Indian Buddhist Philosophies

PHI 3211 Indian Buddhist Philosophies 印度佛家哲學

Course description

What is reality? How do we know? How shall we exist? This course intends to explore the rich sources of Indian Buddhist philosophical traditions. Topics include rebirth, karma, emptiness, theories of mind, language and perception. Attention will be given to their relevance to contemporary discussions in Western philosophy. Readings include basic works of Abhidharma, Madhyamaka, Yog ā c ā ra and Pram āṇ av ā da.

實相爲何？吾人何以知之？我等該如何存活？本課程旨在探討印度佛教哲學傳統的豐富資源，專題包括輪回、業、空，心識、語言和知覺的理論，亦注重與當代西方哲學有關討論的關聯，讀物包括阿毗達摩、中觀、唯識和量論的基本著作。

Assessment

Tutorial and class performance (15%)
Three short papers (with two students forming a group, less than 2,000 words each, 3×15%)
A final paper (3,000-5,000 words, 40%)

Schedule of the lectures:

Unit One: Introduction and Philosophy of Religion

1. Introduction
2. Historical review: four Buddhist philosophical schools
3. Rebirth and karma
4. Personal identity

Unit Two: Metaphysical Disputes

5. Time
6. Emptiness and two truths
7. Store-consciousness
8. Disputes on mind-only

Unit Three: Epistemological Issues

9. Perception
10. Self-awareness
11. Non-cognition
12. Theory of language
13. Empty Terms

Reading list (tentative) :

• Bhatt, S.R. & Mehrotra, Anu. Buddhist Epistemology . Westport : Greenwood Press, 2000.
• Blumenthal, James. The ornament of the middle way: a study of the Madhyamaka thought of Śāntarak ṣ ita: including translations of Śāntarak ṣ ita ” s Madhyamak ālamkāra (The ornament of the middle way) and Gyel-tsab’s dbU ma rgyan gyi brjed byang (Remembering “The ornament of the middle way”) . Ithaca , N.Y. : Snow Lion Publications, 2004.
• Dhammajoti . Sarv ā stiv ā da Abhidharma . Sri Lanka : Centre of Buddhist Studies, 2002.
• Dreyfus, G.B.J. Recognizing Reality: Dharmakīrti’s Philosophy and its Tibetan Interpretations . Albany : State University of New York Press, 1997.
• Dreyfus, Georges B.J. and McClintock, Sara L., eds. The Svatantrika-Prasangika distinction : what difference does a difference make? Somerville , Mass. : Wisdom Publications, 2003.
• Dunne, John. Foundations of Dharmakirti’s Philosophy . Wisdom Publications, 2004.
• Eckel, Malcolm David . Jnanagarbha’s commentary on the distinction between the two truths: an eighth century handbook of Madhyamaka philosophy . Albany : State University of New York Press, 1987.
• Eckel, Malcolm David. To see the Buddha: a philosopher’s quest for the meaning of emptiness. Princeton University Press, 1992.
• Harris, Ian Charles. The continuity of madhyamaka and yogacara in Indian Mahayana Buddhism . Leiden : E.J. Brill, 1991.
• Hattori , Masaaki . Dignāga on perception: being the pratyakṣapariccheda of Dignāga’s Pramāṇasamuccaya from the Sanskrit fragments and the Tibetan versions . Cambridge , Mass: Harvard University Press, 1968.
• Hayes, Richard P. Dignāga on the interpretation of signs . Dordrecht : Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988.
• John P. Keenan. Dharmapalas’s Yogācāra critique of Bhavāviveka’s Mādhyamika: explanation of emptiness: the tenth chapter of Ta-ch”eng Kuang pai-lun shih, commenting on Āryadeva’s Catuḥśataka chapter sixteen . Lewiston , N.Y. : Edwin Mellen Press, 1997.
• Kaluphana, David J. The philosophy of the middle way : introduction, Sanskrit text, English translation, and annotation. Albany , N.Y: State University of New York Press, 1986.
• Lopez, Donald S. A study of Svātantrika . Ithaca , N.Y. : Snow Lion Publications, 1987.
• Mi-pham-rgya-mtsho. Speech of delight: Mipham’s commentary on Śāntarak ṣ ita’s Ornament of the middle way . Foreword by Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche ; translated by Thomas H. Doctor. Ithaca , N.Y. : Snow Lion, 2004.
• Nagao, Gajin. Mādhyamaka and Yogācāra: a study of Mahāyāna philosophies: collected papers of G.M. Nagao . Edited, collated, and translated by L.S. Kawamura in collaboration with G.M. Nagao. Albany : State University of New York Press, 1991.
• Shcherbatskoĭ, F. I. (Th. Stcherbatsky). Buddhist logic . S”-Gravenhage: Mouton, 1958. [Chinese translation: 宋立道，舒曉煒譯，《佛敎邏輯》，北京 : 商務印 書館， 1997. ]
• Tillemans, Tom J.F. Scripture, Logic, Language : Essays on Dharmak ī rti and his Tibetan Successors . Boston : Wisdom Publications, 1999.
• Yao, Zhihua. The Buddhist Theory of Self-Cognition . Londona and New York: Routledge, 2005.