Reason as employed by the Buddha : its originality and mystical foundations
Item and associated files
Author
Szkredka, Slawomir See all items with this value
Date
2007
Volume
8
Pages
181-200
ISSN
1530-4108 See all items with this value
Abstract
This paper is organized as follows:
THE BUDDHA AS AN ORIGINAL THINKER
THE INTELLECTUAL CULTURE OF INDIA
THE MYSTICAL DIMENSION OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHIES
INDIAN PSYCHE AND THE RISE OF RATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS
THE ORIGINALITY OF THE BUDDHA’S PHILOSOPHY
THE ENLIGHTENMENT AS EMPIRICAL VALIDATION AND MYSTICAL GROUND OF REASON
THE COGNITIONAL CONTENT OF ENLIGHTENMENT
THE MODE OF KNOWING IN ENLIGHTENME
It aims at explaining the rationality embodied in Buddhism. It will be shown that this rationality is scientific in its method and deeply existential in its outcome.
The ultimate goal of this essay is to explicate the rationality embodied in the Buddha’s doctrine. The structure of our argument can be presented in the following way: Given the context of the Indian intellectual tradition at the time of the Buddha, we shall demonstrate that the Buddha’s doctrine is an original philosophical system. Given the broad definitions of mysticism, we shall assume that the Buddha’s awakening (entry into Nibbana) is a mystical state. With these two assumptions in mind, we shall produce the textual evidence from within the Pali Buddhist writings to prove that the Buddha’s original philosophy (the middle path between eternalism and annihilationism) is grounded in the experience of awakening. As a result, we shall illustrate a historically and culturally significant form of rationality, which is both scientific in its method and deeply existential in its outcome.
THE BUDDHA AS AN ORIGINAL THINKER
THE INTELLECTUAL CULTURE OF INDIA
THE MYSTICAL DIMENSION OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHIES
INDIAN PSYCHE AND THE RISE OF RATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS
THE ORIGINALITY OF THE BUDDHA’S PHILOSOPHY
THE ENLIGHTENMENT AS EMPIRICAL VALIDATION AND MYSTICAL GROUND OF REASON
THE COGNITIONAL CONTENT OF ENLIGHTENMENT
THE MODE OF KNOWING IN ENLIGHTENME
It aims at explaining the rationality embodied in Buddhism. It will be shown that this rationality is scientific in its method and deeply existential in its outcome.
The ultimate goal of this essay is to explicate the rationality embodied in the Buddha’s doctrine. The structure of our argument can be presented in the following way: Given the context of the Indian intellectual tradition at the time of the Buddha, we shall demonstrate that the Buddha’s doctrine is an original philosophical system. Given the broad definitions of mysticism, we shall assume that the Buddha’s awakening (entry into Nibbana) is a mystical state. With these two assumptions in mind, we shall produce the textual evidence from within the Pali Buddhist writings to prove that the Buddha’s original philosophy (the middle path between eternalism and annihilationism) is grounded in the experience of awakening. As a result, we shall illustrate a historically and culturally significant form of rationality, which is both scientific in its method and deeply existential in its outcome.