Philosophy

Abstract This paper discusses verse 1074 of the Suttanipāta’s (Sn v. 1074) Upasīvamāṇavapucchā. While various interpretations of the verse are possible due to a lack of textual sources to draw from for interpretation, I attempt to understand this verse—which describes the state of nibbāna using the metaphor of an extinguished fire—through a philological examination of the text itself and other contemporary ones. Specifically, I focus on whether the verse implies that nibbāna takes place in the present life or at and after the end of life by examining the compound nāmakāya and the phrase atthaṃ paleti that appear in it. Arguing that the former term is a dvandva meaning “name-and-body” and that the latter means “goes down” (implying the end of life), I conclude that in this verse the Buddha is discussing nibbāna at and after the end of life. However, I do not deny that different interpretations are possible. When dealing with an ancient verse, the interpretation of one word can affect on...

The Pāli expression khaggavisāṇakappo may either mean ‘like the rhinoceros’ or ‘like the horn of the rhinoceros’. It occurs in the refrain eko care khaggavisāṇakappo at the end of each stanza of the Khaggavisāṇa-sutta and its parallels, and the refrain has been translated by some as ‘one should wander alone like the rhinoceros’ but by some, including K. R. Norman, as ‘one should wander alone like the horn of the rhinoceros’. K. R. Norman has however set out his reasons for regarding ‘like the rhinoceros horn’ as the correct translation, and ‘like the rhinoceros’ as wrong. The present article critically discusses Norman’s reasons, concluding that the expression khaggavisāṇa may be regarded as a deliberately ambiguous compound meaning both the rhinoceros and its horn, or perhaps as a single expression meaning ‘rhinoceros’. The zoological facts are considered, as well as the difficult etymology of khaggavisāṇa, its contextual meaning, its meaning in Jain parallels, and its discussion in P...

What does Zen look like when approached as a philosophical practice? What does doing philosophy look like when approached as a Zen practice? My suggestion is that both look something like what Wittgenstein, towards the end of his Tractatus, describes as ‘the only strictly correct’ method in philosophy (Wittgenstein, 1978, 6.53). Wittgenstein writes: The correct method in philosophy would really be the following: to say nothing except what can be said, i.e. propositions of natural science – i.e. something that has nothing to do with philosophy – and then, whenever someone else wanted to say something metaphysical, to demonstrate to him that he had failed to give a meaning to certain signs in his propositions. (Wittgenstein, 1978, 6.53) Note that the injunction ‘to say nothing except what can be said’ seems to reduce philosophy to natural science. For only that which can be demonstrated to be either true or false—that is, the factual—can be expressed in propositional form. This is the se...

(1) Introduction A philosopher of Buddhism is not tied by the kinds of restrictions that limit a Christian or a Hindu philosopher. The Buddha himself encouraged his followers to analyse, exposit and test his teaching in the light of contemporary views, techniques and tools. The followers of the Buddha are by no means bound to be faithful to the doctrine, and philosophical exegesis, exposition and clarification of notions are deemed entirely laudable. But, then, is it not the case that Western philosophical techniques when applied, remain misapplied and wasted? Much scepticism can spring up from such a question, and, therefore, serious study of Buddhism by way of Western philosophical techniques may be conceived as both misleading and superficial. We propose, however, that there is a scholarly desire, namely, to apply a series of philosophical techniques to Buddhism to monitor the possible consequences. Treading this conceptual path, we shall apply the later Wittgensteinean philosophica...