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THE CULT of EMPTINESS Buddhism Series the CULT of EMPTINESS THE CULT OF EMPTINESS Buddhism Series THE CULT OF EMPTINESS TheWestern Discovery of Buddhist Thought and the Invention of Oriental Philosophy UrsApp UNIVERSITyMEDIA 2012 Copyright © 2012 UniversityMedia, Rorschach! Kyoto www.universitymedia.org All rights reserved. Printed on acid-free and lignin-free paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data App, Urs, 1949- TheCult of Emptiness: TheWe stern Discovery of Buddhist Thought and the Invention of Oriental Philosophy.! Urs App. p. cm. - (UniversityMedia, Buddhism Series) Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-3-906000-09-1 (acid-free paper) 1. Philosophy-History-16th century-17th century. 2. Buddhism-Zen-Philosophy-History. 3. Europe-Intellectual life-16th century-17th century. 4. Japan-China -India-Philosophy-Religion. 5. Orientalism-Europe-History-16th century-17th century. 1. Title. ISBN 978-3-906000-09-1 (hardcover) To my friends Steven Antinoff& Naomi Maeda Contents Preface 1 List of Figures 6 List of Tables 7 PART I: SIXTEENTH CENTURY 9 Chapter 1: Translation Hazards 11 Chapter 2: The ZenShock 23 Chapter 3: TheBuddha 's Progress 33 Chapter 4: Chaos and the God of Zen 41 Chapter 5: Valignano's Lectures and Catechism 51 Chapter 6: Buddhist Philosophy 61 Chapter 7: God's Samadhi 77 PART II: SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 89 Chapter 8: Oriental Ur-Philosophy (Rodrigues) 91 Chapter 9: Pan-Asian Religion (Kircher) 111 Chapter 10: Buddha's Deathbed Confession 129 Chapter 11: TheCommon Ground (Navarrete) 145 Chapter 12: Pan-Asian Philosophy (Bernier) 161 Chapter 13: TheMerger (Le Clerc & Bernier) 175 Chapter 14: From Pagan to Oriental Philosophy 187 Chapter 15: Philosophical Archaeology (Burnet) 199 Chapter 16: Zoroaster's Lie (Jacob Thomasius) 209 Chapter 17: Ur-Spinozism (Bayle) 219 Bibliography 239 Index 257 Preface hereas the discovery by Europeans of the continents of W our earth has been the subject of countless studies and its protagonists (such as Columbus) are universally known, research on the European discovery of our globe's "spiritual continents"­ its religions and philosophies-is still in its infancy. The Christian We st's discovery of Asia's largest religion and fount of philosophies, Buddhism, is a case in point: though it triggered one of the most significantand influential spiritualand cultural encounters in world history, even the most basic questions remain unanswered. What did Europeans firstlear n about Buddhist thought? When and where did this discovery take place and who was involved in it? What did We sterners learn about Buddhist and related philosophies of Asia, how did they understand or misunderstand them, and what were the repercussions of such discoveries in Europe? While trying to find answers to such questions I kept coming across references to a single "Oriental philosophy." I vividly remem­ ber my first encounter with this strange creature. In the process of tracing Schopenhauer's Oriental sources in the Schopenhauer Archive in Frankfurt in the mid-1990s, I was struck by a note the young philosopher had scribbled into his copy of a Latin translation of the Upanishads-India's seminal philosophical texts-that had been published in 1801 under the title of Oupnelihat: 1 THE CULT OF EMPTINESS (E:rplicatioprtl:'CljJllOrlLln 1.}(;l'bOJ'Uln samskl'eticol'Uln, glUe in OUPNE1{'HAT adhibentllr.) '[ 1 ,JJ •.·.·B�'�""',A".l 'll14" Olr • I j ctPranou etiam nomen ipsum hoc est, 'id cst, obsignata C'· I ens seen� '!..2. (cla;��\'(1,·:fi�;·;�) laei tao :U;/,- e Brahm: creator; FIG. 1: SCHOPENHAUER'S NOTES IN AN�ETIL-DUPERRON'S OUPNEK'HAT (AN�ETIL 1801, VO L. 1,:7) Theline that startled me begins with the sacred Indian word 0 UM that translator Anquetil-Duperron equated with God (Deus). That Schopenhauer would replace Anquetil's "Deus" by "Brahm" was to be expected; but what in the world had "Omitto" to do with the Indian Upanishads, some of which are older than Buddhism? Hav­ ing specialized in Chinese and Japanese religions, I gathered that "Omitto" refers to the Buddha of InfiniteLi ght Amitiibhawho is known in Japan as Amida and in China as Amituo. Thenote indi­ cated by Schopenhauer's handwritten cross-reference ("p. 15, not. 2") confirmed this. But Anquetil's fo otnote to "Deus;' which at­ tempted to explain why OUM is the equivalent of God, led to even more confusion since it fu rnished an explanation linking Omitto to the Egyptian god Phta. What was going on here? How did China's Omitto Buddha end up in the firstEur opean Upanishad translation as the equivalent of the sacred word 0 UM, the Hindu Brahman, the Judeo-Christian God, and the Egyptian god Phta? Both my conster­ nation and my interest grew when I read in Anquetil's long introduc­ tion that the Books of Solomon, the ancient ChineseJings (classics), the sacred Indian Ve das, and the Persian Zend Avesta all transmit "the same dogma" (1801:viii) and that this doctrine "made its way, under the name of doctrina orienta/is, from India to Persia, and from 2 Preface Persia to the Greeks and Romans" (p. cviii). In support of this thesis, Anquetil cited numerous European historians of philosophy assert­ ing the existence of an extremely ancient "Oriental philosophy." Since I had spent half of my life in Asia and studied a few Asian languages and philosophies, I knew very well that there is no single "Oriental philosophy" in existence, just as there is no single "Orien­ tal language" or "Oriental cooking." Thishad to be a We stern inven­ tion. I also knew from my research on the European discovery of Asian religions that a similar invention-the idea of a single "Ori­ ental religion"-played a crucial role in the pre-modern European perception of Asia and the genesis of modern orientalism.1 So: how and by whom was this "Oriental philosophy" invented, what is its connection with Buddhism and other Asian as well as European re­ ligions and thought systems, and what role did this invention play in the European encounter with Asia? As I fo llowed traces of this strange creature from the nineteenth century back in time, I kept encountering characterizations of a common "inner" doctrine of this philosophy that had an unmistak­ able scent of Zen Buddhism. Thanks in large measure to my friends Steven Antinoffand Naomi Maeda I had in my twenties begun to study this particular fo rm of Buddhism (called Zen in Japan, Son in Korea, Chan in China, and Thien in Vietnam) and subsequently spent a good part of my academic career exploring various facets of it. Since this happens to be the fo rm of Buddhism popular with elites in Japan, China, and Vietnam when European missionaries firstexplored Asian religions and philosophies during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, such knowledge was a crucial asset fo r the journey to the roots of Anquetil's "doctrina orientalis." This book deals with the seeding stage from mid-sixteenth century Japan to the turn of the eighteenth century when this flower of imagina­ tion took root in the main hotbeds of pre-Enlightenment Europe, Holland and France. Perhaps more importantly, this book presents 1 Urs App, TheBirth of Orientalism. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010. 3 THE CULT OF EMPTINESS a completely new vision of Europe's discovery of Buddhism and for the first time describes the protagonists and most influentialsources of the early phase of this momentous encounter between East and We st. In my youth I had been fascinated by tales about famous explor­ ers of our globe. Thevoyage of discovery that led to this book was as long, adventurous, and full of surprises as the exploits of the he­ roes of my childhood. I was fortunate to be accompanied by my wife Monica Esposito whose love, curiosity, learning, and sense of hu­ mor were a constant source of inspiration and joy. My thanks must also go to my Capucin teachers at the Collegium St. Antonius in Appenzell (Switzerland) whose lessons in Latin, Greek, and scho­ lastic philosophy bore such strange and exotic fruit, and to a long line of teachers ofJapanese, classical Chinese, and other languages as well as a large and colorful collection of Zen masters, philosophers, university professors, historians, librarians, and living as well as de­ ceased relatives and friends. I am especially indebted to my mentors in philology, the late Profs. Seizan Yanagida and Yo shitaka Iriya, to Prof Richard DeMartino, to my generous brother Pius App, and to those who most helped me cope with the sudden passing of my wife as the redaction of this book was in its final stages: Drs. Adriana and Valerio Pozza-Esposito, my son Alexander Huwyler, Rev. Taizan Egami and his family, Mark Thomas, Dr. Christian Wittern, A. J. Dickinson, Dr. Alexander and Ursula Ilg, Dr. Filippo and Paola Pan­ zuto, my little granddaughter Leila, and Momo. Inline references consisting only of page numbers always refer to the last full reference. Unless a translator is indicated, all quotations from sources with non-English titles were translated into English by me. Thelett ers "v" or "r" afterpa ge numbers signify recto (front of page) and verso (back). I made an effort to faithfully reproduce spellings of historical sources, fo r example the "u" and "v" of Latin and old Italian, or old English and French orthography ("perswade;' "premiere;' "vuide") that might seem erroneous to modern readers. 4 Preface Unless otherwise indicated, all tables and illustrations are by me or reproduce materials fr om my private library. Chinese characters written in "short" fo rms in the original texts are reproduced as such. Themixture of "short" and "long" forms is thus not due to oversight. In order to facilitate study, I decided to structure the index at the end of this volume by themes as well as by alphabet.
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