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Overview
Attributed to such luminaries as Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, Dignaga, and Santideva, scriptural commentaries have long played an important role in the monastic and philosophical life of Indian Buddhism. Nance reads these texts against the social and cultural conditions of their making, establishing a solid historical basis for the interpretation of key beliefs and doctrines. He also underscores areas of contention, in which scholars debate what it means to speak for, and as, a Buddha.
Throughout these texts, Buddhist commentators struggle to deduce and characterize the speech of Buddhas and teach others how to convey and interpret its meaning. At the same time, they demonstrate the fundamental dilemma of trying to speak on behalf of Buddhas. Nance also investigates the notion of "right speech" as articulated by Buddhist texts and follows ideas about teaching as imagined through the common figure of a Buddhist preacher. He notes the use of epistemological concepts in scriptural interpretation and the protocols guiding the composition of scriptural commentary, and provides translations of three commentarial guides to better clarify the normative assumptions organizing these works.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780231152303 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Columbia University Press |
| Publication date: | 11/29/2011 |
| Pages: | 312 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d) |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1 Indian Buddhist Sutra Commentaries 4
2 Normativity and Positivist Presuppositions in the Study of Indian Buddhism 7
3 The Structure of the Book 12
1 Models of Speaking: Buddhas and Monks 14
1 Speaking as a Buddha: In Praise of Perfection 16
2 Speaking as a Monk: Speech Protocols in the Pratimoksasütra 36
3 Concluding Remarks 44
2 Models of Instruction: Preachers Perfect and Imperfect 45
1 The "Bhanaka System" 46
2 The Preacher "in Theory": Models of Teaching 49
3 The Preacher "in Practice": The Teaching of Models 68
4 Concluding Remarks 78
3 Models of Argument: Epistemology and Interpretation 81
1 The Pramanas: A Brief Sketch 83
2 The Pramanas: Means of Correct Interpretation? 86
3 Concluding Remarks 95
4 Models of Explication: Commentarial Guides 98
l On the Vyakhyayukti 100
2 The Five Aspects 105
3 Concluding Remarks 120
Conclusion 123
Appendix A The Vyakhyayukti, Book I 129
Appendix B The Abhidharmasamuccayabhasya (Excerpt) 153
Appendix C The *Vivaranasamgrahai 167
Notes 213
Bibliography 259
Index of Texts 287
Index 291
What People are Saying About This
Deftly engaging Indian Buddhist texts that represent a wide range of genres and intellectual disciplines, Richard Nance's nuanced and beautifully written book attends carefully to the ways in which Buddhist intellectuals variously elaborated and exemplified the norms (interpretive, epistemic, pedagogical, and moral) meant to determine which acts of speech and writing ought to count as authoritatively Buddhist. Nance's sensitive readings are guided throughout by a sophisticated concern—of great timeliness for the fields of religious studies—with the question of how religiously normative rhetoric affects history. Refuting the idea that we can sharply distinguish questions of what historical Buddhists 'actually did' from normative accounts of what they ought to have done, Nance compellingly shows how Indian Buddhist commentators and other intellectuals authored texts that at once transmitted and constituted a tradition—while showing, too, the problem with thinking about their intellectual activity in only one of these ways. This important book should be read not only by students of Buddhist thought and history but also by students of religious studies who aim to overcome the facile dichotomy of 'theory' and 'practice.'
Deftly engaging Indian Buddhist texts that represent a wide range of genres and intellectual disciplines, Richard Nance's nuanced and beautifully written book attends carefully to the ways in which Buddhist intellectuals variously elaborated and exemplified the norms (interpretive, epistemic, pedagogical, and moral) meant to determine which acts of speech and writing ought to count as authoritatively Buddhist. Nance's sensitive readings are guided throughout by a sophisticated concern—of great timeliness for the fields of religious studies—with the question of how religiously normative rhetoric affects history. Refuting the idea that we can sharply distinguish questions of what historical Buddhists 'actually did' from normative accounts of what they ought to have done, Nance compellingly shows how Indian Buddhist commentators and other intellectuals authored texts that at once transmitted and constituted a tradition -- while showing, too, the problem with thinking about their intellectual activity in only one of these ways. This important book should be read not only by students of Buddhist thought and history but also by students of religious studies who aim to overcome the facile dichotomy of 'theory' and 'practice.'
— Dan Arnold, Divinity School at the University of Chicago, and author of Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief: Epistemology in Indian and Buddhist Philosophy and Brains, Buddhas, and Believing: The Problem of Intentionality in Classical Buddhist and Cognitive-Scientific Philosophy of Mind