Paving the Great Way: Vasubandhu's Unifying Buddhist Philosophy
Paving the Great Way: Vasubandhu's Unifying Buddhist Philosophy
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Abstract
The Indian Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu (fourth-fifth century ce) is known for his critical contribution to Buddhist Abhidharma thought, his turn to the Mahāyāna tradition, and his concise, influential Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda texts. This book reveals another dimension of his legacy: his integration of several seemingly incompatible intellectual and scriptural traditions, with far-ranging consequences for the development of Buddhist epistemology and the theorization of tantra. Most scholars read Vasubandhu's texts in isolation and separate his intellectual development into distinct phases. Featuring close studies of Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośabhāsya, Vyākhyāyukti, Vimśatikā, and Trisvabhavanirdeśa, among other works, this book identifies recurrent treatments of causality and scriptural interpretation that unify distinct strands of thought under a single, coherent Buddhist philosophy. In Vasubandhu's hands, the Buddha's rejection of the self as a false construction provides a framework through which to clarify problematic philosophical issues, such as the nature of moral agency and subjectivity under a broadly causal worldview. Recognizing this continuity of purpose across Vasubandhu's diverse corpus recasts the interests of the philosopher and his truly innovative vision, which influenced Buddhist thought for a millennium and continues to resonate with today's philosophical issues.
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Front Matter
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1
Summarizing Vasubandhu: Should a Buddhist Philosopher Have a Philosophy?
Jonathan C. Gold
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2
Against the Times: Vasubandhu’s Critique of His Main Abhidharma Rivals
Jonathan C. Gold
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3
Merely Cause and Effect: The Imagined Self and the Literalistic Mind
Jonathan C. Gold
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4
Knowledge, Language, and the Interpretation of Scripture: Vasubandhu’s Opening to the Mahāyāna
Jonathan C. Gold
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5
Vasubandhu’s Yogācāra: Enshrining the Causal Line in the Three Natures
Jonathan C. Gold
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6
Agency and the Ethics of Massively Cumulative Causality
Jonathan C. Gold
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Conclusion: Buddhist Causal Framing for the Modern World
Jonathan C. Gold
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End Matter
- Appendix A Against the Existence of the Three Times: AKBh V.25–27 (295.2–301.16)
- Appendix B Brief Disproof of the Self: AKBh III.18 (129.5–21)
- Appendix C Discussion of “View” (DṚṢṬI): AKBh I.41–42 (29.12–31.16)
- Appendix D Against the Eternality of Atoms (Paramāṇu): AKBh III.100 (188.24–190.8)
- Appendix E The Proper Mode of Exposition on Conventional and Ultimate: VyY 236–240 (P: 127b–129b)
- Appendix F The Twenty Verses on Appearance and Memory: Viṃś 16–17b (8.22–9.8)
- Appendix G The Three Natures Exposition: TSN
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Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
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