Thinking the Unthinkable / Unthinking the Thinkable: Conceptual thought, nonconceptuality, and Gorampa Sonam Senge's Synopsis of Madhyamaka Público
Kassor, Constance E. (2014)
Abstract
The fifteenth-century Sakyapa scholar-monk Gorampa Sonam Senge was a prolific author, but he is most renowned for his philosophical writings on Madhyamaka. His encyclopedic Synopsis of Madhyamaka (dbu ma'i spyi don) has come to represent the mainstream philosophical view of the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, and its arguments continue to be studied in both Sakya and non-Sakya monastic institutions throughout Asia. Gorampa's unique flavor of Madhyamaka is distinguished based on his understanding of the two truths (bden pa gnyis), his methods for employing analysis within the tetralemma (mu bzhi), and his conception of a buddha's enlightened awareness (ye shes). Focusing on these key issues, Gorampa manages to successfully debate with other Mādhyamika thinkers using rational, analytic arguments, while simultaneously employing those rational arguments against the entire project of rational analysis itself. As a result, Gorampa advocates for a philosophical practice by which one utilizes conceptual thought in order to eradicate conceptual thought in its entirety.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Gorampa, the Synopsis, and The Way Things Really Are... 1
Appearances and Reality............................................................................................ 3
A Brief Biography of Gorampa.................................................................................... 7
The Suppression and Resurgence of Gorampa's Texts.......................................... 10
Gorampa's Philosophical Identity and Interlocutors........................................ 15
Situating the Synopsis in Buddhist Scholarship...................................................... 19
Situating Gorampa in University Scholarship........................................................ 21
Approaches to Madhyamaka in Western Philosophy.......................................... 22
Situating Gorampa's Views of Conceptual Thought in Academic Contexts....... 28
The Structure of the Synopsis, and a note on what follows................................ 29
Chapter 2: The Two Truths: The Scaffolding of Madhyamaka.......... 33
The two truths are two realities............................................................................. 34
Gorampa's general presentation of the two truths............................................. 37
Gorampa on the Conventional Truth: What it isn't.............................................. 43
Refutation of the assertion that all conventions are the system of worldly persons........ 50
Refutation of the assertion that the two truths are the systems of ordinary persons and Aryas, respectively 56
Refutation of the assertion that the conventional is neither existent nor nonexistent..... 58
Refutation of the existence of a designation on a nonexistent designated object.......... 61
Gorampa on the Conventional Truth: What it is................................................... 64
Three ways of understanding the conventional: the Svatantrika perspective................ 71
One way of understanding the conventional: the Prasangika perspective.................... 74
Gorampa's way(s) of understanding the conventional................................................ 78
The Ultimate Truth is Beyond Concepts and Language...................................... 83
Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 91
Chapter 3: The Experiential Division Between the Two Truths........... 95
Interpreting Candrakirti.......................................................................................... 97
The Twofold Divisions of the Two Truths........................................................... 106
The Two Truths Structure the Path...................................................................... 112
Tsongkhapa's Ontological Distinction Between the Two Truths................... 119
What's at stake, here? Gorampa and Ontological Deflationism..................... 124
Chapter 4: The Tetralemma: A logical process with a soteriological goal 134
The Tetralemma....................................................................................................... 136
Interpretations of the Tetralemma...................................................................... 143
Analytic Approaches to the Tetralemma.................................................................... 144
Dialetheism and the Tetralemma.............................................................................. 150
Implications of these views........................................................................................ 154
Gorampa on the Tetralemma: Refutation of the Four Extremes Results in spros bral 155
Refutation of the First Extreme.................................................................................. 156
Refutation of the Second Extreme............................................................................. 168
Refutation of the Third Extreme................................................................................ 169
Refutation of the Fourth Extreme.............................................................................. 171
Tsongkhapa on the Tetralemma: Refutation of the Four Extremes Preserves Conceptual Thought 176
Gorampa's Response to Tsongkhapa..................................................................... 181
The Implications of Tetralemmic Analysis.......................................................... 184
Chapter 5: Buddhahood as Knowledge-How.......................................... 187
Buddhahood as Knowledge-how.......................................................................... 189
Madhyamaka as the Path that is to be practiced................................................ 195
Madhyamaka as the Result that is to be realized............................................... 209
Inquiry into whether the two truths exist or do not exist on the buddha ground......... 209
Inquiry into whether appearances exist or do not exist.............................................. 211
Inquiry into whether awareness exists or does not exist.............................................. 214
Inquiry into whether mind and mental factors exist or do not exist............................ 216
Inquiry into whether arising and ceasing exist or do not exist.................................... 217
Competing views: Candrakirti on Buddhahood................................................... 221
Implications and further questions...................................................................... 226
Chapter 6: Conclusion....................................................................................... 231
The View of No-View................................................................................................. 232
A note on the conventional.................................................................................... 235
Gorampa the Madhyamika(?).................................................................................. 237
Appendix: Topical Outline of the Synopsis................................................. 244
Bibliography........................................................................................................... 253
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