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Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Convention and agency in the philosophies of the Mahayana Mattia Salvini Dept, of Study of Religions School of Oriental and African Studies Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Ph.D. Thesis Degree 1 Abstract The thesis focuses on the relationship between Sanskrit classical grammar, Abhidharma, and the debates between Madhyamaka and Yogcicara . In particular, it shows how the karaka system, and the idea of laksana, influence philosophical argumentation in the context of medieval Indian Buddhist thought. The karaka system is the way in which classical Sanskrit grammarians discuss syntax, and in particular, actions and agency. Laksana means a defining trait, or a definition, at once a scholastic tool and a fundamental way to identify existent entities. There are five Chapters and two Appendices. Chapter One shows the close links between Sanskrit classical grammar and basic ideas in Buddhist thought, and isolates the karaka system as being most relevant in this regard. It also show-S' certain structural analogies between the karaka system and certain important features of Buddhist philosophy. Chapter Two is mostly based on Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakosabhasya and its sub-commentary; it highlights and reconstructs the discussions on laksana and agency found therein. Chapter Three shows how Madhyamaka understands similar issues, and what is the proper context and significance of its refutation of laksanas. Chapter Four shifts the focus upon the Madhyamaka understanding of conventional truths, and the role of the laksanas of Abhidharma, as well as of the karaka system, within sariri rti) Chapter Five compares the Yogdcdra views on the very same topics. Appendix 1 is a translation of Prajnakaramati’s commentary to Bodhicaryavatara 9.1-34, a work where many of the philosophical debates discussed throughout the thesis are well represented. Appendix 2 is a photographic reproduction of a manuscript, containing an anonymous commentary to Nagarjuna’s LokatTtastava. 2 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 8 Acknowledgements 12 Chapter 1 Sanskrit Grammar and Buddhism 14 1.1 Language analysis: nirukti and vyakarana 17 1.2 Panini 20 1.3 Buddhist grammarians 21 1.4 Defining ‘grammar’ 24 1.4.1 Sabddnusasana 25 1.4.2 Vyakarana 28 1.4.3 Sastra 29 1.4.4 Sutra, yoga 32 1.4.5 Laksana 34 1.4.6 Grammar as Sabdavidya, in the training of a Bodhisattva 35 1.5 The Karaka system 39 1.5.1 Vibhakti and karaka 39 1.5.2 What a karaka is 42 1.5.3 Primary karakas 4 5 1.5.4 The autonomous agent 48 1.5.5 What the agent most wishes for: karman 53 1.5.6 Kasika, and Jinendrabuddhi: tathayuktam campstitam 57 3 1.6 The primary karakas and Buddhism 59 1.6.1The karaka system and basic Buddhist thought: selflessness 60 1.6.2 The karaka system and the Mahayana: the purification of the three spheres 62 1.7 Continued agency and dependent arising 63 1.7.1 The Abhidharmakosabhasya on pratltyasamutpdda 66 1.7.2 The debate in the prasannapada 68 1.7.3 Madhyamika authors: more on the same issue 69 1.8 Conclusion 72 Chapter 2 Abhidharma as a dictionary: the world in Buddhist terms 74 2.1 Dharma : what upholds its own laksana 79 2.1.1 The four laksanas of all compounded factors 80 2.1.2 The laksanas and sahabhuhetu 87 2.1.3 Sautrantika criticism of the four laksanas 89 2.1.4 On definitions and characteristics: beyond the four laksanas 94 2.2 The seer and the knower: identifying the synchronic agent 101 2.2.1 Caksuh pasyati rupani 102 2.2.2 Kartr and kriya as analytical categories 108 2.2.3 A counter-position, on agency 113 2.2.4 Agents and conventional persons: a passage from thepudgalaviniscaya section 115 2.3 ‘Self as indirect reference 119 2.4 Conclusion 120 4 Chapter 3 Laksanas and the emptiness of laksanas 122 3.1 The LokdtTtastava and the Heart Sutra\ emptiness as lack of characteristics 124 3.1.2 From the aggregates to their emptiness 125 3.1.3 The meaning of autonomy and the absence of God 129 3.1.4 Beyond the world, beyond characteristics 132 3.2 Candraklrti and laksanas 134 3.2.1 The basic status of laksana and laksya 135 3.2.2 Applying the dialectic to a specific instance: the four conditions (pratyayas ) 138 3.2.3 The example of space 141 3.3 Candraklrti and the Vaibhdsika-Sautrdntika divide: instants and the emptiness of laksanas 144 3.3.1 Madhyamaka versus the laksanas of all compounded factors 146 3.3.2 Does disappearance exist? 147 3.3.3 Candraklrti and momentariness 150 3.3.4 Candraklrti’s conventions: Vaibhdsika or Sautrantikal 151 Chapter 4 Conventions, the world, and Madhyamaka 156 4.1 Samvrti and Paramartha: Candraklrti and Prajnakaramati 158 4.2 Identity and difference between Madhyamikas and cowherds: Abhidharma and Vyakarana 164 4.2.1 Candraklrti on the svalaksana and Prajnakaramati on svasamvedana 168 4.2.2 Are Mddhyamikas ‘satisfied with no analysis’ ? 175 4.2.3 More on Candraklrti and karakas 181 4.3 Identity and difference between Mddhyamikas and Cdrvakas. Paraloka, karman, and the origin of vijnana The meaning of pratipattrbheda 185 4.4 A system of graded samvrtisatya 189 4.4.1 Candraklrti and graded conventions 191 4.4.2 Three levels of teachings 191 4.4.3 Analysing space into emptiness: atoms 198 4.4.4 Santideva and Prajnakaramati: conventions and momentariness 199 4.5 Conclusions 210 Chapter 5 Comparisons with the Yogacara 211 5.1 Twenty Verses: vijnaptimdtratd as an Abhidharmic argument 212 5.1.1 The main thesis of Verse 1 212 5.1.2 An alternative translation 217 5.1.3 The proper locus of dependent arising 220 5.1.4 Real referents of a metaphor: a comparison with the Thirty Verses 223 5.2 The importance of laksanas 227 5.2.1 The first Chapter of the Madhyantavibhaga 228 5.2.2 What has laksanas, and what has the laksana of no-laksana 230 5.3 Karakas and the irriducibility of consciousness 231 5.3.1 Consciousness as an action without agent or object 232 5.3.2 A passage from Asanga, on action and agents 235 5.3.3 A note on Santaraksita’s position 237 5.4 The role of momentariness in Yogacara 239 5.5 Conclusion 242 Conclusion 244 Appendix 1 | Santideva’s Bodhicaryavatara, 9.1-34 with Prajnakaramati ’ s Panjika: English Translation 251 Note on the Translation 252 The importance of Praj nakaramati ’ s commentary 25 6 Appendix 2 | Reproduction of a Devanagan manuscript containing Nagaijuna’s Lokatltastava, together with an anonymous commentary 336 Bibliography 341 7 Introduction In this thesis, I intend to look at certain aspects of Indian Buddhist thought by showing their interrelatedness and continuity. The aspects I will focus upon are: defining traits, in the technical sense corresponding to the Sanskrit laksana ; syntactical analysis as a presupposition and pivot for philosophical debate; and the issues of conventions, and levels of reference in philosophical language. In particular, I shall argue that classical Sanskrit grammar bears upon central concerns of Buddhism; and that the manner in which these are discussed in the Abhidharma, in turn, bears upon their handling in Madhyamaka , and its differences from Yogacara. The originality of this approach mainly lies in the consistent attention towards what is not always explicitly thematised by classical authors, and not fully drawn out in the secondary literature: which is, a good many debates within a wide range of Buddhist literature revolve around the proper formation and usage of defining traits (laksanas); and, they are closely intertwined with a specific understanding of actions and agency, in the grammatical sense embodied by the karaka system. It may come as a surprise that even central debates between Madhyamaka and Yogacara become more comprehensible against this background, and that this does help understanding their respecting positions (even putting into question the plausibility and comprehensiveness of certain available reconstructions). To explain in brief: I try in this thesis to bring to the fore recurring elements ( laksana and karaka ) in Buddhist thought, which I think the classical authors considered too obvious to spell out; these elements have also not been consistently analysed by modern secondary literature, perhaps for that very reason. What I have taken as my central concerns appears in much scholarly work solely within the marginal attention of very brief footnotes. The implication of this is, first of all, that much of Buddhist philosophical literature can be seen through an added light; and more broadly, the thesis will suggest a link between language and sentiency/intentionality, which may be worth even further consideration. The risk in this type of holistic approach is to start from certain generalised ideas and further speculate away from the actual concerns of the texts.