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Added by: Tammo Lossau, Contributed by: Tammo LossauPublisher’s Note:
Figures from Eastern Philosophy in general and Nāgārjuna in particular are often labeled as engaging in mysticism. In this lecture, Matilal argues that if we want to use this label, we must at least admit that this mysticism is illuminated by rigorous logical argument.Comment: In a class that discusses Nāgārjuna, this text helps both with the interpretation of the text itself as well as to engage with the pitfalls of a Western perception of the text, including our inclination to view Eastern texts as "exotic" and not fully philosophical.
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Added by: Tammo LossauAbstract:
The Chao Lun (ca. 400 CE) is the main philosophical work of the Chinese Buddhist monk Sēngzhào, a student of Kumārajīva who first translated major Buddhist philosophical works like those of Nāgārjuna into Chinese. Sēngzhào develops a metaphysical conception of time according to which time is not real. What instead exists are an array of entirely static worlds - "time slices" in modern parlance (Sēngzhào's views are an early example of a "B-theory" of time). Our selves are being moved from one world to the next, creating an illusion of progression and things like causation. For Sēngzhào, enlightenment can be found by simply remaining in the present, not moving on to the next state. Sēngzhào leans both on Buddhist and on Daoist influences, but also develops an epistemologically less radical view in chapter 3 that, unlike those of Nāgārjuna and Zhuangzi, cannot be associated with skepticism.
Comment: The book can be read in three sessions as a whole. It is also possible to read single chapters, especially chapter 1 in a course on the philosophy of time. For a better understanding of that chapter, it is helpful to understand Nāgārjuna's conception of Nirvana as an extratemporal state achieved through meditation - a resource for this can be the final two chapters of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.