R. K. Payne

Early Buddhism.: A Conversation with David I. Kalupahana

By Richard K. Payne, InstilJJte of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, CA

Several years ago I had Ibe pleasure of lalking wilb David I. Kalupahana of !he Phi­ losophy Department at !he Univemty of Hawaii. Dr. Kalupahana is a scholar specializing in early Buddhist lboughL He has authored many worlcs including Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism; Buddhist Philosophy, A Historical Analysis, Nagarjuna: The Philosophy of /be Middle Way; and The Princjples of Buddhist Psychology. The follow­ ing is a summary of the points Dr. Kalupahana made during our conversation. Comments of my own are included as footnotes.

he philosophy of Buddhism as it is often mystification, and it is mystification which many T presented is aclWllly not Ibe original, but Americans are rejecting in religion today. ratha a later scholastic development. For ex­ Unlike both other Indian religions and !he ample,lbae is !he idea of momentariness,ahateve­ majority of Western Ibinking, Buddhism is nol rything is in a constant state of change from one oriented IOward an Absolute of any kind.' Thae is moment to !he next and Ihat continuity ofexistence no Absolute Truth, no Absolute God, no Absolute from one moment to !he next is only illusory. This Elbic and no Absolutely Certain Knowledge. In its idea, while central to almost all of later Buddhist ethics early Buddhism is essentially situational. In philosophy, is not found in !he earliest strata of its metaphysics early Buddhism deflDeS causality Buddhist literature, j.e., Ibe sutras (PaIi: suttas) simply as !he conditioning faclOrs and !heir results: retained in !he Pali canon.' Rather, it comes into being laterwith the developmClltoftheAbbidharma. When this is present, ahat comes 10 be; from In OIlIer words, it is part of the effort to devise a !he arising of Ibis, ahat arises. When Ibis is consistent philosophic position out of !he sayings absent, ahat does not come 10 be; on the of the Buddha. cessation of this, that ceases.' This difference between what is recorded in !he sutras and what is presented in the Abhidharma In !he epistemology of early Buddhism and laICC Buddhist philosophas, highlights !he the only absolutely certain knowledge is the importance of starting one's sludy of Buddhism certainty that one wbo has entaed the stream with the sutras Ibemselves. This is particularly true will attain enlightenment. But hae we are deal­ for Americans. It is Ibe teachings of early Bud­ ing with a personal determination to achieve a dhism which have the greatest relevancy for the result, rather than the ability to predicl the future modem world. Contemporary thinking is essen­ outcome of some evenL tially naturalistic as a result of !he influence of Ibe The practical nature of early Buddhism is scientific world-view. Early Buddhism is itself reflected in its understanding of the highest form practical and empirical in ways which are dis­ of knowledge. This is "knowledge of the cessation tinctly comparable to contemporary thoughL Early of defilements." This knowledge is based on an Buddhism does not have !he sort of transcendental understanding of Ibe conditioned nature of being. orientation which has led so many religions inlO Not momentariness, bul ralber a much more

The Pacific World 94 New &nu. No.7, 1991 R. K.hyne humanly scaled allainmenC an understanding that the ability 10 speak 10 people in today's world who everything which exists is existent because of are looking for a form of religiosity which can causes. reach directly inlO their daily experience. Schol­ The idea of a transcendental insight inlO the arly abilities -hislOrical, linguistic and philo­ non-dual nature of reality only takes primacy over sophic - can facilitate our attempts 10 recover the the earlier "knowledge of the cessation of defile­ content of early Buddhism for our own use, and for ments" when mysticism begins 10 arise within the sake of others. Buddhism. If anything, the pnIcticaiity of early Buddhism is antimystical. There are, for example, FOOTNOTES two cases recorded in the sutras where monks are led 10 suicidal despair because of a lack of mystical I. This emphasis on the sutras indicates that experiences. Yet the sutras make it quite clear that Kalupahana is not discussing any mythical ''Pri­ their enlightenment is in no way dependent upon ma! Buddhism," the quest for which can result the generation of any special experiences. more in the free reign of the investigalOr's imagi­ This attitude is likewise 10 be found in the nation than in any substantial information. (See G. understanding of Ibe nature of language. The Pali R. Welbon's The Buddhist Nirvana. and Its West­ term used 10 describe language is one which ern Interpreters, Chicago: University of Chicago simply means "conventional." The Sanskrit word, Press, 1968, pp. 240 10 247.) Rather he is talking although apparently a cognate, has a different about the actual record of Buddhist teachings and connotation. In Sanskrit the meaning is ''to cover the differing positions within it which result from up." Thus, the Pali indicates that language arises its hislOrical development. conventionally, out of shared use, rather than 2. It is this aspect which makes Buddhism giving the impression that there is some Absolute so comparable 10 existentialism and phenomenol­ Reality which is hidden from us by language. ogy. The practical and straightforward, almost 3. Quoted from Buddhist Philosophy, mundane, nature of early Buddhism was itself Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii ,1976, p. 28. covered over in at least two stages. Abhidharma See also Kalupahana's Causality, (Honolulu: Uni­ systematization tried 10 make of the Buddha's versity Press of Hawaii, 1975) pp. 90ff for a teachings a philosophic structure - logically thorough discussion of Ibis traditional formula. coherent and defensible. Later, Buddhaghosa in­ 4. H. V. Guenther has also mentioned this. troduces Mahayana and proIO-Mahayana ideas See his Philosophy and Psychology in the inlO what becomes the Sinhalese/Theravadin Bud­ Abhidharma, Baltimore: Penguin, 1971, p. 193 in dhism oftoday.4Indeed, his major work, ThePllIh particular, as well as elsewhere throughout that ofPurification (Visuddhi Mllgga), can virtually be texL read as a Yogacara texL Early Buddhism, however, is very immedi­ ate, personal and human. As such, its message has

The hcilic W... /d 95 New Serie4, No.7. 1991