Altruism and Reality (1998)

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Altruism and Reality: Studies in the Philosophy of the Bodhicaryāvatāra
Book
Making Sense of Śāntideva's Vision of Reality (Philosophy)


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Description

This volume brings together Paul Williams's previously published papers on the Indian and Tibetan interpretations of selected verses from the eighth and ninth chapters of the Bodhicaryāvatāra. In addition, there is a much longer version of the paper 'Identifying the Object of Negation', and nearly half the book consists of a wholly new essay, 'The Absence of Self and the Removal of Pain', subtitled 'How Śāntideva Destroyed the Bodhisattva Path'. In this paper Williams seeks to engage in a critical way with some central issues of Buddhist thought relating to the coherence of a reductionist model of the person. He argues for an irreducible subject-involvement of pain statements, and suggests that given an approach to the person explicitly avowed in the Bodhicaryāvatāra it becomes impossible to make sense of such subject-involvement, and thus of the removal of pain which is central to the path to Buddhahood.
      Paul Williams approaches selected verses from the Bodhicaryāvatāra in the light of all the extant Indian commentaries available as well as many indigenous Tibetan commentaries from all Tibetan traditions. He is thus able to indicate varieties and shifting patterns of interpretation and influence, showing how the Bodhicaryāvatāra comes to be used by the different Tibetan traditions according to their differing overall religious and philosophical agendas.
      This book will be of interest to those concerned with the history and interpretation of Indian and Tibetan philosophy, particularly Madhyamaka, the detailed study of the text of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, and also those whose interest is primarily with philosophical issues relating to the person, the philosophy of rebirth, and to the relationship between ethics and Madhyamaka ontology. (Source: back cover)
Citation
Williams, Paul. Altruism and Reality: Studies in the Philosophy of the Bodhicaryāvatāra. Richmond, Surrey, England: Curzon Press, 1998. https://archive.org/details/altruismandrealitystudiesinthephilosophyofbodhicaryaavatarapaulwilliamsseemahayanbuddhism_957_u/mode/2up.
Publisher Link
Table of contents
  • Prefaceix
  • Acknowledgementsxii
  • 1 On PRAKṚTINIRVĀṆA/PRAKṚTINIRVṚTA IN THE BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 1
    • 1 Indian Commentaries3
    • 2 Tibetan Commentaries4
    • BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 9:13 (TIB. 13CD/14AB) (AB)5
    • BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 9:104CD (TIB. 103CD)12
    • BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 9:111 (TIB. 110)15
    • BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 9:35 (TIB. 34)21
  • 2 ON ALTRUISM AND REBIRTH29
    • BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 8:9730
    • BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 8:9839
  • 3 AN ARGUMENT FOR CITTAMĀTRA52
    • BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 9:28CD (TIB. 27CD)53
  • 4 IDENTIFYING THE OBJECT OF NEGATION64
    • Introduction64
    • BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 9:140 (TIB. 139) AB65
    • The Pūrvapakṣa - Bodhicaryāvatāra 9:139 (TIB. 138)68
    • BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 9:139 (TIB. 138)68
    • Bodhicaryāvatāra 9:140 - (I) Prajñākaramati's response75
    • BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 9:140 (TIB. 139)55
    • Bodhicaryavatara 9:140 - (Il) Some Tibetan comments80
    • BODHICARYĀVATĀRA 9:141 (TIB. 140)93
    • Conclusions99
  • 5 THE ABSENCE OF SELF AND THE REMOVAL OF PAIN104
    • 1 Bodhicaryāvataara 8:101-3105
    • 2 Ontology107
    • 3 Continuants and Collectives112
    • 4 Wholes Simply do not Exist115
    • 5 Conceptual Existents, Artefacts and Natural Kinds119
    • 6 Time, Change and the Identity of a Continuant124
    • 7 The Continuant/Collective Model and the Unity of the Person130
    • 8 Korsakov's Syndrome - a Relevant Digression137
    • 9 The Need for a Subject140
    • 10 Unity and the Self144
    • 11 On Pain153
      • (i) There are no such things as pains, only subjects hurting155
      • (ii) Pains as events158
      • (iii) Without subjects there can be no identification and individuation of pains160
    • 12 Conclusion: How Śāntideva Destroyed the Bodhisattva Path164
  • NOTES177
  • Bibliography211
  • Index258
Interconnections
1 Other editions
Studies in the Philosophy of the Bodhicaryāvatāra-front.jpg
Books2000About this item
Paul Williams's previously published papers on the Indian and Tibetan interpretations of selected verses from the 8th and 9th chapters of the Bodhicaryāvatāra.
3 Reviews
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Articles2000About this item
Eli Franco's review of the book Altruism and Reality by Paul Williams, published in the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 63, no. 1 (2000): 123-24.
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Articles1999About this item
John Pettit's review of Altruism and Reality: Studies in the Philosophy of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, by Paul Williams, published in the Journal of Buddhist Ethics 6 (1999): 120-37.
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Articles2000About this item
This is Mark Siderits's review of Paul Williams's book Altruism and Reality. This review sparked a response from Williams and a reply from Siderits, published in Philosophy East and West.
1 Scholarship on
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Classical WorksAbout this item
An "Introduction to Bodhisattva Practice," the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra is a poem about the path of a bodhisattva, in ten chapters, written by the Indian Buddhist Śāntideva (fl. c. 685–763). One of the masterpieces of world literature, it is a core text of Mahāyāna Buddhism and continues to be taught, studied, and commented upon in many languages and by many traditions around the world. The main subject of the text is bodhicitta, the altruistic aspiration for enlightenment, and the path and practices of the bodhisattva, the six perfections (pāramitās). The text forms the basis of many contemporary discussions of Buddhist ethics and philosophy.