Kamalaśīla’s Theory of Vipaśyanā: An Exposition and Philosophical Defense Public
Schmid, Karl (Summer 2020)
Published
Abstract
This dissertation is an exposition and philosophical defense of the theory of vipaśyanā (insight meditation), as presented by the eighth-century Indian Buddhist Kamalaśīla in his triad of practice manuals, The Process of Meditation (Bhāvanākrama I, II, III). In the dissertation, I explain what vipaśyanā is, how it functions, and why one should practice it. In The Process of Meditation, Kamalaśīla depicts vipaśyanā as a method for developing new recognitional capacities, used for the purpose of soteriological and ethical development. Through vipaśyanā, the practitioner learns how to recognize in phenomena particular properties, such as impermanence (anitya), mind-only (cittamātra), and emptiness (śūnyatā). According to Kamalaśīla’s philosophy of mind, vipaśyanā accomplishes this by facilitating a form of ascertainment (niścaya) that directly follows a perceptual encounter. Despite the fact that, intuitively, it seems as though we cannot perceive the properties supposedly perceived through vipaśyanā, I argue that some of these properties are already conveyed in the content of our perceptual experience. In addition, I show how the perception of these properties can be explained on one contemporary theory of perception, namely the theory of perception presented by Wilfrid Sellars. On the Buddhist account, these new recognitional capacities transform the practitioner’s experience of the world, and develop the practitioner ethically by removing their morally dysfunctional dispositions (kleśa). This remedies the practitioner’s existential suffering, and undercuts an innate form of egoism.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION - 1
CHAPTER 1: KAMALAŚĪLA, THE PROCESS OF MEDITATION, AND THE PATH - 8
1. Introduction - 8
2. The Life of Kamalaśīla - 10
3. The Yogācāra-Madhyamaka Synthesis - 12
4. Other Relevant Distinctions in Buddhist Philosophy - 25
5. Gradualists and Suddenists in the Debate at Samyé - 27
6. Locating Vipaśyanā on the Buddhist Path - 33
7. Conclusion - 45
CHAPTER 2: WAYS OF KNOWING - 47
1. Introduction - 47
2. Procedural and Declarative Knowledge - 50
3. Three Characteristics of Vipaśyanā - 52
4. The Discovery Account - 58
5. The Three Knowledges - 64
6. Conclusion - 74
CHAPTER 2 APPENDIX: ON PROCEDURAL AND DECLARATIVE KNOWLEDGE - 77
1. Introduction - 77
2. Distinctions between Knowledge-how and Knowledge-that - 79
3. What Knowledge-how Consists In - 85
4. Knowledge-how and Procedural knowledge - 92
5. Conclusion - 95
CHAPTER 3: A PRAMĀṆAVĀDA THEORY OF VIPAŚYANĀ - 97
1. Introduction- 97
2. Perception and Concept Formation - 99
3. Direct Perceptual Ascertainment and Contrary Concepts - 106
4. Habituation and Cognitive Imprints - 116
5. Intrinsically and Extrinsically Epistemic Perceptions - 121
6. Conclusion - 133
CHAPTER 3 APPENDIX: DIAGRAMS ON PERCEPTION AND CONCEPT FORMATION - 135
1. Perception and Perceptual Error - 135
2. Before Practicing Vipaśyanā - 136
3. After Practicing Vipaśyanā - 137
CHAPTER 4: A DEFENSE OF VIPAŚYANĀ - 138
1. Introduction - 138
2. The Perceptual Experience of Mind-Only - 143
2.1 The Rich Content View - 143
2.2 An Example of Phenomenal Contrast - 150
2.3 Mind-Only in Perceptual Experience - 155
3.Vipaśyanā on a Sellarsian Theory of Perception - 165
3.1 The Observable and the Theoretical - 165
3.2 Example of the Scientist at the Cloud Chamber - 172
3.2 Sellars’ Two-Ply Theory of Observation - 175
4. Conclusion - 181
CHAPTER 5: VIPAŚYANĀ AND BUDDHIST ETHICS - 184
1. Introduction - 184
2. Dispositions - 187
3. The Antidote to Delusion - 190
4. An Ethics of Experience - 197
5. Vipaśyanā and Egoism - 205
6. Conclusion - 210
BIBLIOGRAPHY - 213
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