summary

Reason's Traces addresses some of the key questions in the study of Indian and Buddhist thought: the analysis of personal identity and of ultimate reality, the interpretation of Tantric texts and traditions, and Tibetan approaches to the interpretation of Indian sources. Drawing on a wide range of scholarship, Reason's Traces reflects current work in philosophical analysis and hermeneutics, inviting readers to explore in a Buddhist context the relationship between philosophy and traditions of spiritual exercise.

Author Biography

Matthew T. Kapstein is Numata Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Chicago. His Previous publications include The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism: Conversion,Contestation, and Memory, and, with the anthropologist Melvyn C. Goldstein, Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet: Religious Revival and Cultural Identity. He is co-translator of the late H.H. Dujom Rinpoche's The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, also available from Wisdom Publications.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	x
Preface	xi
A Note Concerning History and Chronology	xv
Introduction: What Is ``Buddhist Philosophy''?	3	(26)
I Situating the Self
Personal Identity in a Comparative Perspective	29	(24)
Indra's Search for the Self and the Beginnings of Philosophical Perplexity in India	53	(24)
Missing Persons: the Inapprehensible ``I''	77	(36)
Appendix: A Tibetan Comment on Sister Vajira's Chariot	103	(10)
Synthetic Selves	113	(22)
The Sensualist, the Sage, and the Dancing Girl's Brow: Personal Identity and Self-Cultivation	135	(26)
Santaraksita on the Fallacies of Personalistic Vitalism	161	(20)
II Reality and Reason
Mereological Considerations in Vasubandhu's ``Proof of Idealism''	181	(24)
Appendix: Vimsatika, 11-15, The Proof of Idealism	197	(8)
The Trouble with Truth: Heidegger on Aletheia, Buddhist Thinkers on Satya	205	(28)
Appendix: The Legacy of the Two Truths beyond India	220	(13)
III The Study of Tantrism
Scholastic Buddhism and the Mantrayana	233	(24)
Appendix: Bhavaviveka on Dharani	246	(11)
Weaving the World: The Ritual Art of the Pata in Pala Buddhism and Its Legacy in Tibet	257	(24)
Schopenhauer's Sakti	281	(20)
IV Doctrinal Interpretation in Tibet
From Kun-mkhyen Dol-po-pa to `Ba'-mda' Dge-legs: Three Jo-nang-pa Masters on the Interpretation of the Prajnaparamita	301	(16)
Mi-pham's Theory of Interpretation	317	(30)
V Philosophical Texts in Translation
Vasubandhu and the Nyaya Philosophers on Personal Identity	347	(46)
Vasubandhu's Treatise on the Negation of the Person	347	(28)
Vatsyayana and Uddyotakara on the Aphorisms of Reason	375	(18)
Abhayakaragupta on the Two Truths	393	(78)
Bibliography
Canonical Collections and Catalogues	417	(1)
Sanskrit and Pali References	417	(6)
Tibetan References	423	(2)
Western Language References	425	(26)
Indexes
Index of Personal Names	451	(4)
Index of Subjects and Technical Terms	455	(16)
Index of Texts	471