Between Certainty and Finitude

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Between Certainty and Finitude: A Study of Laṅkāvatārasūtra Chapter Two

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

This book confronts two ways of approaching an Indo-Buddhist text with one another. The first is the historico-philological method, which takes the Cartesian ideal of certainty as its starting point. The second approach follows the lead of the philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer. This approach assumes that all human understanding is finite. In this light, it raises questions such as: what are the preliminary assumptions with which a buddhologist addresses a buddhist text? In analogy with these two ways of looking at a text, the book is divided into two parts. Part One is a historico-philological study of the Sanskrit compound sva-citta-dr'sya-matra as it is represented in the second chapter of the Indo-Buddhist text Lankavatarasutra (fifth century). Part Two then examines the unquestioned acceptances of this buddhological research from a philosophical point of view. The book opens up an entirely new perspective on methodological problems concerning any study of an alien culture.

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Citation

Forsten, Aucke D. Between Certainty and Finitude: A Study of Laṅkāvatārasūtra Chapter Two. Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2006.

Publisher Link

https://www.lit-verlag.de/publikationen/geschichtswissenschaft/53652/between-certainty-and-finitude?c=6960

Table of contents

• List of AbbreviationsVIII
• ConventionsIX
• General Introduction1
  • A. Part One: Buddhological Study of the Compound Sva-citta-dṛśya-mātra1
  • B. Part Two: Philosophical Hermeneutics2
    • 1. Incommensurable worlds3
    • 2. The unquestioned acceptances of the historian Kuhn6
    • 3. Gadamer's radical historicality9
  • C. Structure of the Book11

• PART ONE: A Text-critical Study of the Sanskrit Compound Sva-citta-dṛśya-mātra in the Second Chapter of the Laṅkāvatārasūtra (LAS)

• I. Introduction15
  • A. The Text16
    • 1. Structure of the text17
    • 2. Redactions, editions and translations18
    • 3. The Laṅkāvatārasūtra and Yogācāra19
  • B. Methodology21
    • 1. Presuppositions21
    • 2. Decisions and procedure22
    • 3. Use of translations24

• II. Interpretation of the Compound Sva-citta-dṛśya-mātra26
  • A. Structure of the Compound26
    • 1. -mātra27
    • 2. Sva-citta-dṛśya-28
  • B. Nature of Visible Entities (dṛśya)31
  • C. Sva-citta-dṛśya-mātra as the Subjective Ideality of Things33
  • D. Citta-mātra as the True State of Things36
  • E. The Transcendent Experience of Pratyātma-gati38
    • 1. Pure and immediate39
    • 2. Pratyātma-gati as a strictly personal experience40
    • 3. Incommunicable41
  • F. Discipline and Theory in the LAS42
    • 1. Spiritual practice42
    • 2. Sva-citta-dṛśya-mātra is neither theory nor logic44
    • 3. Theories and classifications in the LAS46
  • G. Summary of Results49

• III. Text Segments: Editions, Translations and Interpretations50
  • S1: N23.17-37.5 (selected fragments)50
  • S2: N38.3-855
  • S3: N39.12-40.1058
  • S4: N49.6-1261
  • S5: N51.10-52.8; N54.2-55.163
  • S6: N55.2-56.1369
  • S7: N57.13-58.174
  • S8: N61.15-62.678
  • S9: N62.7-63.181
  • S10: N68.8-69.485
  • S11: N70.9-19; N72.4-1190
  • S12: N72.12-73.1094
  • S13: N79.13-81.5; N81.17-82.797
  • S14: N84.2-15105
  • S15: N87.7-88.4109
  • S16: N89.18-90.17; N92.18-93.5; N93.13-94.5113
  • S17: N104.6-11122
  • S18: N108.1-5125
  • S19: N110.17-112.9128
  • S20: N120.11-121.17133
  • S21: N123.10-124.2139

• PART TWO: Philosophical Hermeneutics

• I. Introduction145
  • A. Gadamer's Hermeneutics: a Brief Introduction146
  • B. The Horizon of Buddhist Studies148
    • 1. The ideal of a tabula rasa149
    • 2. Conclusion151
  • C. 'Animism' Revisited: an Example of Hermeneutics152
    • 1. The metaphysics of animism and the event of relatedness153
    • 2. Implications of Bird-David's analysis155
    • 3. Conclusion156

• II. Schleiermacher's Methodical Reduction158
  • A. Grammatical and Psychological Interpretation159
  • B. Unquestioned Acceptances161
    • 1. Interpersonal equality162
    • 2. Interlinguistic equality163
    • 3. Original intention165
    • 4. Original text166
    • 5. Metaphysics of the grammatical and the psychological interpretation167

• III. Gadamer's Dialogical Game169
  • A. Between Familiarity and Strangeness170
  • B. The Anticipation of Completeness170
  • C. The Prejudicial Nature of Understanding171
  • D. Prejudice and Tradition173
  • E. The Hermeneutic Circle176
  • F. The Game of Understanding177
    • 1. Play as an autonomous event178
    • 2. Play and textual understanding180
    • 3. Play and methodical reduction181
      • a. Original intention181
      • b. Original text183
    • 4. Play and dialogue184
  • G. The Applicative Nature of Understanding186
  • H. The History of Effect189
  • I. The Horizon of Understanding190
  • J. Experience193
  • K. Halbfass and Philosophical Hermeneutics196
    • 1. Halbfass' methodological reflections197
    • 2. Confrontation200

• IV. Confrontation between Horizons206
  • A. The Cartesian Horizon of Subject and Object206
  • B. The Buddhological Study of the LAS and the Subject-Object Relation209
    • 1. Buddhist Studies as a human science209
    • 2. The interpretation of the LAS211
  • C. Incommensurability between the LAS and the Subject-Object Relation212
  • D. The Sūtra's Horizon of Finitude214
    • 1. Application in the LAS215
      • a. 'Theory' and application216
      • b. Buddha Word and application218
    • 2. Awakening and experience219
    • 3. Pratyātma-gati and experience221
      • a. Transcendence222
      • b. Subject and pratyātma223
    • 4. Citta and philosophical hermeneutics225
      • a. The interpretations of citta as a subject226
      • b. Citta and understanding227
  • E. Implications230

• V. The Prejudice of a Dialogue233
  • A. Review233
  • B. Us and Them?235

• Bibliographical References239
• List of Occurrences of Sva-citta-dṛśya-mātra and its Variants247
• Index of Selected Names and Topics249

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Works related to this item

1 Scholarship on

Laṅkāvatārasūtra [लङ्कावतारसूत्र]. 'phags pa lang kar gshegs pa'i theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ལང་ཀར་གཤེགས་པའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Sūtra on the Descent into Laṅka (84000)]. Translated by 'gos chos grub, Bodhiruci, Guṇabhadra, Śikṣānanda. Kangyur, RKTSK 107 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=107&typ=1.

Classical WorksAbout this item

An important Mahāyāna sūtra that was highly influential in East Asia as well as in Nepal, where a manuscript was discovered that remains the only extant Sanskrit recension of this text. It is notable for its inclusion of many doctrinal features that would come to be associated with the Yogācāra philosophy of Mind-Only (Cittamātra), such as the ālayavijñāna, or store-house consciousness, that acts as a repository for the seeds of karmic actions. It also includes several lengthy discussions of tathāgatagarbha and, though it is never actually referenced in the Uttaratantra, it is often listed among the so-called tathāgatagarbha sūtras. While its lack of mention in the Uttaratantra has been interpreted by scholars as evidence that the sūtra postdates the treatise, it should be noted that the ways in which the tathāgatagarbha is discussed in the sūtra is often at odds with its presentation in the Uttaratantra.

Laṅkāvatārasūtra [लङ्कावतारसूत्र]. 'phags pa lang kar gshegs pa'i theg pa chen po'i mdo [འཕགས་པ་ལང་ཀར་གཤེགས་པའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Sūtra on the Descent into Laṅka (84000)]. Translated by 'gos chos grub, Bodhiruci, Guṇabhadra, Śikṣānanda. Kangyur, RKTSK 107 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=107&typ=1.

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Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt योगाचार  Tib རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་  Ch 瑜伽行派  

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Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

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Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sūtra'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of the Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

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Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

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Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

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Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

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Cittamātra - Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. Skt चित्तमात्र  Tib སེམས་ཙམ་  

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Cittamātra - Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. Skt चित्तमात्र  Tib སེམས་ཙམ་  

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Ālayavijñāna - A neutral base consciousness that is posited as the storehouse for the seeds of past karmic actions in which they remain in a latent state until the circumstances arise for them to ripen as karmic consequences. Skt आलयविज्ञान  Tib ཀུན་གཞིའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་  Ch 阿賴耶識;藏識  

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Tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt तथागतगर्भ  Tib དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་  Ch 如来藏  

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Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt उत्तरतन्त्र  Tib རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་  Ch 寶性論  

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Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtras'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtras'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtras'