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The Notion of Verification in Early Buddhism

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The Notion of Verification in Early Buddhism View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ScholarBank@NUS THE NOTION OF VERIFICATION IN EARLY BUDDHISM S. PEMARATHANA NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2004 THE NOTION OF VERIFICATION IN EARLY BUDDHISM S. PEMARATHANA (B.A. (Hons), University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS TO DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2004 Acknowledgements I was able to complete this research owing to various supports and encouragements that I received from many people. I would like to express my appreciation to a number of people who had significant roles in helping me complete this research. First of all, I am extremely grateful to National University of Singapore for granting me the award of tuition fee waiver which enabled me to pursue my studies without burden. I am also grateful to Bodhiraja Buddhist Society and its religious advisor Dr. Omalpe Sobhita Thero for providing me necessary material and spiritual support throughout my stay in Singapore. I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. S.N. Tagore for his patient guidance and encouragements which showed me the way through to complete my thesis. His constructive criticisms and intellectual stimulations were greatly helpful in my academic exercise. I owe a special thank to Mr. Piya Tan for his kind and painstaking assistance in the proof reading of my thesis. I am also grateful to Kim Hak Ze, a close friend, for his encouragement and guidance in difficult times of my writing. I also owe my gratitude to Prof. P.D. Premasiri, Ven. Dr. Pategama Gnanarama, Professor emeritus Y. Karunadasa, and Prof. Asanga Tilakaratna for their advices, encouragements and inspirations given to me. My appreciation also goes to my colleagues Ven.S. Wimala, Islam F.M. Zamirul, and to my friends Ven. Sritantradeva, Helen Ong, Natalie Claringbull for their various supports. I am also thankful to all the staff members of the Department of Philosophy for their friendliness and cheerful attitudes. S. Pemarathana i Summary Early Buddhism offered a new orientation to the philosophical discussions in early Indian thought. It made a significant contribution particularly to the field of epistemological discussions. It proposes a process of individual verification of empirical world which is necessary for achieving its aimed end, the freedom from suffering. This exemplified notion of verification in early Buddhism has been interpreted mainly by K.N. Jayatilleke and Frank J. Hoffman. Jayatilleke interprets this notion as akin to western empiricist tradition. Hoffman argues against Jayatilleke and identifies this notion as based on religious experience in the sense analogous to that of Western theistic religions. Both interpretations, in my judgment, do not capture the full significance of the early Buddhist verification. Both scholars remarkably have failed to recognize a fundamental aspect of the early Buddhist notion of verification, that is, its deconstructive nature, due to their overdependence on preconceived Western categories in their interpretations. In the early Buddhist perspective sensory experience is a construct embedded in various factors of human personality and, therefore, the early Buddhist verification of empirical reality is predominantly deconstructive in nature, that is, verification in early Buddhism requires an analytical deconstruction of embedded layers of experience. ii Abbreviations A. Anguttara-nikāya, ed. R. Morris and E. Hardy, 5 vols., London: PTS,1885-1900 C.D.B. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, (Tr.)Bhikkhu Bodhi, Wisdom publication, London, 2000 D Digha-nikāya, ed. T.W. Rhys David and J.E. carpenter, 3 vols, London: PTS, 1890-1911 E.B.T.K. Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, London: George Allen and Unwin, 1963 It. Itivuttaka, ed. E. Windish, London: PTS, 1889. L.D.B. The Long Discourses of the Buddha, (Tr.) Maurice Walshe, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, 1996 M Magghima-nikaya, ed. V. Trenckner and R. Chalmers, 3 vols, London: PTS, 1887-1901 M.L.D.B.The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, (Tr.) Bhikkhu Bodhi and Nanamoli Thera, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, 1995 P.E.D. Pali- English Dictionary (ed.) T.W.Rhys Davids & William Stede, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1993 (London: PTS,1925) PTS The Pail Text Society R.M.E.B. Rationality and Mind in Early Buddhism, Delhi: Motilal Barnarsidas, 1987 iii S. Samyutta-nikāya, ed. L. Feer, 6 vols, London: PTS, 1884-1904 Sn Sutta-nipāta, ed. D. Anderson and H. Smith, London: PTS, 1913. Ud Udana, ed. P. Steinthal, London: PTS, 1948. NB. All Pāli references are to the Pali Text Society (PTS) editions. Unless otherwise mentioned, translations have been adapted from the translation works of Nanamoli Thera, Nyanaponika Thera, Bhikkhu Bodhi and Maurice Walshe. Digha- nikāya: Maurice Walshe, The Long Discourses of the Buddha, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, 1996 Majjhima-nikāya: Bhikkhu Bodhi and Nanamoli Thera, The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, 1995 Samyutta-nikāya: Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, Wisdom publication, London, 2000 Anguttara-nikāya: Bhikkhu Bodhi and Nyanaponika Thera, Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, 1999 iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements i Summary ii Abbreviations iii Contents v Introduction 1 Chapter One: Two Interpretations of the Early Buddhist Notion of Verification 13 1.1 What is early Buddhism? 13 1.2 The Notion of Verification 18 1.2 Jayatilleke’s Treatment 19 1.3 Hoffman’s Critique 31 Chapter Two: Limitations of Two Interpretations 38 2.1 Critique of Jayatilleke’s Interpretation 39 2.1.1 The Process of Sensory Knowledge 42 2.1.2 Contrast Between Early Buddhism and Empiricism 50 2.1.3 The Overlooked Aspect of the Early Buddhist Notion of Verification 54 2.2 Critique of Hoffman’s Interpretation 55 2.2.1 The Process of Samannesanā 57 2.2.2 Religious Experience 68 2.3 Evaluation 75 Chapter Three: Embeddedness of Conceptual Knowledge 76 3.1 The Proliferating Tendency of The Mind 77 3.2 Inner Urges 82 3.3 The Core of Views 88 3.4 Embeddedness of Meditative Experiences 91 Chapter Four: Deconstructive Nature of Early Buddhist Verification 97 4.1 The Latter Phase of Verification 98 4.2 Higher Modes of Knowledge 104 4.3 Meditative Experiences 113 4.4 Nibbanic Experience 120 4.5 Gradual Deconstruction 122 4.6 Articulation of Some Differences 124 Chapter Five: Conclusion 128 Bibliography 137 v Introduction Since the last decades of 19th century, it has been possible for the intellectual raditions of both East and West to encounter each other. This cross-cultural encounter has created the possibility of seeing similarities across the traditions and to interpret and evaluate one’s own in relation to the other. In the case of Buddhism, the Buddhist literature, particularly the Pāli canon, has been available for Western scholars thanks mainly to accumulated English translations.1 Native scholars in the countries where Buddhism has been predominant were also exposed to Western intellectual traditions. With this encounter comparative studies between Buddhism and Western thought started. In the early stages of comparative studies the emphasis was more on similarities and compatibilities between Buddhism and Western philosophy. These comparative studies revealed that Buddhism had explored many of the seemingly same basic questions that had been dealt with in the Western philosophical context and had articulated the answers to those questions in its own way. Moreover those studies tried to explain the Buddhist teachings in terms of the ‘isms’ of philosophy i.e. empiricism, idealism etc.2 Following the above trend there emerged another strand of comparative thinking that highlighted the incompatibilities of Buddhism with Western philosophy proper. 1 T.W. Rhys Davids was the pioneer in making Pāli canon available for western scholars by establishing Pali Text Society in London in 1881for translating Pali literature into English. 2 Beside Jayatilleke see A.K. Warder (empiricism), Indian Buddhism (Delhi, 1980[1970]) p. 299 ff., Bhattācharya V. (rationalism), The Basic Conception of Buddhism (Calcutta, 1934) p.9ff, A.B. Keith (naïve realism) Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon, (New York, 1974 [1922]) p. 53ff. For some observations in this regard see G. Chataline, “Early Indian Buddhism and the Nature of Philosophy: A Philosophical Investigation”, in Journal of Indian Philosophy Vol. 11 (1983), pp. 167-222 1 These studies argued that early comparative thinking had ‘strait-jacketed’ Buddhism into a preconceived philosophical framework distorting its unique character. These works show that there are other important features of Buddhism that were ignored in interpreting Buddhism purely in ‘philosophical’ terms. It is noteworthy that some of these studies with their emphasis on the ‘non-rational’ character of Buddhism critiqued the philosophical interpretations and comfortably interpreted through another Western category, namely, “religion”. K.N. Jayatilleke (Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, 1963) seems to represent the first movement while Frank. J. Hoffman (Rationality and Mind in Early Buddhism, 1987) seems to fall within the particular group of the subsequent trend which interprets Buddhism as analogous to “what we should call religion in the West.” Interestingly both scholars base their studies on Buddhism represented in Pāli canon, which is often called “early Buddhism.” It seems that
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