Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: April 12, 2021 at 8:41:05 PM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Buddhism]: Dessein on Rafal, 'Buddhist Literature > as Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy as Literature' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Stepien K. Rafal, ed. Buddhist Literature as Philosophy, Buddhist > Philosophy as Literature. Albany State University of New York > Press, 2020. 336 pp. $95.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-4384-8071-8. > > Reviewed by Bart Dessein (Ghent University) > Published on H-Buddhism (April, 2021) > Commissioned by Ben Van Overmeire > > From the observation that the academic field of Buddhology has been > forced into a Western-biased paradigm according to which one either > "does literature" or "does philosophy," and that such an approach > does injustice to the rich content and content-related style of > Buddhist texts that, typically, present "Buddhist philosophical > thought in highly wrought literary form," _Buddhist Literature as > Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy as Literature_, a volume edited by > Rafal K. Stepien, invites the reader to engage with Buddhist texts in > a different way. (In his introduction to the volume, Stepien speaks > of a "simultaneously critical and constructive mandate" [p. 5]). That > the common Western approach to strictly follow the "philosophy versus > literature" dichotomy threatens to obscure a lot of the peculiarities > and the richness of Buddhist texts is related to what Ralph Weber > characterized as the "precomparative nature" of the "tertium > comparationis."[1] In standard conceptualizations of comparison, four > aspects are involved: a comparison is always done by someone, at > least two _relata _(_comparata_) are compared, the _comparata_ are > compared in some respect (_tertium comparationis_), and the result of > a comparison is a relation between the _comparata _on the basis of > the chosen respect. Not only is a _tertium _already required to > determine the _comparata_, but it is, unavoidably, also determined by > the specific historical/cultural context of the comparer who is at > once border-circumscribed and borderless.[2] Elements that are alien > to the historical/cultural context of the comparer and are therefore > not part of the conceptual reach of the _tertium_ will not be > discerned in the _comparata_. Further taking into account that "the > place and understanding of (what we call) literature in any given > culture is never fixed--rather, it shifts and evolves, often in > relation to (what we call) religion or philosophy"--the present > volume presents materials composed in India, Tibet, China, Japan, and > Korea from the time of the historical Buddha to the present day and > covers literary genres as diverse as "lyric verse, narrative poetry, > panegyric, hymn, song, ritual chant, biography, hagiography, (secret) > autobiography, autobiographical fiction, autofiction, novel, play, > commentary, and treatise" (pp. 169, 2). Assessing these materials > from two angles--"Buddhist literature as philosophy" and "Buddhist > philosophy as literature"--and letting these texts speak for > themselves, it is shown how, indeed, "scholarship confined solely to > Western texts and approaches is seldom applicable to the wider world > without interpretive nuancing" (p. 6). > > The first part of the volume, "Buddhist Literature as Philosophy," > presents philosophically oriented readings of literary texts. In > "Transformative Vision: Coming to See the Buddha's Reality," Amber D. > Carpenter shows that _how_ the story "Bodhi the Wandering Ascetic" > (_Jātakamāla_ 23; based on Pāli _Jātaka_ 528) is told is > inseparable from _what_ the story tells. It is the embeddedness of > morality in the story--morality develops in contact with those around > us; ethics are concerned with experience-based judgments--that > bestows the story with the capacity to "morally transform" its reader > (p. 41). The power of stories to show the Buddhist perspective of > things and lead their readers to achieve this same perspective of > looking at things through describing familiar types of situation also > applies to _jātaka_s, discussed by Sarah Shaw in "_Jātaka_s and the > _Abhidhamma_: Practical Compassion and Kusala Citta." _Jātaka_s, so > she contends, are "a literary enactment of practical compassion," and > in oral repetitive methods and the dialogue question-and-answer > format that are peculiar of _sūtra_s/_sutta_s and the > Abhidharma/Abhidhamma portray the Bodhisatta/Bodhisattva as an > "'ordinary' person struggling with situations familiar to us all" > (pp. 81, 78). In this way, _jātaka_s enact and embody Buddhist > philosophy in a way that is more comprehensible than would be the > case in a strictly philosophical exposé. Moving fluidly "between > passages of poetic praise and passages of philosophical argument over > the course of a single text" is also a feature of Buddhist panegyric > texts (p. 97). In "Panegyric as Philosophy: Philosophical Dimensions > of Indian Buddhist Hymns," Richard F. Nance contends that "so long as > one does not assume the presence of explicit argument in a text to be > all that warrants counting that text worthy of philosophical > attention," new perspectives for understanding Buddhist texts are > opened (p. 102). When "ethical transformation is of a kind that > lyrical and narrative thought is peculiarly suited to identify, > indicate, and enact," the value of the literary genre of the Sanskrit > _kāvya_ also comes into the picture (p. 139). The genre of the > _kāvya_ that includes both prose and poetry is discussed by Sonam > Kachru in "Of Doctors, Poets, and the Minds of Men: Aesthetics and > Wisdom in Aśvaghoṣa's _Beautiful Nanda._" Francisca Cho's > "Buddhist Literary Criticism in East Asian Literature" enlarges the > discussion to the literary domain of East Asian novels. She explains > how the Japanese early eleventh-century _Tale of the Genji_, the > Chinese eighteenth-century _Dream of the Red Chamber_, and the Korean > twentieth-century _Silence of the Beloved_ stand out for their > "self-reflexive nature, in that they overtly philosophize about their > own status as imaginative art in relation to what is putatively > real," and "function as works of philosophy by self-consciously > translating Buddhist metaphysical views into literary art." Doing so, > their "aesthetic imagination lends a powerful assist to Buddhist > religious attempts to awaken to the illusion of life" (p. 164). With > Ethan Bushelle's contribution, "The Green Bamboo is the > _Dharmakāya_: _Waka_ Poetry and the Buddhist Imagination in Heian > Japan," we remain in the East Asian context. This chapter outlines > how _waka_ poetry, which was at first embedded in a predominantly > Confucian, rather than Buddhist, imagination of the cosmos, was > embedded in Buddhist ritual in the tenth century to articulate a > Buddhist cosmic imaginary. Composing and reciting _waka_ poetry thus > became an act of Buddhist ritual. _Waka _was divorced again from > Buddhist ritual in the twelfth century and instead "was conceived as > a form of Buddhist contemplation for the precise reason that it was > understood to possess the power to disclose, independently of ritual > action, the Buddha's presence in the world" (p. 170). > > The second part of this volume looks at the literary aspects of > Buddhist philosophical texts. A first text thus analyzed is the > famous _Lotus sutra_. In "The Scandal of the Speaking Buddha: > Performative Utterance and the Erotics of the Dharma," Natalie Gummer > focuses on the importance of the Buddha's teachings to produce > offspring in the form of "sons of the Buddha's mouth" (p. 205). > Stepien offers an innovative reading of the _Wenxin diaolong_ (_The > Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons_, a classic of Chinese > literary criticism), a work dated around the turn of the sixth > century. Taking Liu Xie's life-long affiliation with Buddhism into > account, Stepien suggests reading Liu's famous literary theory > through Chan philosophy of language. Developing from the fundamental > question of whether rhetorical elegance can "provide an aesthetic aid > to enlightenment," Steven Heine discusses Zen poetry-as-philosophy > (p. 264). In "On Resolving Disputes between Literary (_Wenzi_) and > Nonliterary (_Wuzi_) Approaches to Expressing Zen Buddhist > Philosophy," he, more precisely, describes the Zen debate on the > balance between rhetoric that "is used in a manner conducive to > triggering awakening but without allowing excess verbiage that might > foster an attachment to language" (p. 273). This helps to explain > why, in a way not very different from the case of the _waka_ > discussed in the first part of this volume, "poetry became the > primary rhetorical tool for expressing Zen's lofty philosophical > ideals" (p. 280). Yaroslav Komarovski brings us to the Tibetan > cultural context. In "Where 'Philosophy' and 'Literature' Converge: > Exploring Tibetan Buddhist Writings about Reality," he claims that > the multilayered nature of Tibetan Buddhist writings "resists > categorization as exclusively 'literary' or 'philosophical'" (p. > 286). Focusing on Milarepa, he shows how, "in Tibetan Madhyamaka > writings, the reasoning-based philosophical discourse is intricately > combined with other modes of thought and expression, such as the > poetic expression of personal realization or contemplative > instructions" (p. 305). Equally devoted to Milarepa is Massimo > Rondolino's "The Repa and the Chan Devotee: Hagiography, Polemic, and > the Taxonomies of Philosophical Literature." This chapter > investigates two hagiographies of Milarepa from the observation that > "in telling the life of a saint ... all hagiographical sources also > express a particular doctrinal reading of their own religious > tradition, in virtue of which the portrayed subject can be said to > have become a saint and be recognized as one" and that, therefore, > "'hagiography' is as much 'philosophy' as 'literature'" (p. 315). The > last chapter of this volume, "The Autobiographical No-Self," deals > with the genre of "secret autobiography" as it is known in the > Tibetan tradition. C. W. Huntington Jr. characterizes this genre as > creating "a literary illusion that forces the reader to enter into > the narrative so that the experience of reading itself becomes > transformative." This is done with a "language that performs, by > showing, by placing the elusive no-self on display, by providing a > picture of Buddhist truth" (p. 341). In autobiography, "reading > becomes a spiritual exercise, and philosophical understanding becomes > a matter of immediate experience" (p. 359). > > Referring to Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno who stated that > "culture--no matter what form it takes--is to be measured by norms > not inherent to it and which have nothing to do with the quality of > the object, but rather with some type of abstract standards imposed > from without," we can conclude that the present volume invites to > abandon these imposed abstract standards and to read Buddhist texts > as products of their peculiar philosophical and literary contexts.[3] > Such an approach will also overcome the "somewhat arbitrary yet > persistent scholarly repartitioning of Indo-Tibetan works (seen as > primarily 'philosophical') from their Sino-Japanese counterparts > (seen as more 'literary')" (p. 14). This volume challenges us to read > the wide range of Buddhist genres and styles, and the wide diversity > of Buddhist denominations from a new perspective that will reveal > that "Buddhism is most virtuously instantiated when its literature > becomes philosophy, and when its philosophy becomes literature" (pp. > 165-66). > > Notes > > [1]. Ralph Weber, "Comparative Philosophy and the _Tertium_: > Comparing What with What, and in What Respect?," _Dao_ 13 (2014): > 151-54. > > [2]. Arindam Chakrabarti and Ralph Weber, introduction to > _Comparative Philosophy without Borders_, ed. Arindam Chakrabarti and > Ralph Weber (London: Bloomsbury, 2016), 6. > > [3]. Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno,_ The Culture Industry: > Selected Essays on Mass Culture by Theodor W. Adorno_, trans. Wes > Blomster, ed. J. M. Bernstein (London: Routledge, 1991), 98. > > Citation: Bart Dessein. Review of Rafal, Stepien K., ed., _Buddhist > Literature as Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy as Literature_. > H-Buddhism, H-Net Reviews. April, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55985 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#7971): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/7971 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82054342/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
