Transformations of emptiness : On the idea of sunyata and the thought of Abe and the Kyoto school of philosophy
1997; Duquesne University Press; Volume: 34; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2162-3937
Autores Tópico(s)Indian and Buddhist Studies
ResumoI. Introduction The ideas of or the fundamental basis for the religious philosophy of many members of the so-called Kyoto school of philosophy, derive their origin from the Buddhist notion of sunyata. This essay is an attempt to understand better the meaning of these ideas of absolute and as used by key Kyoto-school philosophers (specifically Nishida Kitaro, Nishitani Keiji, and Abe Masao) by focusing upon the work of Abe, a leading contemporary member of the school, and by tracing the history of the idea of from its earliest uses in Buddhism through the present-day Kyoto-school philosophers. In one sense, this essay is a history of the use, meaning, and development of this key Buddhist term, in its many historical manifestations within Buddhism in Asia. By tracing how the term was used and how its meaning changed over time, we will show how one of the basic teachings of Buddhism itself underwent a subtle development over time and in different cultures. In a second sense, this essay is an explanation of the religious philosophy of the Kyoto school and especially that of Abe, since his use of the terms nothingness, and (similar to Nishida's and Nishitani's) forms the basis of much of his scholarly work and overall philosophical viewpoint. In a third sense, this study investigates the use of religious ideas by philosophers and how and why such appropriation can lead to various problems, especially in the case of a religious idea such as sunyata. In a fourth and perhaps most important sense, this essay is about how the particular meanings given to by Kyoto-school philosophers have clear implications for interreligious dialogue between Buddhism and Christianity, since sunyata, and absolute nothingness have become key terms used by Abe and others in such dialogue. II. History and Development of the Idea of Sunyata and Related Terms within Buddhism The root of the difficulty in understanding properly the meaning of derives from at least three factors: (1) Sanyata takes on a variety of meanings throughout Buddhist history; (2) these meanings have always existed within particular religious contexts and as a part of a larger religious path and, therefore, lose their contents when extracted from these religious contexts; and (3) translating these overall meanings in their religious contexts into logical English terms and concepts is difficult at best and often adds to the confusion in understanding properly. Given these difficulties, the major translations of the term sunyata have varied and have included such English expressions as emptiness, nothingness, nonsubstantiality, relativity, and voidness.(1) Sunyata has also been described as referring to (1) a religious attitude or state of awareness; (2) a focus of meditation; (3) a manner of ethical action; or (4) a statement about reality, such as corresponding to the Buddhist notion of the interrelated nature of all existing things (pratitya samutpada).(2) Historically, as a term in Buddhist thought appears as early as the Nikayas, that is, in the literature appearing from around the second century after the death of the Buddha. There it is used to refer to the impermanent quality of phenomena and the lack of a self (anatman). Later, with the development of the Prajnaparamita Sutras (The Perfection of Wisdom Discourses) from around 100 B.C.E., this idea of the nonsubstantive or empty character of self and phenomena came to be extended to include everything, including the dharmas, the causal factors of existence that the earlier Abhidharma school had viewed as substantive.(3) The greatest systematizer of these teachings on was the monk and scholar Nagarjuna, who lived sometime between 150 and 250 C.E. Nagarjuna organized many of the teachings on emptiness contained within the earlier Prajnaparamitas and wrote what he called the Malamadhyamakakarikas (Fundamentals of the Middle Way), a key text in the wider body of literature called Madhyamikas, texts written by Nagarjuna and his followers in the Madhyamika school. …
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