Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka

Westerhoff, Jan

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195375213.001.0001

Cited by 80 publications

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“…(4) Finally, integrating the Madhyamaka understanding of śūnyatā into Hick's theory may yield a more radical and flexible account of Ultimate Reality. Nāgārjuna points out that with respect to ‘Ultimate truth’ any concept taken by itself could be both a ‘skilful means’ to aiding understanding and, at the same time, a constraint to understanding (Westerhoff (2009), 12). Our commitment or attachment to a concept of the Ultimately Real might prevent us from understanding the actual Ultimate.…”

Section: Can śūNyatā Help Hick?mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Buddhist reconfiguration of John Hick's pluralistic hypothesis: a Madhyamaka perspective

Zhao¹

2020

Rel. Stud.

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In presenting his theory of religious pluralism, John Hick discussed the Buddhist concept of śūnyatā, emptiness, which he regarded as functionally equivalent to his postulated noumenal Real. This article introduces Hick's pluralistic hypothesis and reviews the major criticisms of his theory. It then investigates Hick's understanding of śūnyatā, before arguing that a Madhyamaka interpretation of śūnyatā, within the context of the Buddhist theory of ‘two truths’, differs considerably from Hick's understanding. The article suggests that the Madhyamaka interpretation of śūnyatā can be used to reconfigure Hick's pluralistic hypothesis, thereby avoiding the major criticisms Hickian pluralism faces, for it provides a new way of thinking about the relation between ultimate reality and the reality that we experience.

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Section: Can śūNyatā Help Hick?mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Buddhist reconfiguration of John Hick's pluralistic hypothesis: a Madhyamaka perspective

Zhao¹

2020

Rel. Stud.

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“…In this section, I explain why I choose Thich and Gadamer for help in challenging what we can call with Westerhorff (2009) the “standard picture” of language (p. 191). I briefly situate both in their respective traditions in order to specify what fusion of horizons I am after and define the standard picture of language.…”

Section: Fusing Horizons To Challenge “Mere” Wordsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Buber (1923/1970) identified it with the destructive dualism of the “I–It” (p. 123). From the perspective of the standard picture, we believe language is a system of signs for the purpose of forming propositions that both refer to and correspond to extralinguistic facts in the world (Westerhorff, 2009, p. 220). In this picture, we assume a substance metaphysics where there are self-subsistent entities ready-made underlying our linguistic signs (pp.…”

Section: Fusing Horizons To Challenge “Mere” Wordsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So, there is no way to cling exclusively to any particular point of view. As with the Buddha, there is no need to cling to a philosophical position (see Westerhorff, 2009, p. 184).…”

Section: The Priority Of Understanding Over Viewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ordinary human beings, though, are afraid of speech, seeing it from a samsaric “view” (see Thich, 2009, p. 41). Despite its liberating power, difficulties arise with language as we become attached to ideas and things—especially as we become attached to a view of how language “must be.” Our discursive habits can generate unreal superimpositions of what must be (see Westerhorff, 2009, p. 63). We seem inclined toward seeing linguistic conventions as either more than or less than what they are—just conventions.…”

Section: Finding Freedom For Understanding Within Limits Of Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

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Linguistically mediated liberation: Freedom and limits of understanding in thich Nhat Hanh and Hans-Georg Gadamer.

Dickman¹

2016

The Humanistic Psychologist

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Young Harris CollegeMany despair at trying to understand something's meaning and express dissatisfaction with language wholesale. What if some things simply are not understandable? Thich Nhat Hanh coined interbeing to name the fundamental principle of interdependence defining Buddhist ontologies, and uses interbeing to dislodge despair resulting from rigid expectations of how things must be. Thich also criticized a standard view of language as generating those rigid expectations. Drawing upon classical humanist traditions, Hans-Georg Gadamer promoted a hermeneutics whereby interpreters overcome existential alienation. In his theory of understanding meaning, Gadamer rehabilitated language as having its being in revealing aspects of truth. By situating Gadamer's hermeneutics within Thich's interbeing, I develop limits of understanding that facilitate freedom from despair about meaning and language. Thich and Gadamer both taught that the quest for stability within change is misguided. This requires rigorous attention to the limits of understanding. Attention to these limits serves to liberate people from clinging to the illusion that all things are understandable and despair accompanying the incapacity to understand some things.

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Between the Horns of Idealism and Realism

Priest

2013

A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy

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Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka

Cited by 80 publications

References 0 publications

A Buddhist reconfiguration of John Hick's pluralistic hypothesis: a Madhyamaka perspective

A Buddhist reconfiguration of John Hick's pluralistic hypothesis: a Madhyamaka perspective

Linguistically mediated liberation: Freedom and limits of understanding in thich Nhat Hanh and Hans-Georg Gadamer.

Between the Horns of Idealism and Realism

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